What is a Virtual Exhibition?

Virtual Exhibitions are rapidly becoming a key element in the marketing, brand, and content mix of many companies. They have the capability to dramatically enhance operations in marketing, recruitment, and other areas, and more efficiently marshal company resources.

Online events comprise virtual expos, trade shows, seminars, and conferences that use rich media, including 3D graphics, audio, and video, to replicate the feeling of attending physical events without the time and place restrictions of attending physical events. They enable users to participate in actual presentations, visit exhibit booths, communicate with company representatives, access archival material, such as white papers, and network with peers.

Preparation for online events can vary widely. Typically, these events take 8 to 10 weeks to develop, with the preparation and uploading of content running parallel to pre-registration. Audiovisual material such as online seminar is typically one of the most strategic elements in online events.

A virtual Exhibition is an online environment that goes live and stays live online for a limited period of time, often with the expectation that several like-minded participants will be available online for brief spells of time, allowing them to connect with one another without travel, via the Internet, no matter where they are located geographically, to exchange valuable information.

Virtual Exhibitions are today considered one of the most promising tools to generate qualified leads. Online promotional seminars where prospects come to their desktop to view online presentations, ask questions to speakers, chat with industry colleagues and visit online booths are a now proven method of lead generation

The structure of a typical virtual Exhibition includes a virtual exhibit hall which users enter with specific permissions and capabilities, to either attend and view virtual booths in the exhibit hall or build virtual booths to exhibit information related to products or services on offer, just as they would at a trade fair in a convention center. The virtual Exhibition may have other components such as a virtual web conference, or a web seminar or a webinar, or other educational presentations. The virtual show thus results in live interaction between all the users on many levels (one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many) and simultaneously. Detailed tracking mechanisms allow organizers to determine the flow of traffic in the virtual Exhibition.

Virtual Exhibitions are designed for companies wishing to host consumer and business online events, Virtual Exhibitions, virtual job fairs and conferences. It provides event managers with an effective channel to easily create Internet-based online events, virtual Exhibitions and conferences with the primary objective of lead generation, increasing event participation, revenue creation and improving communication and collaboration between existing and potential customers and the company.

Virtual Exhibitions enables companies to effectively engage a large audience of existing and potential customers. Exhibitors are able to present their companies, display their products and services in-depth, distribute promotional materials, interact with prospects in real-time and generate valuable contacts and leads.

Visitors to a virtual Exhibition fill out an online registration form and then enter a virtual exhibit hall to visit various virtual booths. The virtual booths often reflect the imagery of a real-world Exhibition booth with desks and displays. The visuals also sometimes reflect those seen in real-world convention centers so that users can relate to them easily.

A virtual booth typically has several icons which can trigger different responses upon the click of the mouse. There are icons on which a visitor would click for instant communication with the exhibitor, such as by sending an instant message, or email, or making a voice / video call. There are icons on which a visitor will be able to click for instantly playing multimedia such as videos and audio messages or other slide-show presentations.

Virtual exhibitors use online tools to upload relevant and tailored content to appeal to the audiences. Virtual exhibits may be made to look like an exhibitor's real-world booth in any in-person trade fair where they may be exhibiting.

Virtual Exhibitions could be run in conjunction with real-world or in-person Exhibitions. Sometimes they are stand-alone online only Exhibitions. Businesses that use virtual Exhibitions sometimes use them as part of their overall marketing mix.

Benefits of VirtualExhibition

What are the key benefits of virtual trade show?

Online events greatly expand opportunities for visitor participation and feedback, affording visitors greater contact with exhibitors, speakers, and others. They offer special value to exhibitors, allowing them to maintain ongoing communication with their customers, and extend the time frame for dissemination of product information and other content.

Another key benefit of online events is their ability to generate greater and higher quality sales leads. This was clearly illustrated in a study conducted by a major research company with 118 online event users: the respondents reported a 32% increase in leads generated by using web events in place of traditional marketing media. By contrast, click-throughs on banner ads are typically very low, and their lead generation capabilities are very limited.

Online events are well suited to reaching new and geographically dispersed audiences. They can be highly effective in enlarging audiences by exploiting increasing globalization. For example, a virtual job fair extension of a local job fair for nurses could open up important new opportunities abroad for nurses.

The key role of online events in reaching geographically dispersed audiences was borne out by another finding: expanded reach was cited by the respondents as one of the top two benefits of replacing in-person events with web seminars. Overall, online events make more productive use of employee and company time.

Another prime attribute of online events is their ability to focus audience attention on particular topics, especially by eliminating many of the distractions and inconveniences typically experienced at physical trade shows.

Online events constitute more flexible, effective, and multidimensional informational and marketing tools because they can be more easily updated, modified, and expanded. They can supplement event material with such additional content as white papers and newsletters.

Furthermore, the expansive scope of online events can effectively spawn new marketing practices. The online event study mentioned above underlines this development: 87% of the respondents indicated using web seminars to create new marketing programs and tasks.

From a larger perspective, online events significantly increase audience retention of information, because they are generally more integral to the marketing communications campaigns and knowledge bases of organizations organizing them.

Virtual trade shows and online events are becoming an integral part of branding and content distribution, allowing companies to capitalize on myriad business opportunities.

Their benefits include:

1. Generating high quality leads.
2. Forging a stronger bond with customers.
3. Harnessing online rich media to boost brand awareness.
4. Reaching more effectively targeted and geographically dispersed audiences.
5. Creating an ongoing, multifaceted communications channel with customers.
6. Generating new revenue streams through online registrations and sponsorships.
7. Generating more detailed and extensive customer data.