PLASA News

Leading distributor Ambersphere Solutions returns to PLASA Focus Leeds as headline sponsor with a continued focus on connection, collaboration and long-term industry growth. We spoke with Philip Norfolk, Sales Director, about the value of face-to-face engagement, the company’s commitment to supporting its clients, and the wider challenges shaping the future of entertainment technology.

What do you value or enjoy the most about exhibiting at PLASA Show?

Connecting with new faces and those just starting out on their journey into working within the entertainment technology industry, along with seeing some old and now dear friends who have so often shared their knowledge and advice. It is fundamentally about the people.

What is the overall vision/purpose of your company?

To supply the best equipment, service it better than anyone else can imagine, support our clients who use it and train them so they can get the best from it. Every single day. All the while trying to maintain a work life balance for our team so that we can be happy in what we do.

What does your current role involve? What do you love most about it?

I find myself, with a fair amount of imposter syndrome, at the most senior level with the ACT Entertainment group. I look after the key relationships that the company has. With our external supply partners, key influencers and design teams, large scale clients and the internal teams that make it all happen. This involves often peaking behind the curtains at what will come to our industry in the future. It is fascinating work, seeing invention and product creation up close and then later seeing those inventions brought to life by the design and show creatives. I see a little more of the world than I’d like, but I cannot complain as I stand in a dark lab watching invention, then step into an FOH somewhere watching it all work. I am sometimes allowed to make tea.

What are the biggest topics of discussion in the industry right now, and what are your thoughts on them?

AI? Tariffs? Sustainability? Mental Health? Global instability? They are big issues and worthy of long debate. But I think the people gap and money gap are our giant issues. The People, is needing good people to realise this is actually a career, able to support you for your working life if you choose. And that smart, hard working people should be encouraged to join. Then the money gap, is the ever increasing divide between large shows (Taylor Swift as an example) and their vast budgets alongside smaller artists (Kate Nash a great example) unable to really make it work. We need to try and balance that.

Is there a question we should have asked you? If so, now’s your chance…

The powerful people, politicians, business leaders and the like – why are you not recognising the increasing role that entertainment has and will have in the global economy, and do more to champion and support it?

I have no answer – but I ask it every time I’m lucky enough to find myself near those influential people.

PLASA Focus Leeds returns to the Royal Armouries from 12-13 May 2026.

You can find Ambersphere Solutions on stand: N-A07, N-A21 where you can get hands-on with their latest equipment. Attend the show for free with Ambersphere Solutions.