ENTECH Education Seminars

ENTECH’s seminar programme runs in every city on the tour, and features additional local presenters in each city, creating a unique schedule for each stop. There’s something for everyone; have your say on industry issues, upskill your staff, and learn about new technologies. All sessions are FREE to attend for every ENTECH attendee!

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NATIONAL: All Cities

SYDNEY: Tuesday May 19

BRISBANE: Thursday 21 May

MELBOURNE: Tuesday 26 May

ADELAIDE: Thursday 28 May

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KEYNOTE: Two Gaps, One Window: Electrical Compliance And The Live Entertainment Industry

Presented by Julius Grafton

The South Australian Electrical Certificate of Compliance (eCoC) is a state-based legal requirement that every temporary electrical installation be certified by a licensed electrician before it can be energised. If other states start asking why they don’t have something equivalent, it means an attending electrician on every bump-in, testing your gear, signing off before power is live, for every show, everywhere.

We all go out of business.

The reason that hasn’t happened yet is not because the regulatory framework doesn’t support it. It’s because nobody has pushed on it. That is changing.

The Australian Government National Electrical Licensing Scheme is being designed right now. A national framework built without input from the live entertainment industry will repeat every failure of every state scheme before it – no recognition of show power as a specialist category, no pathway for technicians working to AS/ NZS 3002, no acknowledgement that touring crews work without a licensed electrician on staff in any jurisdiction because none has ever existed. The window to shape this is open. It will not stay open.

We’re discussing the issue and forming a working party. The session runs at 12 midday all cities, hosted by Julius Grafton and with a secret guest (identity hidden for legal reasons) for the first session in Sydney.

Come if you run shows. Come if you supply power. Come if you pay for test and tag and wonder what you’re actually buying. Come if you have any idea what it would do to your business if every bump-in needed a licensed electrician on site.

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Lights, Network, Action; Shining A Light On Networked Lighting Control

Presented by Chris Chalk

Join Hollywood Lighting Programmer and OmegaTech’s Chris ‘Chalky’ Chalk (IATSE 728, ICLS) as he peels back the curtain and provides an in-depth case study of creating reliable lighting control networks on some of Hollywood’s biggest franchises.

“In the modern era of filmmaking, a “lighting glitch” isn’t just a flickering bulb, it’s a network bottleneck that can cost a production thousands of dollars per minute. When you’re filming in a “Galaxy Far, Far Away,” there is no room for downtime.

The transition from simple cable runs to complex, high-bandwidth networks is the new frontier of cinematography.

We’ll open by looking at the sheer scale of modern sets, where lighting isn’t just “on or off”, it’s a massive, bidirectional, multi-protocol data conversation.

Chris will then go in-depth discussing networked lighting control on shows such as ‘Star Wars; Skeleton Crew’ and Netflix’s ‘The Residence’. He’ll discuss how he designs, specs, implements and maintains large, multi-stage networks and the techniques and tricks he’s learnt along the way.

How do you manage seven sound stages, 448 universes and nearly 2000 fixtures on one network? Come and find out!

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Making Venue Inductions And Event Accreditations Easier

Presented by Susan Twartz

If you work in live events, you know that many hours are spent filling out forms for venues and clients and sitting through endless learning modules that seem to have very similar content. It costs a lot in terms of time and as a business owner I understand the need for it, but I really think there is a way that we as an industry can do it better and more efficiently.

This session is an open discussion that will document some ideas on how we as an industry can develop an acceptable and economic framework (similar to the construction industry white card). The hope is that the outcome of these discussions will be presented to an industry peak body to push the relevant levels of government to adopt the framework.

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Meet The Integrator

Got an AV project coming up? Fitting out a venue or refreshing an install? Come and meet your prospective AV Integrator! Beyond Network Solutions, AVIT, Fredon, and Diversified give their 10 minute elevator pitch for your business. If you like what they offer, you get to talk to them after their presentation!

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“I Just Want To Know How To Do My Subs”

Presented by Ben Clarke, Rational Acoustics Instructor & Optimiser AUS/NZ

Wavelength interaction through multiple arrivals (system directivity and reverberation are typically fixed) all play a part in accurately analysing your system response in the real world. Typically, this becomes a system optimisation challenge for all users – novice or expert alike – in the smallest studio through to the largest sound reinforcement deployments.

We will take a battlefield approach example where you only have 10 minutes to make useable low frequency measurements and use them to make a practical decision – fundamentally how and why SMAART is built to be the industry tool relied upon to help inform you when the going gets tough.

Attendees will receive 5% off the cost of 2026 SMAART TRAINING courses (dates which will be announced at ENTECH).

