Group photo taken just after the ILDA Awards presentation 27 Sept., on the last official night of the Conference. Click here or on the photo for a large, 6MB version.
The minutes of the 26 Sept. ILDA General Business Meeting can be downloaded from here. They are in Word format. The meeting was the first official session of the Conference, where ILDA business including elections, reports, etc. are conducted.
The rest of this page has the pre-Conference information, which was for people planning to attend. It is left here for historical reference.
ILDA's 36th Annual Conference will be held 25-28 September in Wrocław, Poland, hosted by Visual Sensation Laser Shows and Technologies. Wrocław is one of the oldest cities in Poland, known for market squares, outdoor cafes, beautiful riverside and sumptuous food. In 2018 it received the European Best Destination award.
We will be staying at the DoubleTree by Hilton Wrocław City Centre hotel. It is located, as the name indicates, a short walk to the city center, Old Town Market Square (shown below), and the National Museum. A tram stop is just a block away. Here is some general information about the hotel.
For rates, click the blue section below on this page that says "Make a hotel room reservation." This section also has a button you can click to make a reservation at the ILDA rate (which expires Sept. 4).
The nearest major airport is Wrocław Airport (WRO/EPWR) which is 11 km from the hotel. The hotel has provided the following information about getting from the airport.
There is no hotel shuttle service from the airport. The best taxi company which we offer for guest is Taxi S class: +48 503 075 683
ILDA guests can use Uber or bus 106 ( Airport – train station). Hotel is located 20 minutes by walk from train station.
A taxi or Uber will take about 30-40 minutes, the bus would take about 50-55 minutes including the walking time.
Click for full-size schedule. Events subject to change.
More information on pricing, etc. is further down the page. When you're ready to register for the full Conference, go ahead and click the button immediately below!
• Full Conference registration includes all ILDA meals, Opening Reception & Welcome Dinner, Lase-Off, Awards, business meetings, seminars, Cat A course, workshops, and Saturday night buffet and stadium laser show.
• Spouse/Guest registration includes all ILDA meals including the Opening Reception & Welcome Dinner, Lase-Off, Awards, and Saturday night buffet and stadium laser show. 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 include the Cat A Laser Show Standard course, but do NOT include the paid laser safety courses, or the Saturday morning Cultural Day tour. These are separate events.
HOTEL IS SEPARATE: Full Conference and Spouse/Guest registrations do NOT include hotel room reservations. Make these separately with the DoubleTree by Hilton Wrocław City Centre hotel (click the wide blue button farther down on this page that says "Make a hotel room reservation").
Visual Sensation ©2021 All Rights Reserved. Photo by Michał Kowieski.
Our host, Visual Sensation Laser Shows and Technologies, will perform a 40-laser show that takes place in the nearby Tarczyński Arena. The laser show and an after-show buffet at the Arena are included in ILDA Conference registration. The show is produced by the BCS For Life Foundation.
The organizer will have transportation from and to the hotel. By car/bus it is about 16-20 minutes from our hotel.
To attend this show, you will want to make hotel reservations that include Saturday night, 28 Sept. so you can leave on Sunday (or later if doing additional sightseeing).
Students at the August 9, 2023 Category A course held during the SELEM meetup in Newark, Delaware. These persons had previously taken ILDA's LSO course. They all passed the Cat A test, and received an updated LSO certificate which includes a Cat A endorsement.
There is one free laser safety course during the Conference, at 4 pm Friday 27 September. It is for Full Conference attendees who want to create and operate shows that meet the ILDA Category A Laser Show Standard.
Attendees who take the course and pass a 27-question test at the end, will be qualified under ILDA's Cat A standard to create, produce and operate Cat A-specific laser shows. The course plus the test will be about 1 hour long.
This course is for two types of people:
1) Those with no prior laser safety course experience, who want to do Cat A-specific laser shows.
2) Anyone who has already earned a Laser Safety Officer certificate (from either ILDA or from Laser Safety Services; see lists on this page) and who wants to update their LSO certificate to also have a Cat A endorsement. This means they are qualified by ILDA to create, produce and operate Cat A-specific laser shows.
Any Full Conference registrant, whether an ILDA Member or a non-member, may attend this course for free.
If you have already taken and passed Cat A training, you do NOT need to take the 27 Sept. course.
To check whether you have passed Cat A training, go to the laser safety course graduates page. Look in the "Laser Safety Officer course graduates" list to see if your name is in green and says "Cat A". If your name is not green, look in the "Laser Safety Officer for Cat A Laser Shows graduates" list to see if your name is listed. If you are not in either of these lists, you have not yet taken a Cat A course or you have not passed the Cat A test.
An ILDA LSO certificate, with the green Cat A logo and text stating that the holder successfully passed the course tests, including ILDA Category A Laser Show Standard requirements.
