K-array’s Global Distributor Meeting (GDM) took place October 25-27 at the newly renovated K-hall in San Piero a Sieve, Italy. It was the ideal occasion for the Italian manufacturer to warmly welcome its worldwide distributors with traditional Italian hospitality to discuss the latest strategies for 2018, including soon-to-be-launched new products.

Sixty-two guests from over 30 countries ascended on the small Tuscan town in the Mugello countryside where the two-day event occurred on Wednesday evening. A networking and a loudspeaker assembly team-building challenge were the first initiatives of the evening on Wednesday, followed by dinner and jam session featuring those colleagues who are musically inclined.

The plenary session kicked off early the next day with the theme Changing Perspective introduced by astronaut and aviator Maurizio Cheli who participated as Mission Specialist in the 1996 STS-75 Tethered Satellite mission with NASA. Cheli illustrated the necessity for a change in way of thinking for both the most scientifically-important tasks and the small, trivial duties that were vital to the success of space mission. This interesting presentation summed up the importance of a common vision to be pursued with a good balance of roles and responsibilities of the whole team, of which each component is integral and coherent, with careful planning, the continuous effort to improve even the smallest of detail and the immediate resolution of any problem. In fact, this change in perspective is widely shared in almost every aspect of K-array’s activity since its founding in 1990.

“It was fantastic,” said Shawn Teoh, President of Nextrend from Malaysia. “We were really inspired by the astronaut and we really enjoyed it a lot. I think it really captured the theme of changing perspective.”

After a recap of sales figures presented by Alessandro Tatini, Co-Founder and President of Research & Development, the day’s agenda dived into strategic planning for the next year covering the bases of marketing introduced by Marketing & Communications Manager Andrea Torelli, new market verticals focus by Strategic Sales & Business Development Manager, Stefano Zaccaria, Project Consultant Daniele Mochi and Customer Service Specialist, Daniel Strassera, and new innovations and audio solutions that were introduced by Francesco Maffei, Product Specialist.

The plenary session ended with guest presentations given by Zero55, a local team of lighting professional who discussed the importance of quality lighting to accompany audio and an interesting experiential discussion on immersive audio by innovator of Astro Spatial Audio, Bjorn van Muster with audio assistance from K-array’s famous sound engineer, Klaus Hausherr.

Once the day’s presentation had concluded, the evening began with a delicious Tuscan dinner coordinated by Gemma Braschi, Executive Assistant, followed by an awards ceremony produced by Nicolò Nisi, Visual Communication Designer, to recognize distributors who provided exemplary commitments to the brand and executed the best installations of the year, presented by Margaux Asteghene, PR & Advertising Specialist, and Ilaria Scotto, Sales Account Coordinator and Laura Giusti, HR Manager with a brief appearance by Massimo Ferrati, Co-Founder & President of Finance.

This year’s award-winners were:

Best Installation – K-array America, Oculus World Trade Center Transportation Hub
Best Large-Scale Application – Lotus Technology, Land of Legend Theme Park
Best Nightclub – Procom Middle East, White Nightclub Dubai
Most Unique Project – Exhibo, D Loft Milan
Best Concert / Live Show – 2B Heard, BROS Reunion Tour at O2 Arena
2017 Distributor of the Year – Procom Middle East

The festivities did not end there, however, as the lively group Sound Beats took the stage and performed several famous crowd-pleasers obviously using the unique audio solutions of K-array.

Friday morning was devoted to product deployment, with small group meetings during which product specialists and project specialists explained in detail new products responding to distributor questions and collecting feedback to further refine their products of their final presentation.

After a quick lunch, the K-array family said their final goodbyes and parted ways motivated to help the growth of the brand in each of their respective territories:

“The conference was fascinating, exclaims Anat Mazuz, Marketing Manager of Israeli distributors, Protouch Ltd. “We enjoyed each and every moment! The innovation and creativity of the company evoke respect and curiosity and has really excited us! K-array is truly a unique and amazing family.” “The event was extremely well organised and was a great example of the K-array team in action,” added Sam Nankivell of UK distributors 2B Heard. “We are very proud to work with and represent K-array in the UK.”