Women’s Expo

The NewsTribune’s annual Women’s Expo goes virtual for 2020

5 days, 30 vendors and lots of great local information and offers

By Tom Collins

Eat right. Exercise regularly. Visit your doctor annually. The staff at Illinois Valley Community Hospital in Peru does outreach all the time but needed a moment to adjust to making presentations into the camera lens.

IVCH was one of the participants and sponsors of this year’s Illinois Valley Women’s Expo, held virtually because of the novel coronavirus pandemic. After two successful in-person expos, they and other participants could be forgiven for wondering: Would anybody be watching?

The answer, it turned out, was an emphatic “yes.” Those who organized the Aug. 31-Sept. 4 event were pleasantly surprised to learn more women tuned in to the virtual expo than were physically present at the 2019 event.

Joan Fernandez is IVCH spokeswoman and she agreed that holding a virtual expo was a roll of the dice, but the success of past events warranted a reprise. It’s simply too important to urge women to monitor their health and well-being.

“I think women understand they need to do preventative care but often times they get busy and annual exams can get pushed back,” Fernandez said. “Especially in 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic more people were postponing their checkups.”

The analytical data from the virtual Women’s Expo still is trickling in, but the still-early feedback underscored that just as women today are likely to procure their goods and services online, they’re likely to participate in virtual forums, as well.

Kelly Campbell is a certified personal trainer and group fitness instructor for the Illinois Valley YMCA, one of the corporate sponsors and participants of the virtual forum. While nobody will miss the pandemic and people are understandably eager to return to in-person forums, early feedback from the virtual Expo has been positive.

“The YMCA found great value as a corporate sponsor at the Women’s Expo the past few years. With things being different this year, we were happy for the opportunity to reach the local market in a fresh way, and appreciate the effort involved in putting it together.

Though there was brief discussion about canceling this year’s expo because of COVID-19, organizers decided the past two expos were successful enough to try a virtual event. Over five days, local businesses hawked their wares and services, provided demonstrations and talks and did it all digitally.

Jeanette Smith, one of the organizers, said it will take some time for the analytics to emerge, but first-blush data clearly showed the virtual expo was better attended, so to speak, than the last in-person Expo.

“Due to the pandemic we knew we had to make the tough decision to not hold an in-person event in 2020,” said Smith, advertising director for the Bureau County Republican, NewsTribune and Ottawa Times. “But we didn’t want to cancel it. We wanted to find a way to still bring together our local businesses and the women in our community.”

Finding sponsors and virtual content proved to be a snap. Smith and her team found dozens of local retailers, professional services and healthcare providers eager to reach out to women across Starved Rock Country.

“We’ve really enjoyed having a presence at the Expo over the last two years,” said Linda Dose, owner of Dose Insurance Agency in Oglesby, “so we were more than happy to be a part of the virtual event this year.”

Each day organizers provided a newsletter with stories that cover cooking, parenting, DIY, investing, women’s health and more. Registered participants also received exclusive access to the virtual “goody bag” filled with coupons, offers and information from vendors.

One participant said signing up was a cinch.

“The process to sign up as a vendor was simple and well organized,” said Pamela Beckett, president of Starved Rock Country Community Foundation. “It was a pleasure to work with Jared Bell in this initiative. Being able to provide several links for the participants to learn more about the Starved Rock Country Community Foundation, particularly our women-inspired network, was an added plus.”

Smith gave a heartfelt shout-out to the sponsors, which also included St. Margaret’s Health, Illinois Valley YMCA, JP Motors and Hy-Vee, as well as the 25 featured vendors and to the hundreds of participants who made the third annual Women’s Expo a huge success.

“We look forward to hosting this event again in 2021,” Smith said.

Hopefully, that will be in person – but this year’s early feedback suggests a virtual component is by no means off the table.

Women’s Health is our greatest strength.

We deliver the highest level of quality from prenatal care to senior health to meet your needs at any age.

As specialists in women’s healthcare, we pride ourselves on providing the latest services and procedures–personalized to help you thrive.

Physicians Ilan Bornstein, MD Anna Bida-Dudun, MD

IVCH Certified Nurse Midwives Barbara Tieman, CNM, FNP Dana Hoffman, DNP, CNM Brittany Lange, CNM Jacqueline Ma, DNP, CNM

920 West Street, Bldg. B, Peru

Learn more at ivch.org/obstetrics.