Rob has been working in entertainment lighting for more than thirty years, as a lighting designer, lighting programmer (a role he helped pioneer) and as a technical writer covering the creation of shows and new technologies. He has always simultaneously looked forward – being the first to adopt many now-standard products – and backwards at how previous generations of lighting technology have helped shape where we are now. His Classic Gear column in LSi magazine has been describing such products for almost twenty years now, and Classic Gear Live now brings some of these historic products to the annual PLASA trade show. He was one of the creators of the Backstage Heritage Collection, which seeks to document and preserve the history of entertainment technology.