International Laser Display Association

The leading worldwide association for companies and persons doing laser light shows, and providing lasershow-related projectors, hardware, software, and services. Supporting safe and ethical laser shows since our founding in 1986.


Six ways ILDA Members make better shows

Our Members add impact to shows with the purest, most brilliant light in the universe

Proven experience as an ILDA Professional accredited company

ILDA helps keep shows safe and legal; free SKYZAN™ safety software for Members

Customers buy with confidence when backed by the Code of Ethics

The world’s best laser shows, at the yearly meeting of the world’s best laserists

Using new technologies and developing industry-wide standards

Our Members add impact to shows with the purest, most brilliant light in the universe

Proven experience as an ILDA Professional accredited company

ILDA helps keep shows safe and legal; free safety software for Members


Customers buy with confidence when backed by the Code of Ethics

The world’s best laser shows, at the yearly meeting of the world’s best laserists

Using new technologies and developing industry-wide standards


New! Voting is now open for two 2023 ILDA Award categories

ILDA Members can vote from June 5 through June 20 for two ILDA Award categories. We are sending out emails to ILDA Members with a link to the voting website.

The deadline for Members to click on the "Vote" button in their email, and to cast their vote, is 11:59 pm UTC on Tuesday June 20.

Click the links below for more information on the entries/nominees and on the voting process.


For the 2023 ILDA Laser Photography Award voting, there are 25 entries. Members can choose their favorites. The top three vote-getters will receive First, Second and Third Place.

A voting link for the Laser Photography ballot is emailed to all current 2023 Members in our database. This incudes Hobbyist and Student Members, and any Corporate Members' employees in the database.

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2022 First Place, Laser Photography: ”Tesla Coil" by LOBO


For the 2023 ILDA Career Achievement Award voting, there are five nominees. Members can choose their favorite and vote that person for CAA.

  • Ward Davis
  • Rockne Krebs
  • Chris Matthews
  • Roberta McHatton
  • Dani Sawtell

A voting link for the Career Achievement Award is emailed to all current 2023 Corporate, Nonprofit and Individual Members in our database. (For Corporate Members, only one email is sent out, to the main Corporate contact. This is because CAA voting takes into account that higher Corporate Member levels paying more dues have more votes.)

Tim Walsh receives the 2014 ILDA Career Achievement Award from 2012 CAA recipient Tom Harman. A list of all past CAA recipients is here.


ILDA remembers Ivan Dryer on March 7

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Ivan Dryer, pioneering laser artist and founder of Laserium® planetarium shows, was born on March 7, 1939. In recognition of his achievements, the ILDA Board of Directors in 2017 declared March 7 of each year to be International Laserist Day — a day for recognizing the people and companies who design spectacular laser shows and laser art, throughout the world.

ABOUT IVAN DRYER

Many older ILDA Members had their first exposure to laser displays at a planetarium running Laserium shows. Dryer’s example helped inspire these Members to get into the business, and often to found their own laser display companies.

Within ILDA, Dryer was known for his quiet, thoughtful and kind demeanor. He was a founding Member of the association, served on the Board from 1990 to 1994, and was ILDA President from 1990 to 1992.

Laser Images was host of the 1991 ILDA Conference, held in Los Angeles. The company won 43 ILDA Awards for artistic and technical excellence, in the years between 1988 and 2000.

A 2002 newspaper article summed up how laserists felt about him: “Dryer appears to be universally regarded with awe and respect.”

IVAN DRYER'S LIFE

Dryer received the first ILDA Career Achievement Award, in 1989. His CAA citation includes this: “Dryer is universally recognized as the father of the laser show industry. His selection by ILDA as recipient of the first Career Achievement Award underscores his unique place in the history of laser displays.”

When Ivan Dryer was 20, he joined the Griffith Observatory and Planetarium in Los Angeles as an astronomer. He also was an aspiring filmmaker. In late 1970 he collaborated with Caltech physicist Elsa Garmire, to film laser light patterns she had created. This became the short film LaserImage.

