The show must go on, the trade show that is!
By this time in years past the show season is kicking into full gear, hotels booked, matching team shirts pressed and ready for the suitcase, you’ve sourced the coolest promo item as a giveaway, your assets are set and ready for shipping and it’s only a matter of time before you’ll be mixing and mingling among potential and current clients. Well, that was before social distancing and mask-wearing, when travel and events were a thing and we weren’t all cooped up away from each other.
Most experts agree the in-person events will start to gradually return in Q3-Q4 of 2021 but for now, we’re living in a virtual world. Virtual/hybrid events will reign on high, as it is seemingly the safest way to replicate the robust nature of the in-person shows. While not an exact replication, this new avenue for tradeshows is an interesting and exciting outlet for today’s culture.
What does a virtual/hybrid show consist of you ask?
Well, there’s a heavy emphasis on the virtual show floor, the bonus to this is you can make your space as extravagant as your web design person's talent! In the digital space, you’re not limited by a budget of set up crews, tear down crews, hanging signs, and spotting of equipment move-in.
Chats with customers will run much like a personalized facetime or zoom call. Programs like Calendy offer easy scheduling of meetings, synced right to your calendar! Kick up these prescheduled meetings a notch by sending a tradeshow in a box! By planning ahead and gathering mailing addresses at the time of meeting set up, we can partner with you to create a personalized “tradeshow in a box” to send to your clients to be unboxed during your call!
Demonstrations will be held in a wide range of webinar formats and there will be more of an opportunity to engage leads into a tight content marketing strategy.
While the new landscape is difficult to navigate, we as marketers and event planners are well adapted to face the challenges and overcome them. By utilizing the available technology, leveraging assets and teams appropriately, and beefing up client interactions with mailings, virtual meetings, and personal touches (but not in person) this year could be the most successful trade show year yet!