2019 ILDA Conference
The 2019 ILDA Conference will be in Orlando, Florida … home of the world's top attractions including the new-for-2019 Star Wars Galaxy's Edge at Disney's Hollywood Studios.
Pangolin Laser Systems is sponsoring the KVANT lasers used during the Conference at the Lase-Off and the Awards. Pangolin is also hosting the Welcome Dinner in the evening on November 8.
The dates are as follows:
• Thu, Nov 7: ILDA Laser Operator Class, ILDA Advanced Audience Scanning Class (both optional extras).
• Fri, Nov 8: ILDA LSO course (optional) and user group meetings. Luncheon meeting for ILDA Board. Golf outing at 11 am, hosted by Pangolin Laser Systems (contact Justin Perry at Pangolin directly if you are interested in playing). There is a Pangolin User Group meeting in the hotel from 4-7 pm.
The first official ILDA Full Conference event is the Welcome Dinner to be held at a Brazilian steakhouse restaurant on International Drive. This is organized and sponsored by Pangolin.
• Sat, Nov 9: ILDA General Business Meeting and Advanced Technology Workshop. NEW! Representatives from the U.S. FDA (lasershow regulations) will attend, to participate in a session for manufacturers/importers and (the next day) for lasershow producers. In the evening, the Lase-Off & Laser Jockey competition.
• Sun, Nov 10: Seminars on the ILDA Digital Network, Awards and Art. In the afternoon is a private screening of the just-finished documentary on Laserium. In the evening, the ILDA Awards Banquet and Presentation.
• Mon, Nov 11: Tour day — visit a theme park or attraction. Tickets on your own. Free transportation to/from Disney parks. Breakfast meeting for ILDA Board
The cutoff date for making a discounted reservation at ILDA's official hotel is Friday, October 25 at 11:59 pm Eastern (New York) time. Before this time, you can reserve a room at the ILDA rate of $139. After this time, the room rate will be around $220 or more.
See what a Conference is like
The videos below give you a quick overview of what an ILDA Conference is like. The first one, from Christopher Short, shows lasers during the 2018 Lase-Off last year in Montréal, hosted by LaserTech Canada.
The second video shows meetings and seminars in the day, and the Lase-Off and the ILDA Awards in the evenings. The informal discussions in halls and bars, can be just as fun and important to your business as the official events. Thanks to KVANT, host of the 2017 ILDA Conference, for producing the video.
2019 Conference schedule
ILDA Golf Outing
Be among the first to see a feature-length film about Laserium®
-
Register for the 2019 ILDA Conference
Below is information about Conference-related events. To register for any of these events click the blue button below. It will take you to the Event Registration page at the ILDA Member & Event Management website. From there, you can find the Conference events you can sign up for.
Full Conference and Spouse/Guest registration
For ILDA Members, and interested non-members
• Full Conference registration includes all ILDA meals, Welcome Dinner, Lase-Off, Awards, Laserium® documentary screening, business meetings, seminars, discussion with FDA, and workshops.
• Spouse/Guest registration includes all ILDA meals, Welcome Dinner, Lase-Off, Awards and Laserium® documentary screening. It does NOT include any business meetings, seminars or workshops. A Spouse/Guest is defined as a person related to a Full Conference registrant. The relationship must be that the spouse/guest is married, is a significant other, is a family member, or is a personal friend who is not employed in a lasershow-related business.
Full Conference and Spouse/Guest registrations do NOT include any Laser Safety Education classes, which are separate Conference events.
Full Conference and Spouse/Guest registrations do NOT include hotel room reservations. Make these separately with the Embassy Suites Orlando Lake Buena Vista Resort (click the green button farther down on this page).
ILDA Conference Full Registration, staying at Royal Sonesta hotel
ILDA Member
Non-memberFull Conf. - earlyJun 1 - Jul 31$565$815Full Conf. - regularAug 1 - Oct 25$765$1015Full Conf. - lateOct 26 - Nov 11$965$1215Spouse - earlyJun 1 - Jul 31$350$450Spouse - reg/lateAug 1 - Nov 11$425$525NOTE: All Full Conference prices shown above include a $250 credit for if you book your room at the Embassy Suites Orlando LBV Resort, using the hotel reservation link listed elsewhere on this page. You also receive the $250 credit if you live in the Orlando area and stay at your home each night.
But if you stay in another hotel, or otherwise do not book using the hotel registration link for ILDA attendees, your ILDA registration cost will be $250 higher, in order to cover ILDA's hotel contract penalties.Special ILDA-Invited Speaker rate. Valid for a non-Member speaker, not working in the lasershow field, who is specially invited by ILDA to give a presentation at the Conference. Allows you to attend the session for which you are invited, all meals, the Opening Reception, the Lase/Off and the ILDA Awards Banquet. Rate valid June 1 - November 11, 2019.
