Virtual tradeshows and conferences

Virtual tradeshows and conferences: be in the know

By the time Kimberly Charters, Coordinator of Convention Exhibits, closed the doors on the 88th Prospectors & Developers Association Convention, 23,144 delegates had tramped their way around the Toronto Convention Centre, networking, checking out equipment, and wheeling and dealing. Little did Kimberly know that the world of tradeshows and conferences was about to pivot. Sixteen days later, on March 17, the Government of Ontario declared a state of emergency and the province was shuttered. COVID-19 had arrived. A pandemic declared. The world and Canada ordered its citizens to shelter in place. Tradeshows and conferences were cancelled immediately and indefinitely. The 2020 PDAC Convention is probably the last totally face-to-face convention come tradeshow to happen in Canada for the foreseeable future.

The business of tradeshows appears to have ended, at least for the time being. The business of tradeshows

Tradeshows are multi-million dollar events that bring together under one-roof manufacturers, buyers and intermediaries for mutually beneficial financial gain, networking and education. They are the bread-and butter revenue engine for trade associations, hotels, restaurants, municipal commerce and industry supply chains. For associations, tradeshow revenues keep membership fees reasonable and offset costs by providing member benefits such as professional development and networking. They provide opportunities for media coverage and the opportunity to recognize industry leaders.

Judy Healey, an instructor at Ryerson University’s Department of Hospitality and Tourism, describes tradeshows as tactile. It’s about the excitement, the buzz and the hype on the tradeshow floor. As long as the COVID situation remains fluid and unstable it’s a sure bet that the COVID pivot will remain for the foreseeable future.

The COVID pivot - disruptors

The COVID pivot forced many manufacturers to shift production to personal protective equipment and its ancillary products. Physicians moved to virtual care, restaurants shifted to curb side pick-up, and tradeshow and conference business went virtual.

Zoom, Teams, GoToMeeting and WebEx, and other digital platforms, saw an exponential spike in their usage. With free admission and easy registration conference goers quickly found their calendars chock-a-block with webinars. Time strapped, even skipping events didn’t make a difference. Within hours inboxes became clogged with links to missed sessions ready to be clicked on and viewed at a later date.

COVID Pivot Disruptor One – time cannot be inventoried

If one can’t spare the time to view a conference session when scheduled, the likelihood of viewing it in the future is slim to zero.

That’s the law of diminishing marginal returns.

An executive’s fixed resource is time. If one keeps adding more sessions (a variable resource) into the fixed resource, there comes a point when the gain of attending one more session produces no or very little return in knowledge acquisition. Time is a fixed resource. It can’t be created, destroyed or placed in inventory. It’s instantaneously perishable.

COVID Pivot Disruptor Two - you don't just show up

Manoeuvring through a video conferencing platform requires a new set of skills, knowledge and awareness. When one shows up unprepared, event time is squandered away by downloading, installing and testing the application, checking compatibility and troubleshooting. Deciding how to turn off one’s video and mute one’s microphone can take even more valuable time.

Take the opportunity to test the streaming system beforehand. Otherwise, you may end up unable to join the presentation – a very frustrating experience.

COVID Pivot Disruptor Three – how deep is the footprint

A footprint consists of a collection of unobtrusive measures that can be aggregated and analyzed to provide useful intelligence on buying behaviour – digital marketing, Even before COVID-19, attending a shoes-on-the ground event left a footprint. At registration personal data were collected. During the event covert observations and data collection such as tracking the use of one’s mobile devices to access vendor promotions and information, deepened one’s footprint. At a virtual conference with each click of the mouse data are collected and stored behind the conference’s backroom door. Aggregated this information provides insight into buyer’s behaviour and how sellers can better serve their client needs. That’s digital marketing.

Digital marketing and avatar behaviour

Digital marketing is marketing that exists online. The analytics collected provide insight into how sellers can better support and meet the needs of their current and potential clients. Avatars are bits of code. As one slides and pushes one’s avatar or digital marker around the trade floor, information accumulates in the tradeshow’s backroom. Through the science of data analytics these terabytes of raw data can be quantified and organized into dashboards of useful intelligence – intelligence that can be used to predict buyer behaviour. It’s the power of data analytics to outline the behaviours of an individual and a community with respect to a product. Well-planned, virtual booths educate and pull visitors in, to engage with the product. In the virtual environment, the depth and detail of the data collected produces fodder for data analytics that allow markets to target with pinpoint accuracy multiple focused product advertisements. There’s no hiding behind a pillar in the virtual environment.

Privacy

The need to achieve a competitive advantage and what might appear to be opportunistic behaviour created by data marketing is a fine balancing act. On 1 April 2020, Zoom addressed privacy concerns and removed the attendee attention tracker feature and permanently removed the LinkedIn Sales Navigator application. Participants must shoulder the responsibility of reading the fine print when registering for events. Carefully reviewing consent forms that outline how participant data is collected, used and shared is the best way to control and protect one’s privacy. Conference pivoting - LeadingPRINT Summit

When APTEch realized that its premier one-day educational conference, LeadingPRINT Summit, was a no go, APTEch pivoted. The focus was educational not tactile, and the presenters remained committed even in a virtual environment. And while there were pros and cons regarding the digital environment, the ability to reach a wider audience was a compelling advantage. A cursory examination of Zoom’s backroom usage reports (analytics) indicated that the vast majority of the participants were present for the entire program. The decision to add short, ten-minute stretch/coffee breaks between the speakers worked well. The lack of backroom technical assistance limited the engagement features (i.e., break-out rooms, polls) of the platform that could be used. But, APTech sees the potential of the virtual event as a standalone or complement to a face-toface conference.

Virtual platforms are not free. There are costs associated with backroom technical assistance and platform subscription fees. What is free now in the age of COVID, will soon come with a price tag.

... the decision was made to cancel in favour of being bigger, better and together in 2021.

Tradeshow pivoting – Printing Expo.

Wayne Beckett and Chris Watson of Resolve Business Management (RBM) leveraged their technical knowledge and experience from running cloudbased products and pivoted the Printing Expo to a virtual platform. Beckett and Watson believe a virtual Printing Expo has the potential to be the reference point for new developments and technology for the print industry for 2020. Beckett and Watson felt virtual conferencing is sustainable and accessible. Keystrokes or an avatar can be used to navigate the tradeshow floor. One can bypass booths or visit them selectively. There’s a standard floor plan and a 3D view that gives the impression of being within the tradeshow.

Printing Expo will be open 24/7, 365 days for one year. Manufacturers can customize and change their booths. Videos can be shown, and virtual auditoriums booked for educational sessions. Vendors have access to their booth’s backroom and analytics. Who visits the booth, and how long they stay can be determined.

Your next tradeshow: the new normal

The real-time interfacing and flexibility of digital platforms coupled with their ability to accommodate enhanced security measures has transformed them into sustainable substitutes for face-to-face events and day-to-day communications. It’s become the new normal – perhaps.

The Palais des congrès de Montréal in early July announced its ready to open its doors for the new normal touchless interaction. And, as much as PRINTING United Alliance was encouraged by the support it received to take its 2020 PrintEvent virtual, the decision was made to cancel in favour of being bigger, better and together in 2021. Kimberly Charters, Coordinator of Convention Exhibits Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada says for 2021 PDAC is exploring different options in the virtual event world. Welcome to the new normal of tradeshows and conventions.

Caterina Valentino, PhD, is an Instructor at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University and the Faculty of Health Disciplines, Athabasca University. She can be reached at caterina.l.valentino@gmail.com.