Exhibitors claim great success at sports expo

According to Virginia Kern, Chairman of Fairs & Exhibitions Ltd, organisers of QSi 2002, "we have recorded 5,029 visitors to QSi 2002 so far of which around half had pre-registered before the show opened. A further 893 business people attended on the first day with an additional 2,308 today".

One company reporting brisk business from QSi is The Lifeshelter Group, an Australian company with an office in Qatar. "We have had over 9 preliminary meetings with prospective clients today, and all have requested further appointments during the week to discuss building contracts", said Mr Alister Bennett, Director of The Lifeshelter Group.

The Lifeshelter Group is a construction company specialising in concrete buildings that can be built very quickly. "They are not pre-cast concrete, but built around the frame, a typical three bedroom house can be built and inhabited in no more than 16 weeks", said Graham Scott-Ward, the Executive Manager in Qatar. "The people visiting the expo are clearly here to do business, this day has been a great success for us and has made us visible to the other larger construction companies who may be interested in subcontracting with us".

Mr Scott-Ward continued to explain that "our products are very suitable for building large compounds, such as the athletes' village, in a short period of time, compared with the traditional methods of construction.

One of the first exhibitors to sign up for QSi 2002 earlier in the year was the newly established local specialist manufacturers of signage, trophies, awards and corporate gifts, Gulf Crafts. The company were keen to take part in the expo as it works with many sports federations manufacturing awards, trophies and signage for them.

The expo has generated a lot of interest in the company from many of the exhibitors as well as visitors, such as large companies, sports federations and hotels. More than 6 companies have approached Gulf Crafts with requests for potential orders worth between $7,000 to $55,000. "Our company takes care of the finest details and we aim to give our customers our best," said Mr Vana Deyirmenjian, Marketing & Public Relations Manager at Gulf Crafts.

Saudi exhibitors, Tamimi Tents & Structures commented that they thought the QSi Expo was well planned and organised. Imad Al Dien Hussein, Sales Manager, said that "we were keen to take part in QSi to increase our exposure in Qatar before to starting work on a new structure for a car park next to the Olympic Tower". He continued by saying that "we didn't have much time to prepare but once we arrived at the exhibition, everyone was very helpful and we found people happy & very co-operative. We have met many companies we can do business with at QSi.

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