• $450 if staying at official hotel or already lives in Orlando
• $500 if not staying at official hotel or not booked with ILDA group
Note: Full Conference prices in green include a $250 credit if you book your room at the Embassy Suites Orlando LBV Resort, using the registration link listed above. You also receive the $250 credit if you live in the Orlando area and stay at your home each night. Prices in red are the cost if you stay at another hotel, or if you otherwise do not book using the hotel registration link/code for ILDA attendees. The higher Full Conference prices allow ILDA to cover hotel contract penalties.
ILDA General Business Meeting
For Members not attending the Full Conference
If you are an ILDA Member who is NOT registering for the Full Conference, you still can attend the General Business Meeting for free. This event is where votes are taken for ILDA Board Members and for ILDA President, and where association business is discussed and voted on.
To attend, you must register in advance for the General Business Meeting at the Event Registration page. This event will be visible only to current ILDA Members (it will not appear on the list of events for non-members).
Individual conference event tickets
For anyone not attending the Full Conference
We have tickets available for persons who want to attend just one or both of these events, and who don’t have a Full Conference or Spouse/Guest registration:
• Lase-Off/Laser Jockey dinner and event only, Saturday November 9, $150
• Awards Banquet and Presentation only, Sunday November 10, $150
Laser Safety Education classes
Held before the Conference; open to Members and non-members
The Laser Safety Education classes are not included in the Full Conference. These are separate registration events.
Anyone may attend the Laser Safety Education classes. You do not have to be an ILDA Member, and you do not have to register for the Full Conference.
• Optional Laser Operator Safety, Thursday November 7, 9 am - 1 pm. Basic lightshow safety, for persons working around lasers or who are operating lasers for lightshows and displays. Pricing is $395 for ILDA Members, and $520 for non-members.
• Optional Audience Scanning Safety, Thursday November 7, 2 pm - 6 pm. How to do safe, legal and effective audience scanning at laser lightshows. For both operators and show designers. Prior laser safety experience or courses are recommended. Pricing is $395 for ILDA Members, and $520 for non-members.
• Optional Laser Safety Officer for U.S. Lightshows, Friday November 8, 9 am - 6 pm, with a break for lunch. This covers laser shows only -- no medical, industrial or other non-lightshow laser usage. While European and international regulations are discussed, the majority of the regulatory discussion is on U.S. laser and aviation issues. To take this class, you must have prior laser show experience, or have taken ILDA's Laser Operator Safety course. If you have questions whether you are ready for this class, contact ILDA. More info is at the LSO course page. Pricing is $675 for ILDA Members, and $800 for non-members.
Post-Conference
The day after the Conference
Due to the number and variety of attractions in the Orlando area, we have not scheduled a post-Conference group tour as in most years.
Attendees can purchase Disney park tickets, and possibly tickets for other attractions, at the Conference hotel. The hotel also has free buses which run to and from Disney parks, and low-cost shuttles to Sea World and Universal — see the hotel desk for times and destinations.- If you are undecided, we suggest attending Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park, and specifically the new "Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge" themed land. Other attractions at Disney's Hollywood Studios are based on Indiana Jones (stunt show), Frozen (musical show), the Muppet Show, Toy Story, Little Mermaid (includes lasers), Twilight Zone (Tower of Terror drop ride), Aerosmith (roller coaster), Beauty and the Beast (musical show), and Cars (Lighting McQueen racing academy).
- If you have a car and are interested in space and technology, the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is highly recommended. It is about an hour east of Orlando. There are so many things to see and do, including a bus tour of the facility, that it is a full-day attraction.
We are working on a group visit to Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park. This is NOT included in the ILDA conference registration fee — there will be a separate fee for the tour and bus transportation. We have not yet worked out the cost but will update here and also make an email announcement when we know.
Disney's Hollywood Studios includes the new "Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge" themed land. This land is expected to be VERY popular.
• If possible we will try to get guaranteed early admission to SW:GE.
• If not, our bus will arrive as early as we can. As per Disney policy, admission is not guaranteed to SW:GE since it may fill up early. Also, time in the land may be limited to 4 hours. If so, after the 4 hours are up, Imperial Stormtroopers will strongly suggest that you leave.
Other attractions at Disney's Hollywood Studios are based on Indiana Jones (stunt show), Frozen (musical show), the Muppet Show, Toy Story, Little Mermaid (includes lasers), Twilight Zone (Tower of Terror drop ride), Aerosmith (roller coaster), Beauty and the Beast (musical show), and Cars (Lighting McQueen racing academy).
We are also working on a private tour of laser facilities at a Disney park. This may be part of the ILDA group tour at Hollywood Studios, or may be at another park.
Photo from CrispyCream27 via Wikipedia
Above is information about Conference-related events. To register for any of these events, click the blue button below. It will take you to the Event Registration page at the ILDA Member & Event Management website.
