The Montreal show on the move
     The Festival Son et Image is now 23 years old, and it is moving into its fourth venue.
     Yes, fourth. Not many people remember that the original edition, organized in 1984 by Michel Prin, who was then our publisher, took place at the Mount Royal hotel. The landmark hotel closed right after the show (so no one cared about thumbtacks hammered into the walls). Shortly after, Michel got out of the magazine business (selling UHF to us, in fact), and the show wasn't resurrected until years later, when it moved to the Delta hotel, still downtown, as shows should be.
     The Delta was a nearly perfect venue, with large rooms and concrete walls (the building had been originally designed for condominiums). There were just two problems. There weren't enough really big rooms to attract deep-pocketed exhibitors, and getting material in and out was a nightmare, with too few elevators and no loading docks.
     After years at the Delta, the Festival (as it was then called) moved to the Centre Sheraton, still downtown. Loading and unloading was easier, and there were plenty of big rooms. Not as good were the hotel rooms, which is what brings in the real hi-fi exhibitors. The first show attracted major companies, including Sony and Apple, but they didn't return. And among the remaining exhibitors the buzz was building for a return to the Delta, and the elevator problem be hanged!
     So here comes the fourth venue: the Bonaventure Hotel.
     There's a story to the Bonaventure, the gigantic concrete block just south of the main railway station. When it opened, before Expo 67, it was a wonder and a major tourist attraction, with a huge convention centre (Montreal's biggest until the Palais des Congrès opened some years later), a shopping area which many considered the most beautiful in North America (shamelessly vandalized since then), and...oh yes, the hotel up top.
     That hotel was gorgeous too. It featured (and still features) a four-seasons outdoor swimming pool, where you can be sitting in cushy warmth mere centimetres from a snowbank, and a restaurant that was superb even by sky-high Montreal expectations. At one time hotels of this caliber would not even have talked to the Salon organizers. Need we explain that hotel owners are a little hungrier in this difficult economy?
     The presence of the convention centre in the complex means that there are plenty of loading docks. The Salon is on at the same time as the National Home Show, but there's no conflict for loading and unloading dates. So far it's all good.
     The question is how many exhibitors will show up. Their ranks were thin last year, and the Salon ran a deficit it probably can't sustain, but the exhibitors who did show up were mostly delighted with the visitor traffic, and these things get around. Salon CEO Michel Plante was once again touring CES along with his eye-catching blue-haired ladies. Their calling card, once again, was a CD...a clever move.
     One more think about the Bonaventure. It's still downtown, linked to Montreal's famed underground city, and it has its own Métro station, called (of course) Bonaventure.
     This year the Salon is offering courses during the show, aimed at electronic systems professionals. The courses are from CEDIA, the Custom Electronic Design & Installation Association, which of course runs its own show each year. Offerings will include education from CEDIA University’s Electronic Systems Designer and Electronic Systems Technician colleges as well as courses for design and build professionals and a CEDIA Certification opportunity. CEDIA’s education will be offered March 24–27, on titles such as the Electronic Systems Technician Workshop as well as courses on retrofit, distributed audio and green building. Electronic systems professionals will also have the opportunity to take the Canadian EST II Certification Exam. Most courses are offered at reduced rates for savings of 60% or more. If you're in the target group, chck out the Salon site.

UHF's on-line coverage
     As in recent years we ourselves have no exhibit, and so four of us (Albert, Gerard, Toby, Steve) will have lots of time to tour the show, gathering pictures and impressions. Being (ahem!) privileged, we even get our own preview on Thursday, which is the trade day. You're invited to join us on line for our daily reports, with text and photos, starting late Friday (or, more likely, Saturday morning).. You can get to them by clicking the links at upper left.
     Our best wishes go with this year's edition, as it has with all the previous ones. See you there, possibly.

[ON TO THE REPORT ON DAY ONE]