Filmed lasers, however, were flat. They did not have the vibrant scintillating coherent speckle of live laser light. Dryer and Garmire approached the Griffith with a proposal for a live show to be called “Laserium”. They were turned down — both by the Griffith and by banks.

Three years later, Dryer and Garmire put together a demonstration at Caltech, using a 1-watt krypton laser, This time the new head of the Griffith gave an OK for a one-month test at the planetarium.

Laserium premiered November 19, 1973. Four weeks later, 500 people a night were being turned away. Dryer’s company, Laser Images Inc., went on to do laser shows in 46 planetariums and locations in other cities as well. The shows were seen by over 20 million people. At its peak, Laser Images had 70 employees.

In 2002, the Griffith Observatory planetarium was to be closed for renovations. Laserium’s last show there was January 5, 2002. It had run for 28 years — the longest running theatrical attraction in Los Angeles, and the longest-running laser show in the world.

As new technologies such as bright, large, hi-def video screens and computer graphics improved, classic laser shows with their lo-res wireframe images fell out of favor. Laserium scaled back, while Dryer kept working with lasers and Laserium projects. He officially retired in 2009, when Laser Images Inc.’s assets were acquired by Jon Robertson of DayStar Lasers.

In 2013, Dryer received the first IMERSA Lifetime Achievement Award from the Immersive Media Entertainment, Research, Science and Arts association. IMERSA noted “In addition to his pioneering creative and technical achievement, he also did something unprecedented for planetariums and science centers: Laserium showed that these facilities could be used as entertainment venues, increasing attendance and generating revenue…. Dryer’s influence carries on with presentations where light becomes an actor.”

In his acceptance speech, which received a standing ovation, Dryer recounted the history of his laser work, with many humorous anecdotes. He concluded by saying “I’m delighted that we managed to enlist what was then a somewhat esoteric technological device that has been used to guide missiles and telescopes, to instead guide the neurons in millions of brains to dance synesthetically in a fusion of music and image that enhances both -- to create a machinery of joy. The compliment I most prize was from a woman who came up to me and said, ‘You know, I envy you, you’re spreading joy!’”

Dryer cared for his convalescent wife, Carol, through her death in June 2016. This took a toll on his health as well.

A documentary film on his life and work is in production, and is expected to be released later this year.

Additional background and reminiscences are at Laserium’s website, photos and text at the Leaping Robot Blog and the links at Dryer’s Wikipedia page.

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In 2017, ILDA honored Ivan Dryer by declaring his birthday, March 7, to be “International Laserist Day.” He was sent this plaque, to let him know how much he means to ILDA and laserists in general.

Ivan had been very ill at the time. His brother, David Dryer, presented it to him and told ILDA “Ivan had a big smile on his face when I showed him the plaque. That's the first smile in about a year!”


ILDA Beach Conference registration, and hotel reservations, now open

You can now register for the 2023 ILDA Beach Conference, Sept. 17-20 in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. The lowest Conference registration rate is valid through June 30, so register early!

Full details including a schedule and registration information is on the Conference page.

This page also lists the three types of hotel rooms available, and information on how to reserve your room. Remember to do so by August 16. After that date the hotel can release ILDA's rooms. This means either you might not get a room, or if you do, it will be more expensive than the ILDA Conference room rate.


Mondo-DR publishes interviews with five women of ILDA

In March 2023, the entertainment technology publication Mondo-DR published interview articles with five female members of ILDA:

  • Roberta McHatton
  • Paula Steger
  • Olga Eser
  • Nisha Ramnath
  • Christine Jenkin

The interviewees give a variety of viewpoints about their experiences in the industry, and with ILDA. An ILDA.com webpage has links to the articles and a few selected quotes. The full Mondo-DR articles, which are linked on that webpage, are brief and illuminating.


