Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

NRG takes on the adventure of a lifetime at PLASA 2018

10/10/2018

NRG takes on the adventure of a lifetime at PLASA 2018 posted: 10/10/2018

by Nicky Rowland

Robe Stand at Plasa 2018

At the recent PLASA entertainment technology trade show in London, Robe once more offered high energy, high profile roles to half a dozen NRG crew members. For three non-stop, high octane days, students and young technicians from every corner of the British Isles supported the international Robe sales team in the jungle adventure that was the Robe stand.

Hailing from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, six students from six different colleges and universities came together to work as a close-knit team to provide a frontline welcome' to all the trade visitors coming onto the Robe stand and offering them product demonstrations whilst acting as ambassadors for the NRG programme run by Robe UK.

NRG (Next Robe Generation) is a networking community for students, apprentices and young technicians who are serious about pursuing a career in the world of performance lighting and visuals.

The initiative provides NRG crew members the opportunity to meet influential industry professionals who are happy to offer advice and share their enthusiasm and passion for lighting. NRG also offers the chance for young technicians to showcase their talent in real working environments at top industry events, as well as exclusive access to technical tours of venues and organisations such as Sky Studios, the Royal Albert Hall, X Factor, Westfield Shopping Centre and the Roundhouse.

Ian Brown, Sales Director for Robe UK was clear about the skills he was looking for when he conducted interviews with all the applicants for these very special roles on Robe's PLASA stand.

PLASA is a flagship show for Robe and we need to offer the most informed and welcoming introduction to all the visitors coming onto our stand. I selected students based on their interest in, and passion for Robe products. Many of the previous students who have had this experience have gone on to forge very successful careers in the industry. Each and every one of the students excelled in their roles this year - we were proud to have them on our team.

The successful applicants were buzzing about their experiences at the show and what the opportunity meant to them.

left to right - William Blackie, Karyn Wilson, Jack Coker, Charley E Lidster, Matt Carnazza, Gavin Mooney.

Will Blackie felt very privileged to be offered the opportunity for a second year running. Since leaving Cheshire South & West College as a student last year he has now embarked on a Level 3 apprenticeship in lighting. This is one of the best things you can do! Having worked on the stand last year, I couldn't resist applying again - the networking is unprecedented.

Jack Coker is a second year at Royal Central School of Speak and Drama and acknowledged the breadth of technical insight he gained: Working for Robe at PLASA has been a fantastic way to get more involved in the NRG project and I have gained so much product knowledge which will be invaluable in my studies, and, longer term in my career.

Karyn Wilson is just starting her final year at the Royal Conservatoire Scotland. This was my first experience of PLASA and it was amazing to work on the Robe stand. I met some inspirational people and it was an incredible educational and networking opportunity - one which I will utilise as I enter my final year of study.

left to right - Gavin Mooney, Amy Kerr (Robe UK training), William Blackie, Matt Carnazza, Askley Lewis (Robe key accounts - touring, TV, theatre & Film), Josef Valchar (Robe CEO), Charley E Lidster, Ian W Brow (Robe UK sales), Jack Coker and Karyn Wilson

Charley Lidster kick started her 21st birthday celebrations working on the Robe stand. Now entering her second year at University South Wales and on the lookout for an international work placement for her third year she said what a great way to further my network within the lighting industry. Opportunities like this are so worthwhile and whilst it was exhausting, it was amazing!

Matt Carnazza from Rose Bruford College is just starting his dissertation and third year. A regular at NRG Technical Tours and Networking Social events for the past 12 months he agreed that he had become part of the Robe family and this PLASA opportunity has been invaluable for my future career prospects. Wearing the Robe uniform at the show was an absolute privilege and it has really helped build my confidence when speaking to industry professionals.

Gavin Mooney from LIR Academy in Dublin was absolutely delighted to be offered the opportunity to travel over and meet other students from around the UK studying different courses. It was a privilege to be chosen to work on the Robe stand and learn more about all the fixtures we were talking to customers about. I met so many inspirational and genuinely interesting people from all aspects of the lighting community.

Many of the tutors and course leaders also came along to the show to see how their students were getting along.

Robe Stand at Plasa 2018

Angie Berwick, Cheshire College South & West, couldn't be more delighted. I think the NRG programme is fantastic. I have had the opportunity to see the inspirational opportunities and experiences that it offers students. I cannot think of a better partnership than working with Robe as a training provider of technical theatre. We are very proud of our connections with Robe and the NRG programme.

