History in the Making

Remembering our roots is not only nostalgic, but inspirational to recognize how far the industry has come. Just a bit of fun from our founding fathers!

Don't forget to drop by the Losberger booth
at The MATRA Conference and answer the question...  
"What year was Losberger Founded"
to be entered to win a
$100 American Express gift card.

Losberger US manufactures a "Palas" Portable Theater in Montreal

Summer 2013

25m wide X 55m long X 8m wall height  

(82' X 180' X 26')  

Losberger "Palas" tent structure is being well-used as a portable theater by French-Canadian singer-songwriter-entertainer and entrepreneur Gregory Charles.

Two locations were chosen for the debut performance in the Vintage Palas. The first, on the Quay Jacques Cartier in the Old Port area of downtown Montreal and the second (October) the show will open in Quebec City.  

The Palas theater boasts a full service bar area and offers comfortable seating for more than 1,000 patrons and guests. The intimate setting is what inspires Gregory Charles because it provides a perfect venue for his interactive style of entertaining.

The tent structure was designed with two interior 2nd floor mezzanines for VIP balcony seating and back stage green room activities, accessed by two 8' wide, 90° staircases. It features an 8' high roof parapet used as a signage wrap around the top of the whole building, artfully branding The Gregory Charles' Vintage Theater with black and white graphics. Half of the 26' high walls were clad with horizontally oriented glass panels and the other half with striking black PVC cassette hard wall. The double membrane inflated roof covers and the gable end covers were all fabricated using Verseidag Mills coated vinyl material, white on the outside and black on the inside to further enhance the theater atmosphere.

Gregory Charles originally envisioned.  

Installation and construction time, starting with unpacking nine 40' containers to finishing laying down the last section of drop-in cassette floor: 8 days. The installation team consisted of Losberger Germany's Thomas Ambacher - Installation Supervisor, and the installation company was Fiesta Tents of St. Laurent, Quebec, led by Richard Castonguay with his excellent crew of 7 skilled tent laborers.

What's Holding you Down?

We are a week after the IFAI Tent Expo 2013 and one of the main focuses this year was the new ballasting study. How do you make the decision to weight your tents? The ever-escalating cost of doing business as it pertains to weighting tents often drives business owners to make decisions towards “what they can get by with”.  IFAI has spent a significant amount of money over the years on studies about staking, and now ballasting. My question is, how many people have or will actually use these tools to make the correct decisions when it comes to weighting? Maybe it is the age old, "Well... I've been doing tents for 20 years and I know what is best" or is it more a case of, “My competition doesn’t use the correct amount of weight, so if I want to compete, I can’t either".   

 Our thought on this… If you think you cannot compete because your competition is cutting corners, We would say that your business cannot afford for you to do it incorrectly.  One accident resulting in an injury or damage to property will cost more than taking the time to ballast a tent correctly.  A message to all of us 'know it alls' out there... do you actually know better or have you just been lucky? If we do not teach the next generation to perpetuate our industry in a safe and professional manner, then we have no one to blame but ourselves.  Tools such as the ballasting study can be a valuable asset if the information is used as it is intended. Weighting tents is an on-going issue and should not be taken lightly… Get it?... lightly :)

Tell us your ballasting war stories!

How to use Ballast!

To Weight or not to Weight... that is the question. Unfortunately in this day and age, using alternative ballast to hold your tent down is more prevalent than ever. I had a customer that called me and explained that they had just installed their first tent using the stakes we provided with the initial purchase. What is curious is that this call came 4 years after they purchased the tent. This does not mean that they never rented their equipment. Rather it means, prior to this event, for 4 years all previous installations they used ballast. Tent weighting is always a hot button for debate, and now the IFAI Tent Rental Division has come out with a guideline and ballasting tool to help with the process. For information on the IFAI Ballasting tool visit  http://tentexperts.org/posts/blog/258

After you check out the IFAI ballasting tool let us know what you think...

Is this a helpful tool?

Will this give you the data that will help you and your local code official sleep better at night?

Better off

 Over the last two weeks the prime time tv has been monopolized with the speeches from the political conventions. Both sides have their views on the world and both sides disagree on most topics. One topic that has been in the fore front for both sides is if America is better off today than it was four years ago.Let's boil this down even further and ask you, the tent renter if your business is doing better today than it was doing in 2008.  Let us know....

Borrowing is Stealing

I remember years ago, in my rental days, going to a sales call for a very elaborate wedding. After the initial introductions the client handed me a picture that the previous rental store had left behind and asked me if there was any way our company could do such an amazing event. I looked at the “fabulous” picture and said, not only COULD we do such an event, I actually DID the event in the picture. This was back in the days before iPads, so I took out my company brochure and showed the client the entire project, not just the one picture that the competition presented as their own.

With the advancement of technology, today it is much easier to search photos and event designs online. It used to take a lot of nerve to physically copy someone’s idea and pass it off as your own. The world-wide-web has made piracy more tempting, more anonymous and accessible to everyone. Unfortunately, in today’s world it has become a common business practice.

Example of Losberger photos used by competitors

How does your company deal with this issue?

Do you support companies that participate in such business practices?

Do you give credit to vendors when a photo is showing more than your product?

This is such a wide spread problem. I would appreciate any and all comments or share examples of your own!

When is it time to blow the whistle?

Nobody wants to be a “tattle tale” but when is it time to say something about an unsafe tent installation? We have all seen some installations that are not exactly by the book. In most cases the event goes on and nobody is ever the wiser. I am not talking about sour grapes because you lost a project to another company or a dirty tent but a true unsafe installation. At the end of the day any incident that occurs where people are hurt or property is damaged will affect all of us... you, your competitors, the industry. When should you speak up?


Check out these situations...

Hundreds of people under a Bail Ring tent that is installed with the king pole staked to the same 3 stakes holding the side pole.

Entrance tent with a less than 60lbs of weight holding it down for a week long festival?

Obviously, this is a touchy situation but we all stand to lose from inadequate safety.

If you saw these, what would you do?