The Clarity Alliance, the UK hi-fi industry’s trade body, made a welcome return to the Dolby Theatre in London this week, after the enforced three-year pause.
The conference was an opportunity for members of Clarity, plus other individuals and companies operating in the UK hi-fi industry, to come together to discuss topics of relevance to the ever-changing market. A number of keynote guest speakers shared their knowledge and enlightened the audience…
George Freeman MP gave the Conference’s keynote speech. The first time a Government Minister was invited to speak at the Conference.
“His experience in business, industrial strategy and now with innovation and technology made him the perfect keynote speaker,” said Elizabeth Gould, Clarity Chair.
Meanwhile, Nick Simon from GfK brought the industry up to date with the latest trends in audio and video sales, drilling down into product categories and price points to help the attendees understand what consumers are purchasing.
And in a return visit to the Clarity Conference, Peter Aylett, a CEDIA Fellow, who currently serves as Chair of the CEDIA/CTA R10 Standards Committee and Chair of the R10 WG1 (audio) Workgroup, shared the CEDIA best practice guidelines for setting up immersive audio systems.
Bruce Black and Gary Kimberley, from online magazine Sound Advice, presented their views on the changing media landscape, while Darren Sherriff also shared his views. Mr Sherriff is well known in the hi-fi industry and he now runs Lonestar Consulting, an official partner of Clarity.
Elsewhere, T21 Group’s Paul Laville is heading up the focus on training for Clarity and highlighted the direction that future Clarity training will take, and also Giles Hodgson and Joe Tallon, who work for Blink, Clarity’s credit card services provider, shared the new platform that Blink has created and the very substantial savings that retailers can make by accessing this member-only benefit.