Hansjorg Schmidt, Programme Director, Rose Bruford College commented: NRG is a fantastic initiative, and many of my students are making use of this network to meet with other students and professionals from across the lighting industry. Opportunities like this where students are invited to represent NRG provides a real confidence boost and enables the students to further develop their und
LINK: https://www.live-production.tv/news/products/nrg-takes-adventure-lifet...
See more stories from liveproduction

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

30/07/2026

TVNZ Works with Evergent to Successfully Debut New Stream...

TVNZ and Evergent are celebrating a major TVNZ milestone - the evolution from a free-to-view, ad-supported business into a hybrid model, offering premium sport...

30/07/2026

WebMiere Adds Native VP9/AV1 WebM/MKV Import to Adobe Premiere Pro

WebMiere Adds Native VP9/AV1 WebM/MKV Import to Adobe Premiere Pro Brie Clayton July 29, 2026 0 Comments Brought to you by KawaiiEngine, WebMiere is a...

30/07/2026

Comments on FCC License Renewals for ABC Stations Top 150,000

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/07/2026

CW Sports Live Streaming to Launch Aug. 4 on the ESPN App

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/07/2026

Fox Advertising, iSpot Expand Measurement Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/07/2026

GlobalM Expands Software-Defined Media Platform for Cloud...

At IBC2026, GlobalM will showcase the latest evolution of its software-defined media platform, enabling broadcasters, telecom operators and media organisations ...

30/07/2026

Digital Alert Systems at 2026 TAB Show

At the 2026 TAB Show, Digital Alert Systems will highlight and demo the new DAS-Link AIR, an over-the-air common alert protocol (CAP) dissemination system for ...

30/07/2026

OpenDrives Named to the 2026 CRN Storage 100 List

OpenDrives Named to the 2026 CRN Storage 100 List Company Recognized Among the 50 Coolest Software-Defined Storage Vendors for Unlimited Capacity, S3 Hybrid M...

30/07/2026

VIDA Brings AI Scene-Level Search to Media Archives Endin...

New Scene Search capability in VIDA Content OS makes video content itself searchable, letting broadcasters and streamers find key moments across millions of ass...

30/07/2026

Creedon's Musical Atlas of Ireland returns for another season of stories and songs

Broadcaster John Creedon explores Ireland's rich musical heritage Sunday 2 A...

30/07/2026

Best in Class: Stream PC Games and Study on the Same Laptop With GeForce NOW

Back to school means balancing assignments, deadlines and downtime. GeForce NOW makes it easy to have it all. With cloud gaming, everyday laptops used for clas...

29/07/2026

Grass Valley Op-Ed Series: Seven Paradoxes Shaping the Next Era of Media Production

In this series, Grass Valley explores the seven paradoxes shaping the next era o...

29/07/2026

SVG Students to Watch: A Look Back at a Year of Spotlighting the Emerging Talent in Live Sports Production

Thats a wrap on Season 1 of SVG Students to Watch! Across the country, these stu...

29/07/2026

DAZN to Become Exclusive DTC In-Market Streaming Home of YES Network, MSG Networks; Gotham App to Shut Down

The agreement will move Gotham Sports App subscribers to DAZN during the 2026-27...

29/07/2026

Big South Promotes Emily Dassel to Associate Commissioner for Brand and Creative Strategy

Longtime digital-media leader expands role overseeing conference branding, video...

29/07/2026

Give Me the Backstory: Get to Know Gregg Araki, the Director of I Want Your Sex

By Bailey Pennick One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Festival is having a front-row seat for the bright future of independent filmmaking. ...

29/07/2026

TiME UK announce transatlantic partnership

Organisation team up with TI:ME USA Founded in 2019 with the aim of helping educators to embrace new music technology, Technology in Music Education (TiME U...

29/07/2026

Multiply 2: Free plug-in from Acon Digital

Doubling & chorus processor gets an overhaul Acon Digital have just launched the latest version of their free voice-doubling and chorus plug-in. Multiply 2 ...

29/07/2026

Origin Effects launch the EQDeluxe

New Pultec-inspired pedal revealed The latest addition to the Origin Effects line-up brings the legendary Pultec EQ into pedal format. Based on the EQP-1A, ...

29/07/2026

SBS Appoints Chief Commercial Officer and Director of Marketing and Audiences

SBS Appoints Chief Commercial Officer and Director of Marketing and Audiences 29 July, 2026 Media releases SBS is pleased to announce the appointment of Ni...

29/07/2026

Rohde & Schwarz showcases unified next-generation broadcasting ecosystem at SET Expo 2026 in Brazil

Rohde & Schwarz showcases unified next-generation broadcasting ecosystem at SET ...

29/07/2026

Central Christian Church Connects Remote Production Teams with Clear-Com's Gen-IC...

eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...

