Attend your event, fair or trade show without actually being there!

COVID-19 has taught us that the things we used to do on-site can be brought online. If you are still among those who think they cannot organise a virtual business meeting or trade fair, it’s probably because you’ve never seen how Virtual Booth Technology is an effective tool that is going to replace physical trade shows, offering a successful alternative that can increase your brand value and ensure that your company is always open for business.

Few things have had the potential to change the world in the way that COVID-19 has. While most countries are still struggling with the virus, despite the arrival of the first vaccines, some sectors have particularly suffered from the impact of the imposed social distancing and travel restrictions. One of them is the sector known as MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions), as many events have been cancelled, postponed or rearranged, in some cases as fully virtual events, and in others restructured as a blend of online and offline experiences to minimize physical contact. We even found a dedicated entry in Wikipedia listing the events that have been cancelled or rescheduled due to the pandemic.

As we work closely with conference organisers and are interpreting services provider, we have seen first-hand how our corporate clients have been forced to revamp their meetings (both big and small) and have not been able to attend trade shows. Take the Medica Life Science event, for example, which was converted into an online version called virtual.MEDICA. In many cases, our clients have been able to hold their meetings thanks to our Remote Interpreting Service (RIT), which has proved to be a great solution for both large and small meetings and conferences. Some countries that were hit hard early on by the Coronavirus, such as China and the UAE, are progressively reopening the sector with international attendees from approved countries, and others have already opened up their venues or announced their opening, although the news of a supposed third wave of the pandemic is currently sweeping Europe and the rest of the world.

In such a situation, as we cannot talk about a COVID-free world, what are the expectations for future trade shows and how can social distancing be followed without compromising their format?

The solution to this problem or, more specifically, the evolution of trade fairs and shows in the future, could be represented by virtual booths and trade shows, one of the most sought-after tools in the last year − and probably for years to come. Virtual booths are virtual applications that allow your business or organization to attend any event through a fully customisable, 3D engineered virtual stand, including all of your localised and interactive catalogues. Whilst in other times users might have been somewhat reluctant to stick to these new formats, virtual booths can now potentially eliminate the inconveniences and limitations brought about by COVID-19. Like anything else of a similar nature, organising a virtual booth is much simpler than setting up a physical one. Despite being virtual, it is really very interactive and has been conceived as a space where you can actually meet and greet attendees and capture leads. With the help of your brand, logo, online videos and multilingual digital marketing collateral, you can effectively connect with your audience in an appealing environment and build business relationships using the devices provided in the booths.

Meetings and content: Include virtual booths in your annual event planning and package it all up with multilingual interactive catalogues!

Unlike trade shows, virtual booths can be set up outside of an event and can work for you 24/7. They are not bound by geographical and space limitations, as anyone could potentially access them from anywhere (also eliminating travel costs and time) and they offer you the opportunity to connect to more customers. Amongst the different functionalities available for virtual booths, you can choose to show videos or visuals on virtual screens, display posters or other marketing materials, integrate external content belonging to your company, give or create virtual guided tours and promote the virtual booth by embedding it on your website. There are even options to chat or book meetings. Here you have a couple of examples we have created with our technical engineer partner:

Looks great, doesn’t it? Virtual booths are not only an excellent solution for trade shows, but could be extended to other virtual events, and even museums, factories or laboratories could follow this model. Apart from the advantages offered by virtual tools, including greater accessibility to their audience, this new way of organising events could even help companies in other ways: as a modern high-tech solution it has the power to boost their reputation and can ensure business continuity even in the event of disruptions. Like any visual medium, it also has the power to guarantee more immediate communication and an immersive experience.