Hotel reservation reminder
Don't forget to make your reservations directly with the Conference hotel. For the ILDA discount rate, book on or before Friday October 25. Use the green button with the ILDA hotel group reservation link, located farther down on this web page.
-
Make a hotel room reservation
ILDA Conference registration does NOT include your hotel room at the Embassy Suites Orlando Lake Buena Vista Resort.
Hotel room rate: The cost of a two-room suite during this time period is normally $200 and up. However, for ILDA attendees booking on or before October 25, the cost is only $139 per night for 1 or 2 persons, for rooms booked from November 6 through November 14, 2019. For additional persons in the same room who are 18 or older, there is an extra fee of $15 per night per person.
The information in this green section tells you how to make a hotel reservation, and why you should do this using ILDA's link and group event code to save you money.Make an online reservation
Use the green button below to book your hotel room online, and automatically get ILDA’s discounted rate.
Note before you go to the hotel reservation website…
• To get the ILDA discounted room rate, make your hotel reservations on or before Friday October 25 at 11:59 pm Eastern (New York) time.
• When you go to the reservation webpage, it will say the block is reserved for November 8 -12. However, you actually can reserve up to two days before and after. So you can arrive as early as November 6, and leave as late as November 14 (check out on the 14th). Just change the "Travel dates" on the second page.
• If you do want to arrive even earlier or stay even longer, make two reservations. One between Nov. 6-14 to get the ILDA room rates, and a second reservation before or after our time block.
• At the top of many pages is a gray box that says "Daily Resort Charge will be added to the room rate…". Ignore this box. Even though the box appears, you will NOT be charged the $20 Daily Resort Charge. You should only pay $139 plus taxes for your hotel room.
Click this button to book your hotel room online:
Make a phone reservation
If you prefer to make your reservation by phone:
• In the U.S. call 1-800-HILTONS (1-800-445-8667)
• Outside the U.S. call +800-4445-8667 (Note: ILDA has not tried this number so it may not work in all countries, or it may need additional dialing prefixes)
To get the discounted ILDA room rate, tell the reservationist our group event code which is "ILD"Why booking with ILDA's rate saves you money
There are two reasons to book at ILDA’s hotel using ILDA’s discounted rate.
1) While you might find lower room rates from some online sites, unfortunately these often are not refundable, are in limited supply, or in other ways are not comparable to ILDA’s rates. ILDA has the guaranteed lowest rate available from the hotel for our class of service. Rooms can be refunded up to 72 hours before arrival.
2) If you use the button above or call and reserve with the group event code "ILD", you will receive a $250 discount on your ILDA Conference registration. But if you book using other websites, discount suppliers, or if you stay at other hotels or locations, you will have a higher ILDA Conference registration rate — e.g. you will pay $250 more.
This is because ILDA’s contract guarantees a certain number of room reservations. If we do not meet this minimum, we will have to pay extra for persons who live outside of Orlando and who attend the Conference but do not stay at the hotel using ILDA’s rates and group event code.
Note: If you live in the Orlando area and you will stay in your home each night of the Conference, you will receive the $250 registration discount.
Official ILDA Conference hotel
The official Conference headquarters is the Embassy Suites by Hilton — Orlando Lake Buena Vista Resort, in the north LBV area at 8100 Lake Street in Orlando Florida.
It is a mid-priced Disney partner hotel with resort amenities including indoor and outdoor pools, outdoor cabanas, poolside bar, spa, tennis courts, basketball court, beach volleyball court, a putting green, fire pits, fitness center, and for children, water play and dive-in Disney movies.
Breakfast is free, as is an Evening Reception with snacks and drinks in the atrium.
There is free theme park shuttle service to Walt Disney World parks, and low-cost shuttle service to Universal Studios and SeaWorld. Disney Springs, a major themed shopping and restaurant area, is a 12-minute drive away. For golfers, there are many nearby courses including the Grand Cypress Golf Club, designed by Jack Nicklaus. Car rental is available on-site.
All rooms are two-room suites (bedroom and living room with pull-out sofa bed) that include a refrigerator and microwave. Rooms are available in the interior atrium, or on the exterior wing which surrounds part of the pool area.
Helpful information
-
Getting to Orlando
The ILDA Conference hotel is in Lake Buena Vista, slightly southwest of the city of Orlando. It is centrally located to Disney, Universal and SeaWorld attractions.
