Muralikrishna Veeramallu’s first-person account of Smart Labtech’s first outing as an exhibitor at the Middle East’s longest-running laboratory show: a quiet start, a crowded middle, and a final day that tied up every loose end.
There is a particular feeling that comes with walking into an exhibition hall not as a visitor but as an exhibitor. For years, many of us at Smart Labtech had walked the aisles of laboratory shows, notebooks in hand, studying other people’s stands. On the morning of 26 October 2026, at the Dubai World Trade Centre, the roles were reversed. For the first time, ARABLAB LIVE, now in its 44th year and the region’s longest-running laboratory and analytical-science show, had a Smart Labtech stand on its floor, and we were the ones waiting for visitors.
Our team was small and deliberately balanced. It was led by Ram Koundinya Potharaju, Director of Smart Labtech, with Rahul Pant, DGM, Service Wing, Ashok Kothari, SDM also from Services and me from productions department. Between us we could explain an instrument, quote for it, describe how we would install and maintain it, and record the whole journey. We knew exactly what we had come to say.
What we brought to Dubai
Smart Labtech began in 2001 with four people. Twenty-five years later, we are a team of more than 150. In Dubai we wanted to show that range in a single stand, and we organised it around five simple ideas.
The first was containment. Plas-Labs anaerobic chambers, ventilated balance enclosures and desiccators addressed laboratories that must isolate sensitive samples or protect operators. The second was control: biosafety cabinets, ultra-low-temperature freezers, incubators, autoclaves and stability chambers, the thermal and refrigeration backbone of any modern laboratory. The third was testing, through a complete tablet-testing line covering hardness, friability, disintegration and dissolution, the routine quality checks every pharmaceutical batch must pass. The fourth was weighing, with solutions running from three kilograms to five tonnes for every stage of production. The fifth was seeing, through MicroCosmos systems for particle size and shape analysis, whole-slide scanning and automated colony counting.
Taken together, these were a statement about who we are: not a single-product company, but a laboratory partner that can equip a facility from the bench to the production floor.
Day 1: high hopes, a measured response
We arrived on the opening morning with great expectations and more than a little excitement. Setting up the stand, switching on the instruments and seeing our banners under the lights of a Dubai exhibition hall was a moment none of us will forget.
The response that first day was mixed, and honesty demands we say so. Footfall at our stand was lighter than we had hoped. That was not entirely surprising. The uncertain situation in the wider region had made some customers cautious about travel and participation, and at least one international supplier had chosen not to exhibit in person.
Yet even a quiet day taught us something. The visitors who did come recognised us as a newcomer and were curious about who we were and what we offered. They came with detailed questions, and we answered most of them on the spot. That is where a team that combines sales and service knowledge proves its worth. We also met several long-standing exhibitors whom we had previously known only from the visitor side of the aisle. Meeting them as fellow exhibitors was a new and satisfying experience. By evening, the newness of being first-timers had all but disappeared.
Day 2: the stand comes alive
On the second morning we were back at the stand on time, and the day rewarded us. If Day 1 was about being noticed, Day 2 was about being sought out. A steady stream of new visitors came to the stand, many of them with specific requirements already in mind. We worked through their enquiries one by one, and several conversations ended with clear commitments to take the next steps together.
Day 2 was also when we kept our appointments with our existing suppliers, as planned. For a company like ours, which brings international technologies to laboratories, a trade show is as much about strengthening partnerships with principals as it is about meeting customers. Those meetings, held face to face rather than over email, were among the most productive hours of the trip.
By the time the halls closed, we could say with confidence that it had been a good day. The enquiries we had collected were proof enough.
Day 3: closing every loop
The final day had a different rhythm. Because we had completed most of our exhibition work the previous day, we arrived a little later than usual. As is common on the last day of any trade show, visitor numbers were lower, roughly half those of the opening day.
Even so, we count it as a successful day. It gave us time to meet the remaining suppliers on our list, both new contacts and existing partners, and to complete every pending visit we had planned. Nothing was left undone.
Then came the part of an exhibition nobody photographs: switching off the instruments, carefully packing the machines that had served us so well for three days, and preparing for the journey home. There is a quiet satisfaction in that moment, the sense of a job completed.
What Dubai taught us
Looking back, three things stand out.
First, the welcome. As first-time exhibitors, we were genuinely moved by the hospitality, professionalism and encouragement we received from the organisers, from visitors and from fellow professionals. We felt that ARABLAB noticed our presence and made room for us.
Second, the platform. ARABLAB gave us a place to show our solutions to an international audience, to talk with experts from many countries, and to build relationships that would have taken months to establish otherwise. The conference running alongside the exhibition, with its focus on accreditation, data integrity and laboratory quality, reminded us that the instruments we supply matter only if they help laboratories produce results people can trust. That is the standard we hold ourselves to.
Third, resilience. A trade show does not always follow the script. A slow first day could have been discouraging. Instead, it became the foundation for a busy second day and a productive third. The lesson for us is simple: show up, be ready, and the conversations will come.
A word of thanks
On behalf of the entire Smart Labtech team, I sincerely thank Terrapinn, the organisers of ARABLAB LIVE, the city of Dubai, and every visitor and industry professional who stopped at our stand. You made our debut memorable in every respect.
We came to Dubai as newcomers. We leave with new connections, stronger partnerships and the firm intention to return to future editions of ARABLAB, and to build on the relationships begun during these three days. For the newest member of the Smart Labtech family, our Dubai venture, this was a promising first step.
The author heads the in-house productions department at Smart Labtech Private Limited, the parent company of Neo Science Hub.
