Is the exhibition industry turning virtual?
Virtual trade fairs are to the exhibition industry what creepy sounds in a dark house are to a child – scary and haunting.
Then in the light of day they don’t look so scary at all.
However, this doesn’t stop some people from raising concerns of trade fairs turning virtual particularly when we see how the Gen X’s and Millennials have adopted to a wireless, on-line world.
The Economist wrote an interesting article featuring the recent Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas where they reported an increase in attendance over last year. In the article The Shows Go On, Gary Shapiro, the head of the Consumer Electronics Association predicts big trade shows should bounce back from the downturn.
While this may be true for CES, is it ringing the bells for the rest of the exhibition industry?
Is it indicative of how we are behaving as we come through the recession? Are virtual fairs now looking more viable than ever before?
There has been some talk of moving towards online-only exhibitions,
which are much cheaper to stage and have much smaller carbon footprints
than their real-world equivalents. Proponents of web-based gatherings
point out that the quality of the technology needed to stage them has
improved dramatically in recent years.
I would be interested in your comments. Do you see a shift to doing more things virtually? Should we be using virtual events as complements to our “real” events?
For the whole article click http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15262506
I feel while virtual events will grow in near future, it will take couple of decades to make their presence felt over real expos. Though there is a market for virtual expos atleast in certain sectors, real Expos are here to stay
I agree wholeheartedly that virtual tradeshows serve to expand the value of the “in person” visit at a live tradeshow.
As technology grows to enhance the electronic experience (3D imagry!), the buyer then follows a three step process for buying, or selling- *information gathering
*analysis
*emotional connectivity.
Information gathering and analaysis can be effectively achieved through the internet or a virtual tradefair. This time spent gathering pre show information allows a buyer to pin point their target visits when actually attending a live tradshow.
After determining solution sources, the act of meeting companies(or people) in person will create emotional connectivity. After doing a full analysis,the final decision to buy is often based on emotion. How does a company feel? Do I like and trust these guys? Are they convienient to serve my needs?
This is where tradeshow marketing plays its greatest role- eyeball to eyeball communication.
On the flip side, creating emotional connectivity at a tradeshow before doing any information gathering can now be dangerous.
Probably my country’s exhibition industry is damaged more than any other: in Ukraine in 2009 decrease of space sold was 50% comparing to 2008. But the attendance decreased not essentially, even taking into account cutting of travel budgets. This fact, in my humble opinion, reflects that in tough time people (visitors) need trade fairs even more — in addition to usual reasons to visit a trade fair, they are afraid to miss something critical for their professional success (or sometimes even professional survival), including information, contacts, rumours. And people in tough time need positive emotions and socializing much more than in good time! That is why, I think, we have not to be afraid of virtual trade fairs. Especially because we have already hundreds of Internet industry portals and search engines, which could present the face of an industry even better that any special virtual event.
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There is one point, I think business exhibitors have to take into account: Today’s young, web-affine people will probably become tomorrow’s clients or employees. This they have to prepare for in time. I do not think, virtual actions will replace real events, however deliver an added value to them. As shows attract visitors for a couple of days only (in a year’s or even longer period of time), virtual presence can try to catch visitors all year long and try to actively generate impact on information processes and buying decisions not always getting postponed until next show. However, for the time being, technology is not developed enough to meet business customers’ needs. Especially for 3D a special viewer is needed that has to be installed as a plug in. In business environment, mostly potential users are not able or not permitted to install plug ins on their computers. They are obliged to adress their IT-Deptm. – an obligation nearly no one really likes to face. Finally, as far as I have seen so called “virtual trade shows”, it were not more than yellow pages and/or supplier listings with search functions. In my understanding, in terms of adressing web-familiar audience and supply added value, this is far off being a sufficent approach and will even destroy the sex appeal the term “virtual show” is born with.