29/07/2026

Streaming Embarks on Annual Summer Ascent in Nielsen's May 2026 Gauge Reports

Streaming Hits 48.6% of Total TV Usage in May YouTube Leads in Media Distributo...

29/07/2026

WVIT's Joseph DiMaggio Named SBE Flanders Engineer of the Year

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/07/2026

Amagi Appoints Martin Wacker to Lead Sales for DACH -- St...

Industry veteran joins Amagi to drive growth in Europe's leading broadcast market and advance cloud-native broadcast, FAST, and AI-driven operations. LONDO...

29/07/2026

WebTransport opens new route for broadcast-quality media...

Work is ongoing to specify how to run RIST over WebTransport. This will deliver secure, stable, broadcast quality video playback and origination to any platform...

29/07/2026

Offline Files Makes the Drive Shelf Searchable on Mac

Offline Files Makes the Drive Shelf Searchable on Mac Brie Clayton July 29, 2026 0 Comments A local Mac app for finding files, photos, and footage acr...

29/07/2026

Blackmagic Design Announces New UltraStudio Mini 12G

Blackmagic Design Announces New UltraStudio Mini 12G Brie Clayton July 29, 2026 0 Comments New extremely portable Thunderbolt 4 capture and playback ...

29/07/2026

Brightline Lighting Introduces the MOD1

Brightline Lighting, a premier manufacturer of energy-efficient lighting systems for broadcast, videoconferencing, government, education and corporate applicati...

29/07/2026

Applications open for IFFI/WAVES Film Bazaar in Goa - Producer Delegation

Applications open for IFFI/WAVES Film Bazaar in Goa - Producer Delegation 28 July 2026 Image credit: Four Years Later Screen Australia has opened applications...

29/07/2026

Brightline Unveils Compact, Suspended MOD1 LED Light

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/07/2026

NAB Meets With Trusty on Ownership Caps

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/07/2026

QuickLink To Feature New StudioPro AnywhereTally At IBC 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/07/2026

HBO Max Launches Vertical Shorts to Improve Content Discovery

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/07/2026

New Tool Identifies Sources Of Fake Videos

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/07/2026

DNEG Migrates Editorial Workflows to Foundrys Hiero

Foundry today announced that Academy Award-winning creative studio DNEG has implemented Hiero to support its editorial workflows. Part of the Nuke product famil...

29/07/2026

QuickLink Unveils New StudioPro AnywhereTally Remote Tall...

The Latest Addition to the Brand's StudioPro Ecosystem Combines Simple Deployment, Cloud Control and Professional Grade Wireless Reliability QuickLink, a l...

29/07/2026

The Secret Master Adjustment Layer Hack in After Effects

The Secret Master Adjustment Layer Hack in After Effects Graham Quince July 28, 2026 0 Comments Trish Meyer (who literally beta-tested the original Af...

29/07/2026

Post Completed with Blackmagic Cloud for Shane Kosugi's Feature Film SEEK

Post Completed with Blackmagic Cloud for Shane Kosugi's Feature Film SEEK Brie Clayton July 28, 2026 0 Comments Cannes Indie International Film Fe...

29/07/2026

Isabeau Miller Named Chair of Berklee Songwriting Department

Isabeau Miller Named Chair of Berklee Songwriting Department The Berklee alumna, who previously served on the Songwriting faculty, will begin her new role on ...

29/07/2026

SES Launches Multi-Orbit Satellite Connectivity on LATAM Airbus, Embraer Fleet

Luxembourg, July 29, 2026 - SES, a leading space solutions company, was selected by LATAM Airlines to provide multi-orbit inflight connectivity service to its g...

29/07/2026

Hayu is coming to Sky, bringing fan-favourite franchises The Real Housewives, Below Deck and more to customers, at no extra cost

Wednesday 29 July 2026 Hayu is coming to Sky, bringing fan-favourite franchises...

29/07/2026

New RT true crime podcast launches today

RT launches Unsolved, a true crime podcast, presented by crime journalist Barry Cummins and presenter Katja Mia. Unsolved is a weekly podcast exploring unsol...

28/07/2026

LiveUs World Cup Record: 1,700 Units Support Wide Range of Transmission Needs

LiveU, the pioneer in IP-video transmission and cloud-based remote production, today detailed its historic performance records set during the 2026 FIFA World Cu...

28/07/2026

Case Study: How the Dallas Cowboys Removed Bottlenecks in Off-site Content Production

The NFL franchise rebuilt their off-site content operation for an era when teams...

28/07/2026

A New Way To Watch': How Formula 1 and Sky Sports Are Pushing Race Coverage Into a New Era

Longtime partners expand viewer choice, data-driven analysis, access, immersive ...