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“Don’t Just Blame The Sound Guy” Guiding Inexperienced Corporate Clients To Flawless Technical Execution

Presented by Liam McDonald, AV1

When feedback screeches or a presentation won’t load, all eyes immediately dart to the sound guy or AV tech. However, technical failures at corporate events rarely start at the mixing console, or vision switcher; they usually begin weeks earlier due to a lack of communication and planning. This presentation tackles the “scapegoat syndrome” by shifting the focus to proactive client management and event pre-production. It provides production professionals with practical strategies for guiding inexperienced corporate clients through the technical planning process, ensuring the tech team gets exactly what they need to deliver a flawless event.

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Physical and Mental Health and Fitness in Staging

Presented by Emma Sputnick

Join industry all-rounder Emma Sputnik in a discussion about how to protect the most valuable tools in the work kit – yourself and other skilled workers. With long days, late nights, planes, trains, and automobiles all in the average week of staging, learn some tactics on how to give your mind and body the best rest available. The presentation covers endurance tactics, how to recognise the signs of burnout, and recovery techniques that will keep you in top shape and show-ready for the rest of your life.

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Everything Starts With The Voice: Why Speech Intelligibility Should Be The Starting Point For Every Sound System Design

Presented by Lee Stevens, Adamson Systems Engineering

In many events, the most important signal in the room is the human voice. From keynote presentations and panel discussions to theatre and corporate productions, audience engagement depends on the ability to clearly hear and understand speech. Yet sound systems are often specified, deployed, and tuned primarily around music playback rather than speech intelligibility. This session challenges that approach and explores why speech should be the starting point for system design.

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Sean ‘Motley’ Hackett – Lighting KISS – Part 2!

Motley has spent 40 years lighting Rock ‘n Roll bands, and 16 years as LD for the legendary KISS. In addition to KISS, Motley was LD for INXS (14 years), Savage Garden (3 years) and Noiseworks (3 years). We can’t even cover all the tours he worked as crew for Jands (1986-1999) and Bytecraft PRG (1999-2017), but some of them include Bon Jovi, Elton John, AC/DC, Big Day Out crew chief for 18 years, Bee Gees, U2, Billy Joel, Green Day, The Who, Fleetwood Mac, Iron Maiden, and about 100 more.

After regaling us at the last ENTECH with incredible stories from KISS on the road, Motley returns with more tales from his time as their Lighting Director. Disasters, explosions, floods, fires, guns, and more!! Not to be missed!

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Career Pathways In Audio

Presented by Luana Moreno

Career Pathways in Audio introduces the different niches an audio professional can find in different industries, discussing pros and cons and how to plan your career, from the perspective of an industry veteran that worked across all of them internationally.

Luana Moreno is a Sound Engineer originally from Brazil, based in Adelaide. She has delivered several courses and workshops, mainly aimed at musicians and young adults with Northern Sound System, The Push and APRA/AMCOS about both live sound fundamentals and career pathways in the music industry.

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ENTECH Theatre Schedule

SYDNEY – Tuesday May 19
Time	NW Group Theatre A	NW Group Theatre B
11.30	Meet the Integrator
12.00	KEYNOTE: Electrical Compliance and the Live Entertainment Industry
12.30
13.00		Lights, Network, Action; Shining a Light on Networked Lighting Control
13.30	An industry conversation on site inductions
14.00		“I just want to know how to do my Subs”
14.30	“Don’t Just Blame the Sound Guy”
15.00		Physical and Mental Health and Fitness in Staging
15.30	Everything Starts With the Voice

BRISBANE – Thursday 21 May
Time	NW Group Theatre A	NW Group Theatre B
12.00	KEYNOTE: Electrical Compliance and the Live Entertainment Industry
12.30		Lights, Network, Action; Shining a Light on Networked Lighting Control
13.00
13.30	An industry conversation on site inductions
14.00		“I just want to know how to do my Subs”
14.30	“Don’t Just Blame the Sound Guy”
15.00		Sean ‘Motley’ Hackett – Lighting KISS – Part 2!
15.30	Everything Starts With the Voice

MELBOURNE – Tuesday 26 May
Time	NW Group Theatre A	NW Group Theatre B
12.00	KEYNOTE: Electrical Compliance and the Live Entertainment Industry
12.30
13.00		Lights, Network, Action; Shining a Light on Networked Lighting Control
13.30	An industry conversation on site inductions
14.00		“I just want to know how to do my Subs”
14.30
15.00	Everything Starts With the Voice

ADELAIDE – Thursday 28 May
Time	NW Group Theatre A
12.00	KEYNOTE: Electrical Compliance and the Live Entertainment Industry
13.00	Lights, Network, Action; Shining a Light on Networked Lighting Control
14.00	An industry conversation on site inductions
15.00	Career Pathways in Audio

PERTH – Thursday 2 June
Time	NW Group Theatre A
12.00	KEYNOTE: Electrical Compliance and the Live Entertainment Industry
13.00	Lights, Network, Action; Shining a Light on Networked Lighting Control
14.00	An industry conversation on site inductions
15.00