INNOVATION

NEW AGE SOLUTIONS

The Fourways Community Chamber of Commerce’s Virtual Trade Fair is testament to how collaboration and innovation can come together to provide engaging solutions that have resulted in success far beyond expectation. Meetings chats exclusively with the organisers to understand how they are getting virtual exhibitions right.

During March last year, the team at the Fourways Community Chamber of Commerce was getting ready to put together a small event for its members. Within a matter of weeks, South Africa was shut down after the first case of the novel coronavirus was announced in the country, with the number of infections rapidly increasing.

“We were planning a small physical event for our Chamber members in April last year; many SMEs just can’t afford to be part of the bigger exhibitions, as the costs can be prohibitive. We had everything organised and people were starting to get ready, when – ‘Bang!’ – lockdown happened and that all vaporised in a split second. And we thought, ‘Okay, what do we do now?’,” recalls Ivan Andersen, owner of TSF Service & Solutions Firm, a partner at WISDOMS123 (see sidebar) and a founder of the Fourways Community Chamber of Commerce.

Dawn Coulson Olivier, owner of Dzines and a member of the Fourways Community Chamber of Commerce, has been part of the exhibitions industry for more than 20 years. She worked with Ivan and Trevor Nel, the Chamber’s CEO and a strategist at WISDOMS123, to bring together an all-time first for the Chamber.

“We collaborated with other skilled Chamber members and worked flat out for the first 21 days of lockdown on a Virtual Trade Fair to replace the physical event,” says Dawn, who – together with the creative team at Dzines, Alex Olivier and Irene Klue – was the brains behind the design of the virtual exhibition booths and contributed to the setup of an exhibition in general. “We were very keen to get behind this innovation for our members,” adds Trevor.

BRIGHT BEGINNINGS The first Virtual Trade Fair, Virtual Trade Fair Africa (virtualtradefair.africa), ran from 19 to 22 June 2020. The Fourways Community Chamber of Commerce team sponsored 114 South African companies from all fields to take part, and saw 32 speaking sessions take place over the four days and attendance from over 2 900 unique visitors.

“We sat locked on to Zoom for eight hours a day for four days straight!” exclaims Ivan.

In trying to rebuild the economy of South Africa, the Chamber threw all its efforts behind the Virtual Trade Fair to provide South African companies with the opportunity for exposure to their company by exhibiting their products and services. The organisers believe that this, together with the setup of the platform, are key reasons behind the success of the event.

“We wanted to keep this as simple and userfriendly as possible,” says Dawn.

“A lot of people have made a break into this space but I personally feel that they have overcomplicated the tech. If you’re dealing with a broad-spectrum audience, you need tech that is user-friendly. While it’s great to have a fully immersive environment with all the bells and whistles, if this is challenging to use, you are going to lose a large percentage of your audience,” explains Ivan.

The Virtual Trade Fair platform includes a page with information such as a directory to all the exhibitors, with some having e-commerce stores, while others can opt for interactive exhibition stands to

We had gone into unknown territory – we literally jumped into the deep end and it was an amazing success, and we were all blown away!”

Dawn Coulson Olivier

enhance products and services. Virtual Trade Fair Africa incorporated an auditorium, with seven guest speakers a day from all over the world, with diverse and interesting topics, while a WhatsApp group was created to keep all informed and updated with the event proceedings.

Exhibitors at the Virtual Trade Fair platform are able to choose from one of three 3D booth designs that can be fully kitted out with branding. The booth is made up of various points of interest, or hotspots, that can all do a range of different things. It can incorporate videos, website links where visitors can view products, as well as contacts (including social media) – but, most importantly, the platform allows for direct engagement between the exhibitor and visitor.

One of the major pluses of hosting events virtually is that content is archivable, meaning an event has longevity far beyond the day it takes place.

Recognising how valuable their content is, the organisers of the Virtual Trade Fair have packaged these sessions and made them publicly available, and shareable, on their website virtualtradefair.global.

GOING GLOBAL While speaking sessions have transitioned from in-person to virtual platforms with relative ease, creating a successful exhibition is another challenge altogether; however, the team behind the Virtual Trade Fair is making decent inroads into achieving what was once thought of as being impossible – and this is leading to increased demand for their product.

Following the success of Virtual Trade Fair Africa, the organisers decided to take their concept across South Africa’s borders. Intending to target Southern African companies with a push towards Africa, the Virtual Trade Fair went global. The Chamber has since run four other successful events and is now hiring out their platform for any company wishing to brand it as their own event or exhibition that is then hosted by the team.

“We are now envisioning that the virtual will be a hybrid solution with the physical exhibitions, as it will maximise the exposure,” says Dawn.

WISDOMS123

Through a number of tools such as blogs, videos and content pieces, WISDOMS123 demonstrates how the power of digital is also delivering key life insights to inspire positive shifts in thinking and behaviour. According to its website: “WISDOMS is a world centre for personal and business success. Through various media, new thinking is prompted based on provocative images and statements. The idea is to create conversations that challenge people’s thinking and preconceived ideas about themselves, others, and the world we live in. “Our intention is to flip our tendency to the negative and so stimulate fresh ideas, new opportunities, changed behaviour and results that positively impact our personal, business and social lives.”

Visit wisdoms123.com for more information