May 2008 Best Practices: A virtual success Everything Channel’s virtual trade shows are a profitable new venture By Kara Horner
When Everything Channel (formerly a division of CMP) conducted its first virtual trade show in 2001, it was a bit ahead of its time. The concept was still new and the technology to support it wasn’t yet up to speed. Seven years later, the United Business Media subsidiary launched Securing and Storing Customer Data (archived for 90 days after the event at www.crn.com/vts/march/), a virtual trade show that attracted 1,300 attendees.
“We analyzed the idea over the past couple of years and felt the technology had finally gotten to the point where there was a level of interactivity that would be attractive for both our audience and our sponsors,” says Chris Sullivan, Vice President, Managing Director, ChannelWeb, Everything Channel, a Manhasset, NYbased technology media company.
Everything Channel partnered with two vendors to produce the event, held March 12, 2008. San Francisco-based Webcasting solutions provider On24 handled the audio and video panels for the event. InXpo, a Chicago-based online trade show producer, delivered the software platform that created a lifelike trade show experience for attendees, complete with background audio of sounds you’d hear at a live event.
Content, including audio and video sessions of panel discussions, presentations and product demos, was prerecorded before the launch, edited and sent to On24 for production. During the day of the event, sessions were followed by live Q&As with presenters. “This type of ‘mock live’ event gives attendees the impression that it’s all happening right then and there, without us having to worry if the software didn’t work on the day of the event,” Sullivan says.
Everything Channel’s sales team targeted sponsors with sponsorship packages at three levels that delivered qualified leads: Platinum sponsors received 1,000 leads for $60,000, gold sponsors received 750 leads for $40,000 and $20,000 provided silver sponsors with 400 leads. Depending on the package, sponsors could also contribute to content with their own audio PowerPoint as well as receive logo and banner promotion on the site.
Exhibitors customized their virtual booths, selecting the booth style and color, and uploading a company logo and any assets they wanted to make available for attendees, such as podcasts, white papers and product spec sheets. On the day of the show, the software allowed attendees to interact live with booth staff via e-mail or an instant-messaging feature.
To help further engage attendees, Everything Channel added a prize center feature to encourage activity throughout the day. Attendees received points as a result of taking certain actions, and as their point totals crossed certain thresholds, they qualified for prizes donated by sponsors and Everything Channel, including a GPS, iPod, PlayStation or 42” LCD TV.
For sponsors, it’s the information tracked during the event that’s so invaluable. Once the show was over, an activity report revealed details including how many people registered, the number of people who attended the event, how much time they spent at the show, the booths they visited, and the content sessions they participated in, as well as the number of live chats conducted, v-cards exchanged and assets downloaded.
Of 2,000 registrants, 1,300 attended the event and spent an average of two and a half hours at the show. Average booth attendance was more than 400, with an average of 130 attendees per content session (both editorial and sponsor-driven).
“It was a very successful show that produced a super margin for us,” Sullivan says. “The bottom line is that it was a medium our audience desires. As long as that’s the case and we can create a good margin doing it, that’s a successful product.”
Kara Horner is Managing Editor of EXPO. She can be reached at 913-344-1345, or e-mail: khorner@red7media.com. Everything Channel's Strategy Goal: Launch a profitable virtual trade show. Objective: Attract the right audience and sponsors to produce revenue. Strategy: Use software technology that creates a lifelike experience to deliver content attendees desire and provide sponsors with qualified leads. Tactics: Attract attendees with free registration and content focused on a hot vertical topic; prerecord sessions and bring them to life with live Q&A sessions the day of the event; provide sponsors with valuable leads. Results: Increased attendance, sponsors and revenue over its previous virtual event.
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