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EXHIBITION REVIEW

Palm Expo Mumbai 2012 shows impressive growth by Ram Bhavanashi

Modern Stage Service stand, the largest in PALM EXPO Mumbai 2012

Palm Expo Mumbai 2012, the twelfth edition of India’s premier platform for the Pro Audio, Video and Lighting industries, concluded on the evening of 2 June at the sprawling Bombay Exhibition Grounds in Mumbai. The one feeling that was apparently common among both the exhibitors and visitors was that it was ‘massive’. It literally grew from 117 exhibitors from the previous edition to 140 exhibitors this year (including 23 from Musicians Expo), and the products displayed increased from about 850 to approximately over 1000. Visitor foot falls have also reportedly swelled by at least 5,000 from the previous year which saw 16,000 footfalls - a growth of nearly 26 per cent in visitor numbers.

against the petrol hike by the government) day, turned out to be both good and bad for the event. Good, because it kept the thronging non-serious visitors away; only those who belonged to the industry and had some serious business interest checked in to find their preferred brand or product. Bad, because it might have also prevented a large number of serious visitors from coming to the show from far away.

Ratnesh Jhaveri, Managing Director of Innovative Systems & Solutions (P) Ltd (middle)

“We have been coming here every year. This time the visitor quality is comparatively much better,” said Nitin Kathuria of Yamaha India. His view is endorsed by lighting solutions providers Stephen Ellison of Seachanger, Siggy Ruff of LPS and Varun Singh of BenQ. The three of them were first timers to the show.

PS Tiwari of ClearOne with Naveen Sridhar of beyerdynamic

KL Malhotra of KLM Designs (middle) in Spinworkz stand. On left is Ram, and right is Sirish Agarwal of Cinecita Menze van der Sluis, Managing Director of Prolyte Group-Asia Pacific

“It really looks big. There lots of exhibitors and products,” said Menze van der Sluis, Managing Director of Prolyte Group-Asia Pacific. The trussing and rigging manufacturer was part of the Modern Stage Service stand, the biggest exhibitor of the event, both in size and scale. The largest stand of the exhibition, the New Delhi-based Wadhwas’ concern, brought to the show floor arguably the largest array of brands and products. “We see more quality visitors this time,” said Joe Gonsalves, Managing Director of Pace Communications. Incidentally, the first day of the event, being a ‘national bundh’ (protest

Sunny Sarid (left) with a visitor

(L-R) Robin Ghose of ProVA with Sunil Mehan of Esco India

The show had visitors such as Sunny Sarid, an iconic figure in the domestic DJ industry, Sunil Mehan, chief of ESCO Audio-Visual India, Ratnesh Jhaveri, Managing Director of Innovative Systems & Solutions (P) Ltd., and PS Tiwari, Sales Manager of ClearOne-EMEA, K L Malhotra, renowned acoustician and ownerdirector of KLM Designs, which re-affirmed the quality of the show. There was a lot of excitement at the Dataton booth where Frederick Svahnberg, the Swedish visual solutions manufacturer’s marketing and communications manager, made a captivating presentation for the WATCH OUT Version 5 in 3D. There was also excitement at the E&E Systems stand where its partner Mackie demonstrated the DL-1608 Digital Live Sound Mixer.