12 steps to exhibiting at virtual events like a pro. an imaste e book

12 Steps to Exhibiting at Virtual Events like a Pro An IMASTE White Paper

12 Steps to Exhibiting at Virtual Events like a Pro �1

12 Steps to Exhibiting at Virtual Events like a Pro

MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR VIRTUAL EVENT EXPERIENCE

Exhibitors who are new to the online events format o3en have doubts about how best to use their

6me and resources to get the most out of their investment. Not knowing what to expect, they can

misallocate resources or miss out on opportuni6es, turning their experience with virtual events

into a real-‐life disaster. If you are new to the world of virtual fairs, make sure this doesn’t happen

to you.

At Imaste, we have hosted over two hundred virtual events of all types on our plaCorm, and we

would like to share some of that experience with you here. We have come up with twelve 6ps on

what you can do before, during, and a3er your virtual event in order to make your experience a

great one. Follow these basic steps to get your organiza6on started in the right direc6on to

exhibi6ng at virtual events like a pro.


PRE-EVENT ACTIVITIES

Success at any event depends on prepara6on, and virtual events are no different. In fact, most of

your effort will go here, in the pre-‐event phase, where you will be preparing your PR campaign,

customizing your virtual stand design, and genera6ng content. By seLng up a calendar and

workflows for everything that needs to be done, you will be able to approach the event in an

organized way. That will allow you to allocate resources more efficiently.

1. Set Objectives

Every fair is different, and every exhibitor has a different set of objec6ves for each event. However,

it’s clear that the only way to measure event success is by having a clear set of goals from the

beginning. What KPIs will your company use to determine whether the fair has been a success or

failure? For a virtual careers fair, for example, the main objec6ve for an exhibitor is to find

qualified candidates that fit the openings in their company. So, their KPIs will be related to the

number of CVs and registered profiles le3 at their stand, and how many of those visitors meet the

minimum requirements for the available openings. At a virtual tradeshow, KPIs may be related

more to webcast aXendance or the number of visitors who downloaded a product catalog or

requested more informa6on.

As an exhibitor, you will have to decide what your goals are at the fair, how to quan6fy them, and

what metrics you will use to measure them. One of the great things about virtual events is that, by

saving on event-‐related expenses such as travel and accommoda6ons, you already have a head

start on genera6ng a posi6ve ROI.


2. Plan Your PR Campaign

Event organizers will be doing PR and adver6sing for the virtual event, but you should also

leverage your communica6on channels – especially online. Sending out a press release,

genera1ng buzz on social media, and leveraging your website and email newsle9ers are all free

ways to generate awareness for your stand among your networks and stakeholders. Encourage

your community members to pre-‐register for the event, so they will receive updates and pre-‐event

reminders to aXend. Just as with tradi6onal fairs, you should also try to reach out to prospects to

set a mee6ng 6me and fill out your agenda. Exhibitors with bigger budgets can also invest in

Facebook ads or Google display ads as a way to generate even more awareness and drive traffic to

their virtual booth. Anything you can do to generate buzz about your par6cipa6on in the fair and

aXract visitors will increase your odds of capturing quality leads and making the fair a success for

your organiza6on.

3. Cover the Basics

Don’t forget the basics. It’s important to fill out your company profile, survey responses and

contact informa6on. These basics will include you in the on-‐site searches and features such as the

chat func1on and compa1bility test, and are important elements that allow visitors to contact

your organiza1on easily. You should also take advantage of your stand to add links to the

company website and social media profiles, crea6ng two-‐way social sharing possibili6es for your

brand. Actually filling out your stand should not take long (60-‐90 minutes), and a good plaCorm

will have an intui6ve, user-‐friendly backend for doing so. Also, once this has been done for the first

fair, it will carry over to addi6onal fairs on the same plaCorm. You won’t have to go through the

same process again, just updates and tweaks where necessary. The more fairs you par6cipate in,

the lower your expenditure will be on prepara6on.

