Darker Nights, Brighter Thinking!
On Tuesday 13 October 2026 we opened our doors. The Smoke Screen Open Day brought customers, security consultants and our whole team into one building for a day that was less about presentations and more about standing in a room while it filled with fog. We dubbed the day, Darker Nights, Brighter Thinking and we’ll show you why as this blog continues.
It was the first time in more than five years that every member of the Smoke Screen team, including colleagues who normally work from South Africa, was in the same place. We put that to good effect: the people who design, build, sell and support security fog were all on hand to answer questions and work through real problems with guests.
Here is what happened.
Creative thinking first: ENTER Dr David Hall
We opened with a keynote from Dr David Hall, a creative-thinking speaker. That might look like an odd choice for a security company. It was deliberate.
Most security failures are not caused by a lack of equipment. They are caused by thinking about a problem the same way everyone else does, which is exactly what offenders count on. The morning session was designed to get everyone in the room thinking differently before they saw a single product, so that the afternoon problem-solving was sharper.
Why an Open Day, and why now
Security fog is easy to describe and hard to appreciate until you have seen it. A 40-second video does not tell you what it feels like to lose all sense of direction in a room you walked into a moment earlier. Loss prevention managers, consultants and installers make better decisions once they have stood in it.
The second reason was the conversations. Retail crime has not eased, and the people responsible for stopping it are working with tighter budgets and more organised offenders. We wanted a day where guests could bring the problems they are actually dealing with and leave with something practical, whether or not the answer was one of our products.
Three demonstration zones
After the keynote, guests moved through three zones led by members of the Smoke Screen team. Each zone showed a different way security fog is used in practice.
Permanent
The three different zones represent the three key areas that Smoke Screen services. Smoke Screen cut its teeth in the security industry by installing and protecting spaces. These were typically permanent installations which protect a location. We protect all manner of spaces for all types of reasons, but commonly we’re protecting small, high-value items such as cash, tobacco, jewellery, fragrance, alcohol, vehicles — anything which can be easily taken away from a space. We essentially fortify a space so that, to coin our own tagline, they can’t steal what they can’t see. We take away an intruder’s senses and they flee the scene. But that all changed about five years ago.
Jack ran our attendees through a scenario in a replica of a convenience store that we’d built in our office. This demonstration involved camera analytics creating a trigger to activate our security fog machines. Very cool.
Deployable
We started to see the need for more temporary security fog solutions. Sometimes spaces only needed protecting for a small amount of time, or there was a need for immediate protection which a fixed installation could not achieve. Enter our deployable solutions. Items such as Sentry, Rapid Deploy and more recently Sentinel Go are three different deployable solutions which can be taken to any location and can provide security fog protection in a matter of minutes — not hours, days and weeks, like a permanent installation would. And then, they can simply be packed up and moved on to the next vulnerable space. Examples of these use cases include vacant properties, pop-up events, places where the alarm system cannot be integrated with, and rapid response to attacks where sites are particularly vulnerable to repeat offences.
Scott demonstrated Sentry, Rapid Deploy, Sentinel Go, and even some new fog technology we’re working on.
Monitored
More recently, cloud-based connectivity has opened up the future of security fog. Previously we would liken installing or servicing a security fog machine to having an MOT on your car. It’s brilliant when you have it done, as at that particular moment you know you are good to go and all is well. But what about the next day? How do you know it’s still working, unless you do a manual check before each drive, breakdown, or until next year’s MOT?
Our cloud monitoring software Sentience is designed for this very reason. Sentience allows constant, real-time monitoring of connected security fog machines, so you can be sure that all is working. Imagine an onboard mechanic checking on your car constantly. Sentience monitors things like critical faults, fluid levels, activations, tamper, and even internal machine temperature. This way, if something happens you know about it and can react to ensure your units are working and that you are continuously protected. No losses.
Matt demonstrated Sentience in conjunction with Jack’s demonstration. Sentience allowed the monitoring room to see all of the different stages that Jack’s permanent demonstration created. Sentience gives complete visibility.
The point of each zone was the same: you see the use case, you see the fog deploy in real time, and you see what an intruder would see. Nothing. And then you ask our team any question you like. Jack, Scott and Matt led the attendees through each of the zones and demonstrated the three pillars of Smoke Screen.
Lunch, then real problems
Lunch was a local one. And oh my word, this was a buffet and a half. The Ivy’s Farm Shop in Swineshead provided a truly opulent taste of Lincolnshire, and it was great to share a true taste of our home county with our attendees from across the country.
Problem statements
Another great session with Dr David Hall, as we used “superhero thinking” to tackle loss prevention problem statements. This was a wacky yet useful session on how to truly use innovation in our thinking, instead of incremental change. We’re not going to explain it all here — it’s pretty involved and pretty out there — but just know that we all challenged ourselves, and we think it’s fair to say that it was both fun and useful.
The whole team, in one room
The Open Day was a customer event, but it doubled as the first full team gathering in more than five years. Colleagues from our South Africa operation travelled to the UK for it, which reflects how the business has grown: Smoke Screen fog generators now protect sites across the UK, South Africa and a growing list of partner countries.
We’re not going to fill this article with staff profiles. What mattered for guests was that the engineers, the service team, sales and marketing were all in the building, so whatever the question, the right person was a few steps away. And yes, there was fresh coffee, made by one of our own.
Couldn’t make it on the day?
If you would like to see a security fog demonstration, we run them on customer sites and at events through the year. See our case studies, explore the applications we cover, or get in touch to arrange a visit.
If you want the background first, how security fog works covers the basics, and our retail security pages set out how the three approaches are used on store estates.
