Palm Expo China 2012 condensed report
Published: ASIA
CHINA: Palm Expo China 2012 organiser IIR announced that this year’s offering was the biggest to date with more than 1,300 exhibitors occupying the 110,000 sq-m space. However, this appeared to dilute the attendance that the show entices from China and beyond.
Having established the Palm China trade show in 1989, the show floor numbers have evolved significantly since then, mirroring the rapid development of the Chinese audio, lighting and MI markets. However with growth comes an element of risk, and therefore the switch from the old China International Exhibition Centre (CIEC) in Chaoyang to the modern purpose-built new CIEC near the airport in the ShunYi District had its pros and cons.
The old location certainly appealed for after show activities and business meetings due to its central location. At the new location, many exhibitors opted to stay in hotels surrounding the airport rather than commute, but by opting for convenience were resigned to less than memorable evenings after the show.
Most Chinese audio manufacturers congregated in halls E7 and E8, but some managed to join the western brands largely confined to halls E1 and E2. In the past, conferencing solution manufacturer Taiden was subjected to high SPLs emitting from fellow Chinese manufacturers, but were clearly enjoying being able to hold conversations with interested visitors and clients in E2 this year. ‘The difference is like night and day,’ confessed marketing director Nicolas Mreches. ‘I used to dread the noise we had to experience over the four days but now it’s quite pleasant.’ Unfortunately, noise pollution continued to haunt halls E7 and E8 and the levels were inconsistent across halls E1 and E2.
LAX showcased a multitude of new speaker solutions including the MLA-2 and -3 systems, but the manufacturer’s Ken Lau was disappointed with the show. ‘It’s still noisy in the halls and there are definitely less attendees here in comparison to the old CIEC,’ he stated. ‘The new CIEC is inconvenient with less appealing hotels and entertainment outlets, so I’m not surprised that many have decided not to come here. Many now prefer to attend the GET show in Guangzhou as Beijing is an expensive city to come to.’
Most of the biggest domestic suppliers were present and showcased new products on the back of their Frankfurt launches. Midas and beyerdynamic went one better and unveiled new products in the form of the Venice U console and the wireless TG1000 microphone system, respectively. ‘After Frankfurt Pro Light + Sound, Palm China is the biggest exhibition that we attend and so we felt it necessary to launch new products here in Beijing,’ announced beyerdynamic MD Wolfgang Luckhardt at a press conference in the Airport Crowne Plaza hotel.
Chinese distributors had also come a long way in a relatively short space of time. Beijing Pacific Budee Technology Development, Sanecore, Sharp Dragon and TOA China all adopted a feng shui approach, showcasing the latest products and solutions rather than taking their complete portfolios to clutter up their booth designs.
Outside hall E3, a number of various line array speakers suspended in hangs for demonstration purposes were played in mono for short periods of time. Given the lack of urban development in the vicinity, other than the line 15 Metro Station opposite the new CIEC, it worked well and allowed comparisons to be made between different brands.
French manufacturer APG together with its distributor BVCAM abandoned the demonstration room approach of 2011 in favour of an open design, hosting the Isoline UL210 line array, Isotop 10TM, DX15 and DX12 monitor amongst others. Sales director Xavier Pion was very happy with this year’s outcome: ‘We have impressed many potential buyers here at Palm China. Our business here continues to grow and we were having meetings until 1pm on the final day when everyone around us was packing up their booths. We have made some good contacts with very good sales leads. For me, this year’s location doesn’t matter as the show has been better for APG. It’s not about quantities of people – although we have seen large numbers this year – it’s about the quality of those visitors, and they definitely come here to buy.’
A full show report will appear in the July-August edition of Pro Audio Asia.