Over time, virtual trade fairs have become an excellent platform to bring businesses together and establish new connections. But only a few people realize virtual trade shows are more than just setting up booths and cracking deals. Easy accessibility, cost-saving, and enhanced results are some of the innumerable advantages that virtual trade shows possess. There are still many organizations that are a bit skeptical about taking the trade fairs to the internet. This blog discusses some ideas to host an efficient online trade fair. Make sure you stick till the end!
What is a virtual trade fair?
Virtual trade fairs are the platforms that allow companies to showcase their products and services to the audience over an online trade show platform. Since the breakout of the pandemic, virtual trade exhibitions have become the first preference of organizations across the globe. Through these online event platforms, attendees get to interact with the exhibitors and enquire about the product, just the way they would do at a physical trade show.
Below are some virtual trade show ideas that will make sure you have an engaging and efficient event-
- Understand the Attendees’ Requirements : If you think a virtual trade expo is only for your needs, you are mistaken. The main goal is to bring people together for a purpose. Plan your event around the attendees’ needs and what you can offer them to make it memorable. Consider the perspective of exhibitors and sponsors, especially if they plan to launch new products or boost sales.
- Along with this, you can survey your target audience and ask them why they generally attend trade exhibitions. Such surveys would help you know people’s objective behind being a part of trade shows. Some people take part in such events to expand their networks while others do it to learn about new products in the market. Knowing their objective will help you design your virtual trade expo effectively.
- Select the right virtual platform- Select the right virtual platform- The online meeting platform you choose plays the most significant role in marking the success of your virtual trade show. Your entire show comes down to the online solution you choose to deliver your event to the audience. The brainstorming and planning will go in vain if the virtual trade expo solution you go with fails to execute your plans with full efficacy. It would also help you track your registrations and stay organized. Along with the platform, select an efficient team to give your dreams a virtual execution. The factors that you should take care of while choosing an online meeting platform are as follow-
- Make sure the online event solution you are selecting offers customization features. This feature would allow you to plan the booths as per the brand’s needs and demands.
- Select a platform that fits your budget well.
- Look for the security and credibility of the platform. You would never want the contact and other vital information of your attendees and exhibitors to get leaked.
- Ensure the online meeting platform offers gripping features so that your attendees stay with you till the end.
- Networking Solutions- The fundamental reason people are still a bit doubtful regarding virtual events is they think online expos won’t allow them to network with others. Where physical events enable you to communicate with your fellow attendees conveniently, virtual expos lack opportunities to interact with others. Let us dispel this myth for you! Virtual events provide you with equal opportunities to interact with others present at an event, and that too with ease. Some of the best virtual trade fair platforms like Dreamcast offer you various networking features such as B2B meeting scheduler, AI Matchmaking, Networking Tables, and many more like them.
- These features would make it convenient for the audience to interact with each other and enhance their networks. Giving your audience a close-to-real experience would add to their experience and your brand reach and engagement.
- Engagement Activities- Focus on making your online expo as engaging as you can. One significant limitation of an online trade show has that attending long sessions at a stretch can be tiring. Long virtual meetings leave people exhausted by the end, resulting in people not paying enough attention or leaving them midway. To avoid situations like these, include some fun activities to make your event more gripping. You can have some ice-breaking sessions in between the sessions to engage the audience. It would encourage people to connect and add value to their experiences. Some webinar platforms offer engaging virtual games to the attendees. You can giveaway goodies and gift cards to the winners, which will keep the audience’s excitement levels high throughout the proceedings.
- Extend support to the attendees and exhibitors- Getting exhibitors and sponsors on board can be a bit tedious and challenging. What adds to it is that you need to cater to the needs of all of them. Make it easier by having a team that has your back! Remember, ‘Teamwork makes the dream work.’ Also, make it clear, if you’re hosting an online trade expo for expanding your brand reach and engagement, your sponsors are investing in your event for a specific issue. Extend your support to them as well as your exhibitors. Make it easy for them by providing them with everything they need. You can issue them guidelines specifying all the relevant information regarding the online trade fair platform. Include rules, regulations and ‘How-to’ guides that would make it easier for your sponsors and exhibitors to join in.
Final Word-
Since organizing virtual events is gaining popularity these days, the number of online trade fair platforms is rising as well. However, if you are hosting a virtual trade fair for the first time, it becomes vital to take care of a few things; selecting the online trade fair platform tops the list. If you’re holding yourself back from hosting an online fair because you don’t know which virtual event platform to trust, here is the answer; Dreamcast. With the virtual trade show ideas discussed above and the best virtual trade fair platform, Dreamcast, give wings to your plans.