Palme Asia 2011 opens in Singapore
Published: ASIA
SINGAPORE: Palme Asia 2011 today opened its doors to positive vibes in its new setting of the Marina Bay Sands exhibition and conference centre. The biennial show has previously been held in Suntec City, but the change in location seems to have rejuvenated the south east Asian trade show.
Organiser IIR Exhibitions Pte Ltd highlighted five key areas on the show floor – digital display technologies, houses of worship, live event design, pro audio and sound reinforcement design. One of the main focus activities on the show floor this year is the careers education hub, which aims to address the vacuum that the industry in this region is experiencing with regards stage crew and technicians. In addition the great Palme sale offers products for sale at competitive prices.
‘A group of us have come from Jakarta to catch up with suppliers and friends,’ commented Kairos Multijaya’s Andre Supryanata, who represents Allen & Heath, DiGiCo, EAW and RCF amongst other brands. ‘In comparison to previous years, it seems somewhat busier.’
Elsewhere, Electronics & Engineering Pte Ltd showcased several new brands to visitors for the first time in the company’s 60 year history. ‘We’ve received a good response to the Audix, EAW, Powersoft and Symetrix brands,’ confirmed managing director Ronald Goh. ‘This show is about networking and there has been plenty of that today. Our customers appear more confident with E&E as a brand and they like what they see, so the investment in taking a booth has paid off.’
While educational seminars took place, many Singaporean, Malaysian and Indonesian visitors browsed what products were on offer. IMS Mahajak made its Palme debut as did Quad Professional. Whilst the former boasted the Harman and Avid brands, the latter displayed Klark Teknik processors, Midas Pro 6 and XL8 digital consoles in addition to Clair Brothers speaker systems.
Although some suppliers and manufacturers were absent from the show floor, the overall attendance on day one of the exhibition was up on two years ago, while more audio manufacturers have taken booths compared to 2009.
‘The show used to be a lot more regional in its appeal,’ asserted Rane Corporation sales director Dean Standing, who was promoting the CP66 processor and new Halogen software. ‘Unfortunately for most Asian trade shows, there are so many of them now, that each one can only draw a local audience.’