Marking its tenth anniversary, the 2012 Palme Middle East show took place in Dubai claiming ‘more than 200 exhibitors’ (against the 242 listed for 2011).

Show organiser Informa Exhibitions had chosen to co-locate Palme Middle East with the Middle East Event Show, and top off the show’s three days with the Middle East Event Awards on the second night.

Although Dubai remains a hub for commerce in the technology industries, in recent years business has migrated further into the GCC and beyond, building an expectation among exhibitors for a greater outreach. Informa responded by refocusing its visitor profile, drawing on the Near East and North and Central Africa, as well as the Gulf territories. This worked for some exhibitors, including Gordon Cooper, director of power generation suppliers SES (Entertainment Services) Ltd, who asked: ‘Where else could you meet people from Iraq, Nigeria and Afghanistan all in one room?’

SES distributor RFW Trading he received an order for AED100,000 from a Nigerian production house – part of ‘at least AED 250,000 worth of business we will write directly from the show. We have had a fantastic three days and this has been the best Palme ever for us’.

While companies such as Protec have supported the show since its launch, others like API were new to the show floor. The US console specialist also had an 80-channel Vision studio mixer lined up for a recording studio in Doha. ‘The last three years we’ve been focusing on territories where we never had a presence,’ said Director of Sales, Dan Zimbelman. ‘This was our first opportunity to come to the Middle East and I’m glad we did.’

Among manufacturers that chose Palme Middle East for product launches were Philips, with its Signage 3D screen shown by Thierry Louesse at Fractal Systems (also making its Palme debut). The glasses-free 3D display was shown in modular form alongside a multi-touch table, and can be built up to a 5 x 5 array (measuring 6m x 5m). The company aims to have a decoder that will transform any 2D movie into 3D. ‘Palme represented the perfect opportunity to launch this product,’ Louesse said.

The show also hosted training and education sessions. Safety was one of the topics that came under the spotlight when Lee Brooks, MD of Prolyte UK, presented a keynote address under the heading Building Truss Systems – Technical Basics and Safety Issues.

Several companies had expanded their presence at the show, including TechnoPro. By the end of the show company founder Nabil Bourgeili was able to announce a major deal with one of their long term suppliers, SGM Lighting, for wider distribution of what he sees as a LED offering for both the entertainment and architectural markets.

Most local distributors were supported by representatives from their suppliers. Ben Sweeney, International Sales Manager at Australian microphone company Røde, flew in for one day from Los Angeles en route to Istanbul to support distributor Thomsun Trading: ‘It’s my first time at the show and I couldn’t be more positive. It’s great to be able to communicate our message to Middle Eastern customers,’ he reported.

‘This year has been a great indicator for what we can hopefully expect in 12 months time,’ said Exhibition Director, Richard Brook.

Dates for Palme Middle East 2013 can be found in Fast-and-Wide’s comprehensive international industry events listing.

More: www.palme-middleeast.com