Laser safety courses schedule, May-September 2023

LSO AND LASER OPERATOR COURSES JUNE-SEPTEMBER 2023

We have set up ILDA Laser Safety Officer (LSO) and Laser Operator courses for the following dates. Note that the full LSO course is nine hours long; the lower-cost Laser Operator course is the first 5 hours of the LSO course.

  •   Monday, June 12, 2023 10 am - 7 pm Eastern. IN PERSON at Robe Lighting in Davie, Florida (north of Miami). Cost for this course is higher than for online classes.

  •   Monday/Tuesday, June 19/20, 2023 online/Zoom. Full LSO course: June 19 5 pm - June 20 2 am Eastern. Laser Operator portion: June 19 5 pm - 10 pm Eastern.

  •   Friday, July 14, 2023 online/Zoom. Full LSO course: 1 pm - 10 pm Eastern. Laser Operator portion: 1 pm - 6 pm.

  •   Monday, August 14, 2023 online/Zoom. Full LSO course: 7 am - 4 pm Eastern; this is 1 pm - 10 pm Central European time. Laser Operator portion: 7 am - noon Eastern; this is 1 pm - 6 pm Central European time.

  •   (On Sunday Sept. 17 and Wed Sept. 19 there will be in-person laser safety classes at the ILDA Conference in North Carolina. See below for details.)

The date and time of an online LSO class can be changed if no one has yet signed up for a class. For example, if you are in a time zone far from US Eastern, we can change the hours so it fits your schedule. If you are interested in an online class but need a date or time change, contact ILDA. Once at least one person signs up, then the date and time will no longer be changed.

COST AND HOW TO SIGN UP

Detailed information on these courses is on the ILDA laser safety courses webpage.

The cost for an online/Zoom LSO course is $525 per person for ILDA Members, or $649 for non-members. This may be higher for in-person courses due to having to rent room space, travel, and other expenses.

The cost for an online/Zoom Laser Operator course is $295 per person for ILDA Members, or $495 for non-members. This may be higher for in-person courses.

To sign up for any course, visit our membership & event website's Events page.


Proposed ILDA standard for safe laser shows

ILDA is developing a standard for laser shows that the association would generally recognize as safe. The "Category A Laser Show Standard" includes requirements for simplified, lower-power shows with terminated beams.

The standard is currently being drafted. It is not yet approved or adopted. ILDA welcomes comments and suggestions. These are invited from anyone — Members, non-Members, regulators, safety experts, etc.

The draft document, plus a summary of the proposed requirements and discussion of what the Standard hopes to eventually accomplish, are on the Category A Laser Show Standard page.


2022 ILDA Conference

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The 2022 ILDA Conference in London has concluded. Above is a photo of Conference attendees on a November 5 tour of Hever Castle, home of Anne Boleyn.

Photo courtesy Nick Squire. Click on photo for larger version. (Depending on your browser, once the photo has loaded to the browser width, you may be able to click on the photo to see it even larger, at full 100% size.)


2022 ILDA Award winners

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The 2022 ILDA Awards booklet, a 60-page PDF document, has details of all the awards.

The 2022 ILDA Award winners were announced November 5, 2022, during the ILDA Conference in London (Dartford) UK, hosted by ER Productions. Here are the categories in which the entries competed:

Corporate Show
Live TV Show
Edited Film / TV / Video
Laser Show with Added Effects/Multimedia
Nightclub / Disco / Music Festival Show
Live Stage Show
Multi-Effect Laser Show
Graphics Show
Abstract Show
Beams/Atmospherics Show for a Single X-Y Scanner Pair
Beams/Atmospherics Show with Add-On Effects
Beams/Atmospherics Show for Multiple Scanner Projectors
Permanent Installation
Fine Art Laser Display
Laser Photography
Live "Laser Jockey" Performance
Fenning Award for Technical Achievement
Fenning ILDA Digital Network Standards Technical Achievement Award
Career Achievement Award

Congratulations to all winners. A detailed list of all the award winners is at the 2022 Awards page.