4. Make Your Stand Attractive

There are lots of different ways to present your stand at a virtual fair. Events plaCorms offer a wide

range of free and premium op6ons for customiza6on and branding. Typically you can select from a

variety of templates for easy customiza6on, as well as add your logo and corporate color scheme.

Or you may even consider going the extra step to build a 100% custom-‐made stand for your


company. Remember: “Personality goes a long way,” and this holds true for your stand. A bit of

extra customiza6on will go a long way in drawing in visitors to your stand.

5. Showcase Your Brand with Great Content

A virtual event is a great 6me to increase brand awareness. Be sure to include content that makes

an impact. Upload a video presenta6on of the company or its products. Use eye-‐catching posters

and banners to adver6se external links to new products or services, or projects related to

sustainability and CSR as a way to promote company values and commitments to social and

environmental issues. Brand awareness is a difficult metric to measure, but nevertheless don’t

miss out on the chance to do so at your virtual stand. Intangibles such as sustainability, CSR, and

work-‐life balance policies are o3en an important factor for candidates or customers to decide

whether to work with your company or with the compe66on.

EVENT-DAY STRATEGIES

Once your stand has been set up and loaded with tons of great content, then it’s 6me to think

about your strategy for the so-‐called “live” event days. These are the days when the event goes

online, and you will be interac6ng with visitors in real 6me. Due to the cost of dedica6ng

resources to manage your virtual stand and handle visitors, live days are the most expensive

element of a fair. On the other hand, because you are able to interact in real 6me to engage,

communicate with, and evaluate visitors as poten6al leads, these live days are also your best

opportunity for segmen6ng visitors and iden6fying high-‐quality leads. Live days are the essence

of an online fair, and this real-‐1me interac1on makes them different from a sta1c corporate or

associa1on website. It’s important to op6mize your efforts on live days in order to truly achieve a

great ROI from your booth. The following four 6ps are ways you can best take advantage of your

investment during live event days.


6. Optimize Your Live Booth Presence

Op6mizing the resources you dedicate to your booth on live days will have an important impact on

event ROI, given the high hourly costs of staff. Work with the event organizer to es6mate event

traffic – both in terms of volume of visitors as well as when they will connect – to determine how

many people you will need at your stand at a par6cular 6me in order to properly handle booth

traffic. By establishing shi3s and taking advantage of audible alert messages when visitors enter

your stand, your staff can manage the stand from their desks and mul6-‐task with other work at

the same 6me so as not to waste resources.

7. Pre-screen Visitors for Segmentation and Follow-up

Another way to op6mize your efforts at a virtual fair is by taking advantage of the pre-‐screening

and filtering op6ons provided by the events plaCorm. Visitors will have the opportunity to take a

compa6bility or “match-‐maker” test, which will then suggest compa6ble exhibitors for their needs

or profile. Be sure to fill this part of your stand profile out so you take advantage of this tool. It will

provide you with an automa6c score of each visitor in terms of how compa6ble they are for your

company as a candidate or customer. You should also take advantage of the live chat func6on to

interact with visitors in real 6me. You will be able to assign a ra6ng to each visitor, which your

company will see for future reference when it decides who to follow up with or not. By

segmen1ng and scoring visitors through this real-‐1me pre-‐screening process, you will be able to

concentrate your follow-‐up and lead-‐nurturing efforts on high-‐quality leads.

8. Promote Your Brand with a Webcast

Hos6ng a live webcast during the virtual event is a great way to drive traffic to your stand. With

the capability for live Q&A sessions, webcasts are a great way to engage visitors and increase

their top-‐of-‐mind awareness of your brand. Come up with a topic of interest for fair visitors and

take advantage of your company’s experience and know-‐how to establish your brand as a thought

leader in your industry. Experts and influencers aXract visitors, and people will visit your stand in

order to learn more about your brand.


