Robe Roadshow rolls into Croatia

2 November 2010

Croatia - The Robe Robin International Roadshow visited Croatia for an event organised by Pula-based distributor Sali Trade, who integrated the Roadshow with their annual Open Day.

Robe's sales director Harry von den Stemmen and technical support manager Ales Grivac were on hand to present the latest products together with Davor Vujic and Mladen Korac of Sali Trade.

This showcased the Roadshow to over 100 key players, included rental companies, lighting designers and programmers, venue managers and installation specialists from all industry sectors including a strong TV presence, with representatives from one national and three regional Croatian TV stations and a national Bosnian Serb station.

Over 10 major companies active in theatre and the arts attended - including the National Theatre from Zagreb, Split, Osjek and Rijeka, plus representatives from theatres in Slavonski Brod, Požega, Pula and Zagreb, together with those engaged in live events, corporate presentations, clubs and festivals. Some travelled from as far afield as Serbia, Bosnia and Slovenia as well as from all over Croatia to be present.

Robe 'family' members, distributors MK Lighting & Sound from Slovenia and Studio Berar from Serbia also attended.

The event was staged in the Dom Oružanih Snaga (House of the Armed Forces) in central Pula. The ornate main hall of the venue housed the mini trade show set up of the event, in which representatives of all the leading brands that they distribute were invited to participate - in addition to Robe and Anolis, this includes Selecon, Rosco, Schnackenberg, ShowLED and eight others.

Sali trade partnered with audio sales company Dicroic, who include L-Acoustics and Riedel in their portfolio.

A full programme of seminars ran concurrently in an annexe, including two presentations by Simon Stuart, MD of UK lighting rental company, HSL. He spoke about their experiences and use of Robe technology in theatre installations and on tour and also in the concert and live music sectors.

Harry Von Den Stemmen comments, that in the four years Sali Trade has been a Robe distributor, they have seen market share in Croatia grow continuously - even through the economic downturn of 2008/09. "Davor and Mladen always organise a great event which is highly respected and one reason why so many will travel to be here. It's a very professional set up and informative with the seminars, plus a highly productive atmosphere in which to meet new people and some of those we already know from the regions."

(Jim Evans)