With the 2016 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Edinburgh International Festival just around the corner, we are gearing up to welcome thousands of festival-goers to a vibrant line-up of performances taking place at the EICC this August.

Fringe veterans Craig Hill, Jimeoin and Daniel Sloss return to the EICC with their latest shows, which promise to sell out once again. In the Cover Story, we interview the three comedians and find out about their most memorable Festivals, what audiences can expect from their shows this year and their favourite spots in the city to escape the August crowds.

There’s no better time to experience Edinburgh’s flourishing street food scene than during the festival period when the city’s restaurants are jam-packed. In the Destination feature we highlight a selection of traders, markets and events to enjoy across the summer months.

The EICC isn’t only hosting arts performers and comedians this summer – there have been a number of stand-out events and conferences so far, including the Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Awards and the Insomnia Gaming Festival. You can read more about these distinctive events in Highlights at the EICC.

We were also delighted to host the SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation Conference, the most prestigious event for developers of telescopes and their supporting technologies. In this issue’s Case Study we speak to Event Manager Rob Whitner about the international society for optics and photonics and their annual conference.

We hope you enjoy this issue of Conference Call and please do get in touch if you have any feedback.

Marshall Dallas
Chief Executive