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10 Tips for Hosting a Virtual Trade Show

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All events are going virtual and this includes trade shows. Virtual trade shows are still a great way to promote your business. You can use state-of-the-art tools to interact with potential customers or other businesses online. Rather than setting up a stall, you can host your trade show through a webinar in real-time. Many businesses have pivoted in order to adapt to a virtual setting, why not do the same? Here are ten tips for hosting your own virtual trade show.

 

Effective planning

 

Planning is everything so it’s important to be as organized as possible. Prepare a checklist to go through plenty of time before the event. Have reminders in place automatically to notify your guests via email or use Google or Outlook calendars, for example. Keep on top of any email correspondence before the trade show. Ensure you answer and queries about the event ahead of time.

 

Optimize tools for virtual chat

 

Unlike an in-person event at a virtual trade show you need to set up tools to chat to your guests. These include chat boxes during and after conferences, breakout rooms for your audience, and Q and A sessions. There are also plenty of advanced trade show platforms you can use which will have all these features built in. 

 

Target your demographic

 

Plan your trade show with your key demographic in mind. It’s essential to know your audience and what interests them. If you have a guest list you can also analyze this information ahead of time to find out who’s attending and how to appeal to them. You can also optimize your trade show to be compatible with the type of devices and apps they use. Choose targeted content as well and aim to appeal to your target niche through this.

 

Outline key takeaways

 

When you’re planning an online event, it’s advisable to outline key takeaways first. What do you want your audience to get from the virtual trade show? This could be information about your brand or a product launch, or the latest offers. Try to plan how you’re going to get this message across and ensure they get the intended information. 

 

Use a strong call-to-action

 

A virtual trade show is a great opportunity to throw in a strong call-to-action. This is essentially telling your viewers what to do, whether it’s subscribe or find out more about your products and services. Here are a few call-to-action examples. It’s likely that a high percentage of your attendees are already interested enough in your brand to buy something, so make the most of this. Explain clearly the next steps they need to take in order to make a purchase, redeem an offer or a voucher, or whatever you’re offering. Calls-to-action need to be snappy and draw customers in. You’ll need a visual reminder on the screen as well letting them know verbally.

 

Rehearse

 

Rehearse your trade show presentations, record them, and watch them back. This way you see where there’s room for improvement. You could test your trade show on your employees or even hire a focus group. They might be able to give you a different perspective and interesting insights. If you’re using a guest speaker, ask them to show you what they’ve prepared ahead of time. This way you can be prepared for any questions about what they’ve got to say, and ensure they’re speech is targeting your demographic.

 

Improve the pace

 

In order to succeed with virtual trade shows, you need fast-paced engaging material. If you’re doing a slideshow, use more slides with less information. This will improve the pace and keep your audience engaged. Try to vary your content and make it visually interesting. Include plenty of graphics, videos, music, and other types of media to keep it entertaining. If you’re using guest speakers, ensure they don’t give long boring monologues either. 

 

Brand consistency

 

A virtual trade show is an opportunity to boost your brand. Create brand recognition by using consistency in your branding. This means using logos, and website branding on your visual material. You also need to keep to the same tone of voice and language to express the personality of your brand. 

 

Learn from in-person trade shows

 

If you’ve taken part in in-person trade shows, find out what went well and how you can adapt this to a virtual trade show. You can find plenty of ideas for trade shows if you go online. Invest in some marketing and promotional material, just as you would in person. It’s important to still look the part and use consistent branding throughout. Look at old trade shows that were a success in the past. This will help you to think outside the box and create something original. Being online doesn’t necessarily have to be restricted. You can also get ideas about doing an in-person trade show in the future.

 

Follow-up and feedback

 

Make sure you collect attendee feedback at different stages and parts of your trade show. This way you’ll be able to find any areas of improvement for your next trade show. You could automate this by sending out an email poll to all your attendees or survey questions. You could offer an incentive such as a voucher for a more detailed review or referral as well. Having all this data online is incredibly useful. If you use a virtual trade show platform with a data analytics feature, you will be able to view details such as how many people asked questions and who, how long people watched your presentations for, and attendee feedback and scores. This will greatly help you in improving things for next time, and will give you insights you might otherwise have missed.

 

You can also automate your follow-up or integrate it with CRM software. You can then reach out to your most profitable attendees via email marketing, for example. This is another advantage of running a virtual trade show. You’ll be able to automatically get in touch with your attendees and convert more of these leads into customers.