9. Spy on the Competition

A liXle industrial espionage never hurt anyone, and virtual fairs (just as tradi6onal fairs) are a great

place to check out what the compe66on is doing. Take advantage of down 6me at the fair and

take a tour of other stands to get content and other ideas for future reference. Other exhibitors

are always a great source of inspira6on for ways to improve your event presence.

POST-EVENT ACTION PLAN

The last set of recommenda6ons has to do with post-‐event ac6vi6es. This is the 6me for wrap-‐

up, follow-‐up, and reflec6on. Ideally, you should do these ac6vi6es soon a3er the event is over,

and the experience is s6ll fresh in your mind.

10. Follow up, Follow up, Follow up.

The number one most important post-‐event ac6on is follow-‐up. One of the great benefits of

events of all types is that the leads they generate are very warm. It requires 6me, effort, and real

interest for someone to aXend an event. So when they do, you know that there is a real interest

there. Whether they are sales leads, talent, poten6al partners or investors, or even media

contacts, don’t let those warm leads go cold. Focus your follow-‐up on the best opportuni6es, and

be quick and persistent. Things can happen quickly a3er an event, such as employment or

supplier contracts being signed, so be sure to keep on top of the conversa6on with your lead and

stay ahead of the compe66on.

11. Analyze, Evaluate and Tweak

To complete the process of op6mizing your event ROI, you will have to analyze and evaluate your

results. Success is not guaranteed the first 6me around, and the best exhibitors learn with

experience and develop their strategy over 6me through trial and error. One of the great things

about virtual events is the Big Data and analy1cs that are generated. With much more detail

than at a tradi6onal fair, you will have access to user interac6on data integrated with Google

Analy6cs, which will show you metrics such as:

• Number of visitors to your stand

• Time spent at your stand and on content


• Bounce rate

• Registered visitors (profiles, CVs uploaded)

• Document downloads and views of videos

With a proper in-‐depth analysis of these metrics, you will be able to see what content at your

stand is best at engaging users and what needs to be improved for the future. You will also see

how many visitors you receive and the quality of those visitors. Having access to all of this data will

allow you to quan6fy the results of the event and measure the ROI of your event a9endance

according to your KPIs in a way that is simply unthinkable at a live fair. It will also allow you to

tweak your efforts for future events in order to maximize your ROI over 6me.

12. Book Your Next Event in Advance

The last 6p we can offer for virtual fair exhibitors is to book early for the next fair. Most event

organizers offer early-‐bird discounts to companies that confirm aXendance a number of months in

advance. Once you have experience with a certain fair and have determined its poten6al ROI, you

can further maximize your return by geLng involved early for the following edi6on. By commiLng

early, you can also beXer plan your adver6sing, content, and resource budget.

BECOME A VIRTUAL EVENTS PRO

Virtual events, whether they are stand-‐along affairs or part of a larger, persistent online

community, are here to stay. Given their ability to reach and engage a global audience at a frac6on

of the cost of a tradi6onal event, they provide a unique solu6on to organiza6ons in many different

industries. Learning how to leverage their features to your advantage is a great skill to have, and

can give you a compe11ve advantage over rival companies. With prac6ce, you will be able to

develop a streamlined process for planning, aXending, and following up a3er virtual fairs. This will

allow you to reduce the cost of aXendance and maximize the return on your efforts. At Imaste, we

hope you found these 6ps insighCul and wish you luck on your way to becoming a Virtual Events

Pro.


ABOUT IMASTEImaste is a mobile and virtual events software developer with experience in more than two hundred virtual job fairs worldwide. Our platform is used by over two thousand exhibitors and more than one million users, creating online communities in twenty countries. The Imaste White Paper series is based on this experience and best practices that we have observed, which we are now happy to share with you. We work closely with virtual job fairs organizers (Job Boards, universities, associations) to support their sales and marketing strategies. If you are planning a virtual career fair and want a free consultation, contact us at [email protected] .


12 steps to exhibiting at virtual events like a pro. an imaste e book

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