Click the button to register:
OR
Some persons may not be able to attend the full ILDA Conference. We do have some Conference events which are available individually. This is also good for guests, for example, if you want guests at the Awards Banquet.
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; click the button below. Registration for this event will be visible only to current ILDA Members (it will not appear for non-members).
We have tickets available for persons who want to attend selected events, and who don’t have a Full Conference or Spouse/Guest registration
• Lase-Off/Laser Jockey dinner and event only, Thursday 26 September, $150. To register for this event only, click the button:
• Awards Banquet and Presentation only, Friday 27 September, $150.
The Master of Ceremonies for the presentation is scheduled to be Alex Hennig. He is credited on more ILDA Award winners than any other person. The majority of these Award-winning shows were done while he was at LOBO, in one capacity or another.
To register for this event only, click the button:
There is one free laser safety course during the Conference, at 4 pm Friday 27 Sept. This is the Category A Laser Show Standard course, which is discussed earlier on this page. Click the blue button "Full Conference (all events)" for details about the course.
If you have already taken and passed Cat A training, you do NOT need to take the 27 Sept. course.
To check whether you have passed Cat A training, go to the laser safety course graduates page. Look in the "Laser Safety Officer course graduates" list to see if your name is in green and says "Cat A". If your name is not green, look in the "Laser Safety Officer for Cat A Laser Shows graduates" list to see if your name is listed. If you are not in either of these lists, you have not yet taken a Cat A course or you have not passed the Cat A test.
ILDA is offering two other laser safety courses, which are not included in the Full Conference. These are separate registration events:
Optional Laser Safety Course (LSO), Wednesday September 25, 9 am to 6:30 pm, with lunch included.
Optional Audience Scanning Safety, Saturday September 28, 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.
Anyone may pay for and attend this optional laser safety course. You do not have to be an ILDA Member, and you do not have to register for the Full Conference.
More info on the courses' content is at the laser safety course page.
Click a button to register:
We have two optional Cultural Day tours. You can register for one or both.
Our first optional Cultural Day tour is Saturday, Sept. 28. The cost is $39 per person. We can accommodate up to 15 persons on one bus.
If more than 15 prople register for the tour, we will put #16 and above on a waiting list (if a ticketed person cannot show up), or we will put them on another bus, or refund their money if another bus is not available.
We will either be picked up at our hotel at 10:45, or we will walk 13 minutes — see map above — to the normal tour start outside the Restauracja Piwnica Świdnicka at Rynek Ratusz 1A. The English-language licensed guide tour will begin at 11 am. From the tour company:
We start our tour from the Old Town. We will see the Old University of Wrocław and the Jewish Quarter with the beautiful White Stork Synagogue. Your local licensed guide will tell you lots of exciting stories about these places. We will stop wherever you like and you can take photos and drink coffee or local beer. The Jewish Quarter is a place where you will find plenty of regional cafes and beer gardens. Historic tenement houses, romantic courtyards and old temples of four denominations, time stopped here for a long time.
We continue the trip, approaching the medieval Cathedral Island, the oldest part of Wroclaw. On the way, we pass the former Market Hall full of regional products. We stop for a moment at the largest church in Wrocław - the Wrocław Cathedral.
We continue the trip along the Promenade on the Odra River. There are plenty of ships ready to sail on the Oder, and there are many cafes and places to rest on the waterfront. We pass the monumental Imperial Bridge.
We reach the Centennial Hall - it is a unique facility included on the UNESCO heritage list. The areas around the Centennial Hall are teeming with life - we are going to the Pergola. Here we will have a 10-minute session of the Multimedia Fountain, water, light and sound! Beautiful spectacle! There is time for a break and to take photos.
We end the trip in the Old Town at 1:00 pm. It was a beautiful journey around Wroclaw, full of interesting stories, legends and funny anecdotes.
LUNCH AFTERWARDS
After the tour, you can have lunch on your own in the Old Town area where there are many restaurants.
Click the button to register:
The gondola cruise may be affected by the Sept. 18-19 flooding in Wrocław. We will check with the tour company during our Conference — closer to the tour date — to find out whether we're still going. If not, ILDA will refund your tour registration.
Our second optional Cultural Day tour is $45 per person. We have reserved 15 persons on the gondola. It holds 32 so if we get more than 15 registrations we will hopefully be able to accommodate you as long as space is still available from the tour company. (If we cannot accommodate you, your registration fee will be refunded.)
This starts from the same place as the earlier bus tour, the Restauracja Piwnica Świdnicka which is a 13 minute walk from our hotel (see map above). It runs from 2:30 pm to 4 pm. From the tour company:
Meet your personal guide at the Market Square in Wrocław. Then take a walk with him to the passenger ship pier on the Odra River. The ship marina is located at Cathedral Island and is approximately 20-30 minutes from the Market Square.