A PDF booklet containing all the 2022 ILDA Award winners is now online. It contains a list of all the winners along with a description of each winning entry.

Videos

Videos of the First, Second and Third Place entries are available on YouTube. Links are below, in the list of winners. You can also go to the ILDA YouTube playlists for all Award-winning videos or for just the First Place winning videos.

Compilation video

If you want to get a quick overview of all of the winners, below is a video compilation of the 2022 Award winners. This 36-minute video contains short 15- to 60-second excerpts from the Award-winning entries.

To see videos from earlier years, back to 2015, click the gray bar below.

  •       2015-2021 ILDA Award videos

    These are the ILDA Award compilation videos from 2015 to 2021. Each one is about 20-45 minutes long, and has the best shows from those years.


    2021 ILDA Awards compilation

    If you want to see the full-length 2021 winners as they were entered — up to 4 minutes maximum — you can go to the 2021 ILDA Awards playlist for all video winners (First, Second and Third Place), or just the playlist for only the First Place winners.


    2020 ILDA Awards compilation

    If you want to see the full-length 2020 winners as they were entered — up to 4 minutes maximum — you can go to the 2020 ILDA Awards playlist for all video winners (First, Second and Third Place), or just the playlist for only the First Place winners.


    2019 ILDA Awards compilation

    If you want to see the full-length 2019 winners as they were entered — up to 4 minutes maximum — you can go to the 2019 ILDA Awards playlist for all video winners (First, Second and Third Place), or just the playlist for only the First Place winners.


    2018 ILDA Awards compilation

    If you want to see the full-length 2018 winners as they were entered — up to 4 minutes maximum — you can go to the 2018 ILDA Awards playlist for all video winners (First, Second and Third Place), or just the playlist for only the First Place winners.


    2017 ILDA Awards compilation

    The above has all music, but may not be playable in some regions due to copyright claims.
    The above has copyrighted music removed so it should be playable in all regions.

    If you want to see the full-length 2017 winners as they were entered — up to 4 minutes maximum — you can go to the 2017 ILDA Awards playlist for all video winners (First, Second and Third Place), or just the playlist for only the First Place winners.


    2016 ILDA Awards compilation

    If you want to see the full-length 2016 winners as they were entered — up to 4 minutes maximum — you can go to the 2016 ILDA Awards playlist for all video winners (First, Second and Third Place).


    2015 ILDA Awards compilation

    For 2015 we only have the compilation video, not the additional full-length winners as they were entered.


ILDA Member discount at Lasershow.biz

ILDA Members receive a 10% discount on laser shows sold by Lasershow.biz. This is a platform for award-winning laser show designers around the world, to present and sell their work. Many of the shows themselves have won awards from ILDA and other groups.

When you register for an account at the website, click the ILDA Membership box if you are a Member. Later, when you go to purchase, Lasershow.biz will check your name against ILDA's online list of members and you'll get the 10% discount.


ILDA health plans for U.S. Members

ILDA has now joined with the LIG Insurance Group to bring health care policies to our U.S. Members. This is an Association Health Program where LIG finds policies that meet your particular health care needs and desires (including extras such as dental and vision).

If you like your current health care insurance, that’s fine. But if you’d like to hear about alternatives that may save money and/or give increased coverage, you can now call 888-869-7142 or check out the the LIG ILDA Health Coverage page.

Sorry, the healthcare benefit is U.S. only because of U.S. laws. On the other hand, many of our ILDA-Member countries have health care systems with coverage that may be more comprehensive and/or more affordable than the U.S. employer-based system. And if any non-U.S. Members have information about similar association insurance programs in their countries, we would be glad to get details.

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ILDA Members attending the 2018 Conference in Montréal


For more information, visit our other ILDA websites:

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ILDAmember.com: Membership database and event management, including joining ILDA
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LasershowSafety.info: Information about safe laser shows, including laws, regulations, checklists, and more

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Photo credit: Green beams above column 1 (The universe’s most unique light) — “Scooter” by Lightline Lasertechnik.