Orlando International Airport
The closest airport is Orlando International Airport (MCO). It is about a 30-minute drive to the hotel. Here are some approximate rates from the airport's transportation webpage:
• Shuttle van: $23 per person one way or $37 per person both ways (round trip)
• Conventional taxi: $47 to $55 per person one way
• Limousine: $50 to $90 per hour with 1-hour minimum
• Uber/Lyft: Rate varies; check your app when you arrive
Do not take the local bus despite the low $2 rate. U.S. bus service is not like Europe or other areas with better public transportation; the trip will take 75 minutes with one transfer, plus a 1500 foot/500 meter walk at the end.Orlando Sanford International Airport
Orlando Sanford International Airport (SFB) is about a 60-minute drive to the hotel. We do not have approximate costs for transport from SFB to the hotel. For transportation options, check the airport's transportation webpage.The ILDA Conference hotel is in Lake Buena Vista, slightly southwest of the city of Orlando. It is centrally located to Disney, Universal and SeaWorld attractions.
Orlando International Airport
The closest airport is Orlando International Airport (MCO). It is about a 30-minute drive to the hotel. Here are some approximate rates from the airport's transportation webpage:
• Shuttle van: $23 per person one way or $37 per person both ways (round trip)
• Conventional taxi: $47 to $55 per person one way
• Limousine: $50 to $90 per hour with 1-hour minimum
• Uber/Lyft: Rate varies; check your app when you arrive
Do not take the local bus despite the low $2 rate. U.S. bus service is not like Europe or other areas with better public transportation; the trip will take 75 minutes with one transfer, plus a 1500 foot/500 meter walk at the end.Orlando Sanford International Airport
Orlando Sanford International Airport (SFB) is about a 60-minute drive north of the hotel. We do not have approximate costs for transport from SFB to the hotel. For transportation options, check the airport's transportation webpage.-
Getting around the area once you're here
The hotel has shuttle services to Disney, Universal and SeaWorld. If you have time and the shuttle is not full, these are fine.
However, Uber/Lyft may be a better choice since they get you to your destination more directly than the shuttle bus which makes multiple stops. Also, you do not have to pay the parking lot fee of around $20-30 as you would if you drove in a rental car.Attractions and cities
Here are some approximate driving times from the hotel. These times are for mid-day and may take longer during rush hours:
• Disney Springs shopping/restaurant area: 12 minutes
• Disney's Typhoon Lagoon waterpark: 12 minutes
• SeaWorld theme park, Discovery Cove resort, Aquatica waterpark: 12 minutes
• EPCOT: 17 minutes
• Disney's Animal Kingdom: 17 minutes
• Disney's Blizzard Beach waterpark: 20 minutes
• Magic Kingdom: 25 minutes
• Disney's Hollywood Studios: 25 minutes
• Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure theme parks: 25 minutes
• Universal's Volcano Bay waterpark: 25 minutes
• Universal's CityWalk shopping/restaurant area: 25 minutes
• Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex: 60 minutes
• Cocoa Beach: 75 minutes
• Daytona International Speedway, NASCAR Racing Experience: 75 minutes
• Daytona Beach: 90 minutes
• Tampa: 90 minutes
• Miami: 4 hours
Some of these routes are on toll roads. If you rent a car, be sure to get the option for electronic tolling. You do not want to spend your vacation in the pay-by-cash lane, plus some roads only allow electronic tolling.Shopping
If you or your spouse/guest like to shop, there are a number of shopping areas nearby. These are the approximate mid-day drive times:
• Orlando Vineland Premium Outlets: 10 minutes. Note: Although this is literally across the highway from our hotel, you cannot walk directly there. It would take 43 minutes to walk to the nearest bridge over the Interstate highway and then walk back down to the mall.
• Disney Springs shopping/restaurant area: 12 minutes
• Orlando International Premium Outlets: 20 minutes
• Mall at Millenia: 20 minutes
• The Florida Mall: 20 minutesDowntown Orlando
Downtown Orlando is primarily business-oriented. There are some museums in the Orlando and Winter Park areas, but in general the city center is not a tourist hotspot.-
Shipping to the hotel
You may ship material to the hotel directly. They accept shipments up to 5 days prior to the event (e.g., starting Nov. 4) but they strongly recommend shipping 2 days prior to the event (e.g., starting Nov. 7) due to limited storage space.
Shipping label (Word .doc format)
Delivery instructions (Word .docx format)
Delivery diagram/map (PDF)
-
Sponsorship
Sponsors help ILDA present Conference events. If you’d like to reach the world’s top laserists, please review the sponsorship material below, and then contact us (link at bottom of the page). If you are looking for a particular benefit not listed, let us know — we are flexible.
Click image for higher-res PDF version
For more information, visit our other ILDA websites:
© 2007-2025 International Laser Display Association. All rights reserved.
Contact ILDA
No reproduction of the text or images on ILDA websites is allowed without written permission of ILDA or other copyright holders. "ILDA" and the ILDA logo are trademarks of the International Laser Display Association.
This site does not use cookies and does not track or gather information on individual visitors. Aggregate information is gathered by Google Analytics to determine overall visitor behavior. More information is on our Privacy Policy page.