We had someone who lost all 5 keys for his armored cars and couldn’t move them out of the halls after the show – also breaking the windows wasn’t really an option, once we had to dismantle half of a hall because Dubai Police was late with their super cars and the aisles were too small, 2010 we had to organize 20 people with a bucket and sponge to clean a huge fire truck which was shipped on a vessel during winter from Italy to Dubai and looked accordingly, personal shocking highlight was most probably the guy from Abu Dhabi Police who brought a huge bus they could use as a moving hospital. Against all health & safety regulations he came with a full tank of around 400l diesel After hours of debate he couldn’t be bothered to pump it out at a petrol station and just dumped 300l into the desert…
Of course we will also never forget the guy who arrived with some banners to be hung above the Dubai Police stand. As the cherry picker wasn’t there and he was on a tight schedule, Dubai Police was afraid he was running away with their banners – so they handcuffed him to the stand. 3 hours later, after the job was done they offered to waive off all his traffic fines. Unfortunately he didn’t have a car…
Most remembered event was definitely the 2008 Intersec where POTUS George W. Bush was on a surprise visit in town and on day 1 the entire SZR was closed – so nobody could access DWTC. During day 2 it rained and parts of the hall were under water, on day 3 there was a fire at DWTC. At least some of our exhibitors had the chance to demonstrate some of their products. I started working for Messe Frankfurt shortly afterwards and had the “joy” to sell the 2009 event to the companies which just had the “best” experience of their lifetime…
I could give you a lot more but I already exceeded the limit of words…