The industry’s favourite awards night returns on 4 May 2023 at Hard Rock Cafe Dubai, and nominations are now open! Make sure to nominate your most deserving colleagues and friends (or yourself!) to see them in with a chance of taking home an award. New for 2023, The Green Award has been introduced to recognise individuals, companies or products that are helping the events industry become more sustainable. If that’s you or your company, or if you know someone who fits the bill for this brand-new award, please nominate them using the link below. Nominations close on 18 March, and…
Author: Peter Iantorno
It’s been quite the year for That Dubai Agency (TDA). Starting life as a social media community for women in the emirate – TDA’s forerunner, That Dubai Girl – the company is now an “end- to-end” agency that has already managed several high-profile projects for clients including The Dubai World Cup, McGettigan’s and technology unicorn, Snowflake. According to Founder, Kirsty Campbell, an “efficient, stress-free service” is what has given TDA its edge over the past year in operation, with the evolving role of the project manager being particularly important to the company’s success. “In my experience, the project manager role…
FLOW SOLUTIONS (part of GL Events Group in the Middle East) is continuing its investment into green technology, purchasing two hydrogen-powered generators, which were recently deployed at the Dubai World Tour Championship 2022 to power the 16th hospitality chalet at the event – marking the first time this technology has been used at a sporting event in the region. “The deployment of the H2 sets at DPWTC was a great success,” said Jonathan Calvert – Managing Director, FLOW SOLUTIONS. “We provided the 16th hospitality structure which included the AC, lighting, kitchen and scoreboard via two synchronised hydrogen fuel cells that worked without…
The inaugural edition of Integrate Middle East is set to attract the world’s audio-visual and media technology professionals to Dubai. Integrate Middle East 2023 is predicted to bring in over 7,000 professional visitors when it takes place at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) from 16-18 May, 2023. These will include integrators, pro AV consultants and decision makers from application industries ranging from education technology buyers to smart home architects and design consultants to real estate developers, hospitality service providers, retail groups, and enterprise solution buyers. Co-located with CABSAT, the long-running trade event for the media technology sector, expecting 14,000 visitors,…
Global entertainment lighting, LED video, and atmospheric effects equipment manufacturer ADJ has entered into a new distribution partnership with Dubai-based GSL Professional. Effective immediately, the company will become ADJ’s exclusive distributor for the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait. ADJ products have been installed in countless venues throughout the GCC over recent years and are stocked by many production companies in the region, and the company is hoping to draw upon GSL Professional’s logistical infrastructure to help facilitate continued growth of ADJ’s market share in the region. “We are always eager to expand our business and are confident that it…
In the space of just over three years since the first edition of its flagship festival, SOUNDSTORM, MDLBEAST has experienced a meteoric rise, growing rapidly into a multifaceted music entertainment company that is a major force in the development of the Saudi Arabian live events industry. The third edition of SOUNDSTORM, which took place in December 2022, was the biggest yet, attracting more than 600,000 music fans for a three-day extravaganza headlined by a catalogue of global superstars, including Bruno Mars, Swedish House Mafia, Post Malone, DJ Khaled, and David Guetta. With seven stages spread across a massive 5.5 sq…
One of the great things about UAE National Day is that you never know what you’re going to get; the only thing that is for certain is that it won’t be an understated affair. For the country’s 51st National Day on 2 December 2022, the National Projects Office once again wanted to make a major statement, and it commissioned the Abu Dhabi office of creative agency, People, which worked alongside Creative Director, Es Devlin, to produce a spectacular ceremony at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC). With Devlin’s previous UAE National Day creations including a giant rotating cube in the…
Rumours of Clair Global’s desire to set up a permanent base in Dubai have long been rife, with the favourite after-work watering holes of the city’s live events professionals often bearing witness to speculation about the who’s, when’s and where’s of the matter. It’s fitting then, that when the American audio titan finally decided to take the plunge and open in the Middle East, it appointed one of the most experienced, best known and most well-respected people in Dubai’s audio scene to launch the operation: Andy Jackson. Having lived and worked in Dubai for over 20 years, launching and building…
After 12 years of “rewarding, challenging, fun, difficult and fulfilling times” working with what was first eclipse then later became Encore, on 1 January 2023, former Encore Group Director, Middle East, Simon Ransom resigned from the company to take a full-time role with multidisciplinary pyro production company, Groupe F. Heading up the French firm’s Middle East operation, Ransom will oversee the current operations in the UAE and Saudi Arabia while supporting the expansion of the company in response to strong demand in the region. Here, he tells TPMEA how the move came about and reveals his high hopes and expectations…
In less than three years since the company was launched, Energie Entertainment has gone from being the “COVID baby” of Founder and CEO Tyler Davis Smith, to a mainstay of the UAE’s live events industry. “We’re certainly not a baby anymore,” Davis Smith told TPMEA. “We always knew that we were going to do well during Expo 2020, but it’s what has happened after that, which has proved that we’re here for the long haul. We have quadrupled in size since July last year and there are big plans on the horizon.” Following a “massive” Q4 of last year, which…
The FIFA World Cup 2022 kicked off with a bang, thanks to an ambitious Opening Ceremony, featuring a performance by Jungkook of K-pop phenomenon BTS and narration from Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman. Produced by Balich Wonder Studio, the event was played out in front of more than 60,000 fans at Qatar’s Al Bayt Stadium, as well as millions more from all over the world tuning into the live broadcast. The Opening Ceremony took place in a projected world devised by Creative Director Anghela Alo and the content artists at Luke Halls Studio, which presented a unique challenge for UK-based Lighting…
An iconic new Tomorrowland destination set among the rolling dunes on the outskirts of Dubai officially opened its doors with a grand opening party, with Protec – which has delivered multiple Tomorrowland experiences in the UAE – once again entrusted by its client, Envie Events, to supply a turnkey solution. Project Manager Pieter Smuts led a team of 25 crew members on the three-day load-in. “As this was a completely new venue which was already up and running with guests, we had to plan carefully to ensure minimal disruption,” he explained. “This included working on a flexible timeline, minimising noise…
