Says DWR's Duncan Riley, "We expected a keen take up, but the actual turn out and the intensity of interest still took us by surprise. People stayed a long time at the demos, chatted to everyone on our team and also amongst themselves, while others who had to leave returned for more. "
Robe's MD Josef Valchar and sales director Harry von den Stemmen joined the DWR team of Duncan Riley, Nic Britz, Dave Whitehouse, Dan Riley and Nicolet Britz. Says Valchar, "South Africa has consistently been one of our most successful markets and DWR is doing a fantastic job in promoting our brand, which was also reflected in the success of the Roadshows. It was great to be there and see for ourselves just how much of a buzz surrounds the Robin range."
The Robe and DWR teams were joined by Michael Strathman from MA Lighting in Germany, who demonstrated the latest grandMA2 control technology on all the Roadshow events - DWR is also an MA distributor.
Literally everyone in the SA industry pitched up throughout the week, representing a full cross section of the industry, including rental companies, theatres, LDs, freelance programmers, technicians & operators.
In Johannesburg, the lighting department of SABC the national broadcaster were among the first group of a steady stream of visitors throughout the day, along with venues including the Silverstar Casino, the Johannesburg Civic Theatre, Lyric Theatre, Market Theatre, several architectural lighting designers - and the first 4 legged attendee ever at a Robe Roadshow - Toby, a golden retriever currently training to be an actor in one of the UJ theatre's forthcoming productions.
The Roadshow format once again proved an ideal environment offering the space for run throughs all day, giving an overview of all the featured products and the chance to speak to people on an individual basis - with less of a presentation and more of a dialogue vibe.
Harry von den Stemmen comments, "Apart from the interest in the products, it was a great pleasure to hear numerous comments from DWR customers who took the time to tell us how amazing DWR are as a supplier and technical service company. It was clear from all their reactions and the general atmosphere of the events that the company has many exceptional relationships and is held in the highest regard."
(Jim Evans)
