PROMAG: THE HISTORY, THE FUTURE

In 1993 Electrosonic SA launched an eight page AV and Lighting newsletter and called it Pro-Magazine. “High-tech meets education” was printed in bold as the intro paragraph of one of the first articles. An extract from that story reads: “In the training centre itself, the 120-seat main auditorium is equipped with a Panasonic data projection system, which allows the projection of anything from printed pages and 35mm slides to overhead transparencies and even three-dimensional objects”. It continues: “Panasonic 67cm colour television sets and VHS VCRs have been installed…”

Twenty one years later some of our children would be blissfully unaware that such “high-tech” equipment ever existed. And, as the industry developed so did the newsletter. Gizelle Fischer, daughter of Lourie Coetzee (a founding Member of Electrosonic SA), initially launched Pro-Magazine. It was her vision and passion to develop it into the popular industry magazine it has turned out to be. Fortunately, when Gizelle followed her dream in 2009 to study winemaking down in the Cape, it didn’t signal the end of her brainchild: Electrosonic SA continued publishing. In the intervening years the name changed to PROMAG, and is now a 28 page quarterly distributed to 12 countries worldwide.

THE FUTURE

Electrosonic SA is in the business of riding the wave of technological change, and our magazine should reflect this ethos. So, we are seriously on the social-media bandwagon. Our social media channels are constantly being updated with the latest products and applications; industry news; product reviews; as well as system and lighting installations and events. However, this has started affecting the quarterly publication of PROMAG; we found that certain stories are old by the time the hard copy is printed. Who wants to read old news?

In moving forward with the times we decided to modernise PROMAG. Next year PROMAG will take on the form of a BLOG, where our readers will have constant, and real-time, access to articles, and can participate by commenting and sharing information. We are making PROMAG more engaging, and we are showing that we value reader participation. Articles will also be available on our other social media platforms.

We’ll also print an annual coffee table book, appearing at the end of 2015, and showcasing the year’s most interesting events and installations in our industry. We feel it’s better to print something lasting, as opposed to yet another throw-away item. We’ve yet to decide on a name for this coffee table publication, and invite you to come up with some suggestions.

So, we encourage all our valuable readers to go online and follow our stories via our social media platforms. The launch date for the PROMAG BLOG will be announced through these channels, and on our website.

We thank you for your continued interest in PROMAG, and look forward to modernising our service by presenting all our latest industry news real-time, and online.