Robe's general manager for the Middle East, Elie Battah, and his team were joined by Robe International's Nathan Wan and Steve Eastham for the build period, and together they constructed the impressive stand which featured a special Lightshow, designed and programmed by Nathan.
As with other recent Robe exhibition stands, this proved a real magnet in attracting people as well as creating a great buzz and a talking point around the show floor.
Robe also partnered with three dynamic complimentary visual effect companies at PALME ME this year - LPS Lasersysteme from Germany, MagicFX from The Netherlands and fog / haze experts MDG from Canada, all of which helped make the booth stand out even more.
The colourful and animated lightshow featured many newly launched Robe products, some being shown in the Middle East region for the first time.
It included the BMFL Spot, the LEDBeam 1000, the brand new Strobe - 120 high powered LEDs split into 12 individually controllable zones - and the PARFect H1 hybrid - a version of this popular product that can be dimmer controller or via its own onboard power supply - as well as the Viva, a new lightweight LED fixture with a host of smart features.
The lightshow was followed by an equally eye-catching laser show specially designed by LPS Lasersysteme's Siegmund Ruff, accompanied by special effects - including some attention grabbing CO2 jets - from MagicFX.
Robe's sales director Harry von den Stemmen and sales operations manager Renata Stodulkova were on hand to chat to the steady stream of visitors checking out the stand throughout the three days, with numerous individual and close-up product demos conducted throughout by Nathan and Steve.
"Everyone we saw was of excellent quality and genuinely interested in what we have to offer," confirmed Elie, who closed several deals at the show including one for 16 x BMFL Spots to a UAE rental company. He also sold most of the kit that was on the stand to various clients.
There was enormous interest in the BMFL Spot together with the ever popular Pointes, LEDWashes and LEDBeam 100s as well as newer products like the CycFX8 and the MiniPointe.
Elie highlights the international nature of the people visiting the Robe stand. In addition to those with operations based in the UAE, they saw visitors from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait and Qatar, representing a wide selection of entertainment, commercial and leisure sectors. "The visibility of the stand really helped attract attention and draw people to us - it was a very good decision."
Harry comments, "We generally enjoyed a really good expo and did plenty of real business so that was all very positive. However I am also interested to see how PALME Middle East will go from here! Many feel the proliferation of Asian manufacturers has now reached a critical mass, and the show organizers need to think carefully about how the event is structured and pitched for the future."
(Jim Evans)
