Wednesday 14 June 2023
The hybrid trade show model we are going to talk about, allows the organizer to offer a much better visibility to his exhibitors. It is equally appropriate for the organization of fairs, general public shows or trade shows. Through this article, you will discover how, at each step of the planning, the choice of a hybrid exhibition (exhibition both physical and virtual) is beneficial for you, for your exhibitors and for the visitors you will welcome!
The hybrid show does not imply that the dates of the virtual and in-person show are identical. Indeed, it can be advantageous to extend the virtual show after the closing of the physical show, for example. Thus, after visiting the in-person show, if questions or discussions were to continue, attendees could contact the exhibitors through the virtual event platform afterwards. Whatever your choice of opening the two modes, it is important to think about it to optimize the use of their different specificities.
Organizing a virtual trade show, in addition to your physical one, will allow you to multiply the impact of your trade show, to reach a larger audience and to increase the referencing of your physical trade show, thanks to the creation of the trade show on the metaverse. The use of free virtual trade show software allows you to multiply the impact of your communication.
To achieve this in a simple way, you can use the virtual trade show software developed by Ultiplace. It does not require any special technical skills, as it belongs to the NoCode SaaS software family. Once created, your public salon page will automatically appear in the online directory attached to the software. It will help you share your event information and it will allow you to capture visitors and exhibitors from other shows using the software.
Being a virtual trade show organizer with Ultiplace also means having all the tools and indicators to manage your trade show. The software allows you to configure the exhibition halls, live and replay conferences and to follow the performance of your virtual exhibition in real time. Digitizing your show is an excellent opportunity to upgrade your offer to exhibitors and gives you access to an attractive interactive metaverse interface to satisfy both your attendees and your exhibitors.
When creating an account, your exhibitors will be able to choose the model, the color and easily customize their booths according to the image of their company or association. They will also have access to an overview of the show and will be able to communicate and highlight their presence during the event from their dedicated space. After you have authorized them, their logos will automatically appear on your virtual trade show page in the Ultiplace directory. All you have to do is share it, to promote it and allow visitors to register to the virtual trade show.
Setting up a hybrid exhibition also encourages the sharing of dematerialized content. Physical conferences can be made available online to attendees, through live and replay. Decentralized conferences, which are initiated by the exhibitors, are facilitated by the use of the virtual exhibition software Ultiplace. For the exhibitor, the creation of a conference is a powerful way to increase the number of visitors to their booth and thus generate leads. Learn more about this topic.
Each conference that is approved by the organizer is automatically published on the virtual exhibition page in the Ultiplace directory. Attendees browsing this page will have the opportunity to discover the list of exhibitors as well as the titles of all scheduled conferences, before registering or entering the metaverse that hosts the virtual show. Once their accounts are created, attendees are invited to personalize their business cards, which will be automatically given to exhibitors they meet at the virtual show.
While the physical show will welcome its visitors in person, some of them will prefer to join the online show.
During the whole event, you will be able to manage your virtual show, thanks to the indicators displayed on the dashboard of your organizer space. You will discover statistics and attendance data, as well as valuable tips to improve the performance and the good functioning of the conferences and the visits in the exhibition halls of your virtual trade show.
Exhibitors will benefit from a large choice of ways to communicate with the attendees they will meet on their booths (email, phone, direct chat, video conference...). With the personalization of their booths, they will be able to make various documents available to visitors (videos, text documents, slide presentations, images...).
The attendees of the virtual trade show will benefit from an easy to use interface in the metaverse, which will allow them to discover the exhibitors and their presentations, to get in touch with them and to give them their business cards. They will also be able to follow the presentations live or in replay from the conference rooms.
At the closing of the physical show, if the virtual show remains open, attendees will have the opportunity to extend their show experience by meeting the exhibitors they met at the physical show. This can be an opportunity to make a sale after a reflection period or to get in touch with an exhibitor who was unavailable on the day of the physical show. It is also a good way to exchange information, to continue to get information or to discover other exhibitors, but also to increase the viewing of the conferences available in replay.
The organizer space, always available after the closing of the virtual show, gives you access to the necessary figures and statistics to debrief the virtual part of your event.
The exhibitor space gives you a precise idea of the performance of your booth at the show. It offers the exhibitor the possibility to collect the business cards of prospects to contact.
The attendees, after the closing of the virtual exhibition, will be able to access the business cards of the exhibitors they have met. This will allow them to compare and choose between service providers or simply to keep in touch.
Want to learn more about virtual or hybrid trade shows?
Browse the Ultiplace directory and list your show for free;
Discover the Ultiplace virtual exhibition software;
Discuss your project with an Ultiplace consultant;
Visit an example of a virtual exhibition on the Ultiplace metaverse.