The guide will buy tickets for the cruise and you will board the small gondola "Gucio". A 50-minute cruise along the Oder canals around the Old Town awaits you.
The gondola is covered. There are wooden benches on the deck. There is no bar on board with drinks and snacks. We sit wherever there are free seats - next to the guide.
The cruise starts near Cathedral Island - first we admire the wonderful Gothic architecture of the cathedral island. In the distance you can see the mighty towers of the Wrocław Cathedral. We sail under the Peace Bridge next to the National Museum. At the Imperial Bridge we turn around and sail towards the Old Town. On the left you can see the Old Town Promenade and people relaxing in numerous cafes.
The guide talks about the monuments we pass. It also tells about ships on the Oder, in the past and today. About the life of people on the river. It's full of funny anecdotes and stories.
We enter the Old Town - we sail under the Sand Bridge and towards the University of Wrocław. You can see this beautiful building from afar! Next to it there is the mighty University Bridge and the "Marina" yacht marina. Here we turn back towards Cathedral Island. The guide tells about the last great flood in Wrocław in 1997. The entire city was flooded with a huge wave.
We sail past numerous restaurants on the waterfront. On request, you can disembark here and end the cruise to have a beer. We sail further - under the famous historic Lovers' Bridge (Tumski Bridge). It is one of the most beautiful bridges in Wrocław.
Finally, we reach the passenger ship marina in Cathedral Island. What a cruise it was! The guide says goodbye to the group... Ahoy! See you next time in Wrocław!
After the cruise, if you wish, stay on the waterfront on the boulevard. There are many cafes and bars here and beautiful views of the Odra River.
After the tour, the return to the hotel is on your own. You can Uber/taxi which is a 6 minute drive, or walk which is about 20 minutes; see walking map below.
Click the button to register:
ILDA Conference registration does NOT include your hotel room at the DoubleTree by Hilton Wrocław. Make a separate reservation by clicking the button link below.
Note that Hilton's website will give you default dates of 25-28 September (nights of 25, 26, 27 Sept. with checkout on 28). We advise you to add at least one more night on Sat. 28 Sept. so you can attend the big laser show put on by our host on Saturday night.
Also, Hilton may require your credit card to verify that you want to make a purchase in Poland. Be prepared for your card to text you asking to confirm if the charge is valid.
Hotel room rate if reserved on or before 4 September and under the ILDA group block:
- Single room: PLN zł 605 (approx. USD $155). Includes breakfast.
- Double/twin room: PLN zł 680 (approx. USD $175) Includes breakfast.
For registrations made on or after 5 September, the hotel's normal daily prices will apply.
The ILDA rates are available from the night of Sunday 22 September through the night of Monday 30 September. (The hotel website reservation page lists the dates 25-28 Sept which are the Conference dates. But according to our contract, they will honor the ILDA rate up to 3 days before and 3 days after.)
Check-in time is 3 pm, check-out is at 12 noon.
IMPORTANT NOTE 1: You will probably want to stay at least through the night of Saturday 28 September (checking out no earlier than Sunday 29 September). This is because we expect to have a spectacular laser show from our host, Visual Sensations, on Saturday evening. Assuming this goes on, you will not want to miss it.
IMPORTANT NOTE 2: Try very hard to reserve on or before Wednesday 4 September. Rooms are only being held for ILDA through 4 September. If you try to book rooms after that date, they may not be available. (If the hotel still has non-ILDA rooms, they will be at higher rates.)
IMPORTANT NOTE 3: Even if you see other rates or hotels online, just book at ILDA's hotel using the ILDA reservation webpage. Pay the ILDA rate as listed. This way, we can fill our contract with the hotel to have Conference attendees book a certain number of room nights.
IMPORTANT NOTE 4: NO FOOD OR BEVERAGES (including alcoholic beverages) MAY BE BROUGHT ONTO THE HOTEL PREMISES WITHOUT WRITTEN CONSENT FROM THE HOTEL. VIOLATIONS MAY RESULT IN AN ADDITIONAL CHARGE TO THE GUEST.
So enjoy the free breakfast, and the food ILDA provides during the Conference, and the hotel's restaurant and bar. Also enjoy any surrounding restaurants outside the hotel. But DON'T bring food or drinks into the hotel, thanks.
If you experience any difficulty in booking your room, please contact ILDA.
The videos below give you a quick overview of an ILDA Conference. The first one, from Christopher Short, shows lasers during the 2018 Lase-Off 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. Thanks to KVANT, host of the 2017 ILDA Conference, for producing the video.
For more information, visit our other ILDA websites:
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"Washington Crossing the Delaware" painting by Emanuel Leutze, 1851, collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Water Symphony" photograph background by Visual Sensation, 2019.