Billed as ‘the largest mobile stage networking event of the year’, the 2023 edition of the Mobile Stage Conference MSC, held February 7-9, 2023, at the Bahia Mar Hotel in Fort Lauderdale, FL, certainly delivered. For the many attendees, the beautiful weather of southern Florida was a welcome reprieve from the colder climes that most of the exhibitors and attendees hailed from, but it was also a great opportunity to connect and learn from each other while seeing the latest stages, lighting and audio offerings for the mobile staging market.
Organized by Mike Laino, his brother Louie Laino and the MSC team from MobileStageNetwork.com, this year’s Mobile Stage Conference was an absolute hit. Everyone—from mobile staging professionals, companies and individuals, to event and exhibit managers, both public and private, as well as representatives of schools and municipalities—was there to learn more about what’s new and what’s available for their staging needs. Also, the range of companies that were exhibiting at the conference were pleased with the number and quality of attendees.
PLSN would like to thank Mike and Louie Laino, as well as the whole MSC team, for the warm welcome and support throughout the event. It was an excellent conference and one which I would highly recommend anyone interested in this market segment to attend in the future. After this year’s highly successful event there is no doubt this show is being marked by many as a must attend on their live event industry gathering calendar. For further information about the Mobile Stage Conference, go to www.mobilestageconference.com
Keynote on Safety
The MSC keynote speaker was engineer Kyle Kusmer, PE, Principal of structural engineering firm, Schaefer. He spoke about the new changes to the International Building Code in 2024 that specifically affect the mobile stage industry and answered a lot of questions from attendees. He also discussed standards work by ESTA and weather-related work by the Event Safety Alliance that impacts the staging industry as well. There were several speakers and presenters throughout the event providing information on topics of interest to professionals that work in the mobile staging marketplace.
Sponsors and Demonstrations
In addition to the staging demonstrations by each staging manufacturer, there were product demonstrations by several sponsoring companies, including Eric Loader, Global Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Elation Professional, on hand to talk about the IP65 rated Proteus line of luminaires from Elation. Edgar Bernal, USA National Sales Manager for ADJ demonstrated new IP65 lights from ADJ while controlling them via Obsidian Control Systems. Representatives from CHAUVET showed off the latest in the company’s outdoor IP65 rated lights, all being controlled via ChamSys lighting consoles. Other sponsoring companies offering demonstrations were AXIOM, Cameo, DAS Audio, DiGiCo, JBL, Pioneer, and RCF. Mobile video wall companies showing their innovations included Advanced Visual Solutions and OPAV. Production support on the various stages was supplied by Gulf South Productions, Hothouse AV, Dynamic Productions USA, IPS, and Reflections Productions Inc. and Herc Rentals handled all the generators and power distribution needs.
The staging companies on display included:
Apex Stage – Had its brand new massive 5040 GEN3 stage on hand and fully kitted out to show off its possibilities. This stage was making a pit stop before going to its new owner, Thomas Mitchell of Miami, FL-based Reflection Productions. Mitchell was proudly showing off his new acquisition, noting that he had a range of events that it’s already booked to be used on. The APEX 5040 GEN3, fitted with technology, is designed to be one of the fastest to set up, strongest, and safest mobile stages in the industry. It uses a mix of aluminum and steel along with a non-slip floor and the roof can support 71,000 lbs.; the deck measures 50’ x 38’ with the center section built on the trailer and bi-folding decks on each side. Outriggers can vary the floor deck height from 4’ to 6’ in order to adapt to most terrain and venue requests. Learn more at https://apexstages.com/
Astra Stages – a related company to Apex Stage, Astra Stages was at MSC showing off its Astra LP2016 Stage, an easy to operate electric winch-driven stage, measures 20’ x 16’ and the roof can go up to 11’-9” high. This stage is designed to be more cost-effective and is aimed at the school and municipality markets. The installation time is approx. 45 minutes to 1 hour with two required personnel. It has a built-in battery charger that plugs into a regular wall outlet for easy charging. The folded trailer height is approx. 6’-8” so it can fit under a residential garage door. The towing tongue breaks away so the unit can shorten up to fit into tighter spaces. Learn more at www.astrastages.com
Stageline – had two stages on display, a 24’ x 20’ SL100 and a 32’ x 24’ Promobile stage.
They used the SL100 throughout the conference for end-users to train and qualify on setting up, and dismantling the stage with support from Stageline’s technical support team. Nothing better than seeing a stage go up, down, and up again all throughout the conference. The SL100 mobile stage is designed to be user friendly, sets up quickly [two stagehands can do it in about 30 minutes] and has a rigging capacity of 11,400 lbs. It comes equipped with permanently mounted side trusses with 1,500 lbs. capacity per side. Also on display was the double-decker Promobile with two accessible levels. This stage has 1,700 sq. ft. of usable space when users need more height, more space, and more load-bearing capacity. Learn more at https://stageline.com/
Stagemobil Mobile Stage Technology – had three stages at MSC 2023, including a 22’ x 20’ L, a 26’ x 20’ XL, and a 33’ x 20’ XXL stage. These stages also hosted many of the lighting, video, and audio demonstrations from companies including ADJ, CHAUVET, DAS Audio, DiGiCo, Pioneer along with AVL equipment from Fort Meyers, FL-based Hothouse AV. Learn more at http://www.stagemobil.de/
Advanced Visual Solutions (AVS) – have created the Compact Mobile Display Series LED Trailer, a very clever and well-designed LED trailer system. Working with American owned, SquareV LED Panels, using NovaStar LED processing paired with an on-board whisper quiet Honda generator, AVS’ mobile LED trailers are aimed at the school and municipalities market where an easily towable—and storable—trailer solution is a must have. Learn more at www.avsled.com
Century Industries – anchored one end of the conference lot with its FR4500 stage. The Sellersburg, IN-based staging company has been building stages since 1978. The stage, part of its FrontRow line of mobile stages, offers larger stage deck sizes with full canopy coverage to fill the requirements for outdoor concerts. FrontRow stages are built to accept lighting and sound systems, simplifying the set up and production. The stage features a unique hydraulically-powered operating system with push-button operation, which makes set-up fast and easy. Learn more at www.centuryindustries.com
