2024 Speaker Bios:
Thomas Miles, of Charlees Lights On Grover (previously WestLightShows), and his family live in Lynden, WA. Their family consists of Thom, Kristy, Jack, Guy, and their big German Shepherd Charlee! In 2021 they assisted with the drive through, Lights Of Lynden, in a big way by sequencing most songs and building most controllers. Their family is launching Charlees Props - a company dedicated to coro props and quality X-Models, including custom requests. Thom's past of anything DIY (houses, cars, and more) combined with a career in systems and IT lends a big hand to understanding all aspects of the light show in a pretty detailed way!
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Gary Palaniuk has been animating Christmas lights to music since December 2010. In fact, he conveniently used his supply of bulk SPT1 cable and light strings to help decorate for his wedding reception just a few months before! 😃 The first year of the show was built with a budget in mind by using props made out of things like scrap 1x1 wood and EMT pipe. Fast forwarding to today, Gary's show has slowly migrated to using pixels but the last piece of his puzzle was tying in "splashes" of projection. He was inspired by projection mapping but wanted to keep his pixel show, so with lots of researching to find and stumble upon some freely available—but relatively unknown—software and functionality, and with some creative juices, he got 'er done! You can check out his website www.diamondcrescent.com.
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Ron Howard is a professional light show sequencer and owner of xTreme Sequences that is internationally recognized for providing over-the-top, unique light shows for an ever-growing hobby and commercial applications. His consultation and support are second to none. Ron and his family were featured on ABC’s Great Christmas Light Fight Season 7 to share his craft with the world.
Ron understands the importance of pushing the boundaries with innovative techniques and using high-density and 3D props to elevate light shows as light shows evolve. Ron helps new enthusiasts each year navigate the exciting world of xLights. His passion for teaching is infectious, with an emphasis on humanizing technology. https://www.xtremesequences.com/
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Lorne Counter, of Counter Holiday Lights in Monroe has been blinky flashy for years. Lorne is all pixel and has been on the cutting edge of prop deployment for years even presenting at CLAP on his ingenious magnetic prop fastening systems. Lorne does both a Halloween and Christmas display and his use of the same props repurposed for both is pretty cool. He is always willing to share and help folks in this hobby as is evident by his numerous YouTube videos here: https://www.youtube.com/@CounterHolidayLights
www.counterholidaylights.com
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Mynor Mendoza - Mynor and Your Pixel Store have been around nearly 3 years now. Mynor's goal from the beginning was to offer great quality products to the community and support. They partner with some other great vendors in the community to offer products and experiences that make creating a show just a little easier.
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David Peace, is a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) turned lighting nerd. David has been creating unique and innovative hardware products for the holiday lighting community since 2018 when he started Pixel2Things. This invention followed his family being featured on ABC's the Great Christmas Light Fight Season 6; spoiler alert, they lost. David turned his passion of Holiday Lighting into his now full-time job. Experience Lights, founded by David Peace & Lee Lindquist, creates and sells interactivity products, and the latest Genius line of controllers for light shows. Experience Lights prides itself on not being just another reseller, but tries to create new products with features that haven't been seen before. https://www.experiencelights.com
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