June 2005
5 Web site success stories

An inside look at five show web sites that work. Find out how they got where they are — and what they learned along the way.

By Ruth P. Stevens


What does your Web site do for you? Does it promote attendance? Does it increase exhibit sales? Does it streamline operations? Does it enhance the attendee experience? Does it ease registration and housing? Does it recruit exhibitors? Does it create a sense of community? Does it make it easier for your customers to do business with you?

If not, it may be time to rethink your Web-site strategy. Today’s successful show Web sites offer: 
• Improved navigation, eliminating the number of clicks required to get to key functions, like registration and booth selection. 
• Matchmaking technology that brings buyers and sellers together more easily. 
• Functionality that supports the show before, during and after the event itself — from matchmaking and communications, to pre-show planning tools, follow-up communications and ongoing content refreshment.
• Integration of online and offline marketing communications, for a consistent customer experience.

Here are profiles of five show Web sites, representing a variety of shows and industries, that are accomplishing these tasks — and much more.

A summer’s worth of car shows at one Web site: Cars at Carlisle 
Web site: www.carsatcarlisle.com

Carlisle Events holds 11 consecutive car shows, every other weekend between April and October, at its 82-acre fairgrounds in Carlisle, PA. Besides two enormous swap meets in spring and fall, each show focuses on a particular automotive brand or category: Corvette, Ford, GM, Chrysler, trucks and motorcycles.

Each event stands alone — attracting a devoted crowd of buffs — but Carlisle Events successfully packs them all into a single Web site by assigning a memorable color to each. This way, Carlisle delivers information unique to each show while gaining leverage from the common information that crosses all shows. The home page describes the entire Carlisle annual lineup, plus a bit of its history, and directs aficionados of particular car brands to the tabs spread across the top, one for each event during the season.

For example, the Ford site is color-coded blue, with a nifty set of racing stripes running horizontally across the page. The General Motors show site is orange, in keeping with the color of the traditional GM engine block. At any given show sub-site, devotees of the various car brands can find everything they need while retaining a sense of individuality and brand loyalty. 

The common elements across all shows are aggregated on the left-hand menu bar: such functionality as directions, hotel accommodations, sponsors, even the Carlisle fairgrounds weather outlook. The most important items — registration, activity schedules, admission info and the popular giveaway car — are repeated in bold on each show’s page, for easy access. 

The site was conceived and organized by Chris Edwards, Marketing Manager, who joined the company in 2002. At the time, no one in Carlisle management had a clear idea of how Web-savvy their 82,000 attendees were likely to be. But Edwards knew that each weekend attracted a passionate group, whose allegiance to their car brand was strong.  “Many of these folks are members of local car clubs, and they come en masse to our weekends, bringing their families, setting up barbecue grills and having a great time together,” says Edwards. “We didn’t want to build a stand-alone Web site for each event, but we needed to give them a sense that their particular show was a special place for them alone.”

Car lovers have turned out to be avid Internet users. After the site launched in November 2002, it reported 499,000 unique visitors in 2003 and 952,000 unique visitors in 2004. The most popular areas are the lists of past competition winners and, a bit more prosaic, the PDF of directions to the fairgrounds (with 80,000 downloads to date). Edwards later launched an e-mail newsletter that circulates to 35,000 subscribers, and he’s now planning to add a Webcam that will stream video of activities at each weekend’s event. 

Matchmaking on steroids:  Embedded Systems Conference’s EEQuorum
Web site: www.esconline.com

Using technology to help attendees optimize their time at a show is nothing new, but CMP’s Embedded Systems Conference (ESC) has taken the concept to the next level, with its EEQuorum tool. Licensed from BDMetrics, the system turns the ESC Web site into a customized resource for finding not only key people to meet, but also the most relevant sessions to attend and the top products to check out on the exhibit hall floor — all dictated by a recommendation engine targeted to each attendee’s needs and interests. 

The process begins at registration, when attendees are invited to fill out an online profile that then generates a series of customized Web pages, beginning eight weeks before the show. The page content changes weekly, with updates driven not only by new session or exhibitor information but also by the search engine behavior of the entire show site community. For example, an attendee might search on “Internet security” and receive a list of 12 products, 22 sessions and 15 people to check out.  The site thus becomes an advance show planner that’s highly relevant and continually improving. 

When CMP launched EEQuorum on its 2004 site, it was an immediate hit. With the 2005 show, usage increased four-fold, and 82 percent of users went back during the eight weeks before the show and added an average of 15 more data fields to their profiles, to make their custom recommendation pages even more relevant. 

“The old model of event attendance is based on serendipity,” says Rick Geritz, President of BDMetrics. “You register, you get a badge, you show up, and hope your time is well spent. Our system allows ESC attendees to identify in advance the ideal relationships among the 2.3 million possible permutations at the show.”

Not only does the tool deliver a pre-populated custom show guide, it allows attendees to set up meetings at 15-minute intervals with exhibitors and with each other. CMP provided a special 40- by 40-foot lounge area for attendee-to-attendee meetings. 

“Exhibitors benefit from the system as well,” says Alix Raine, Senior Vice President of Communications at CMP. “Instead of buying a booth and waiting for a miracle, they know in advance that a half dozen highly qualified leads are scheduled to visit them. They can see the detailed attendee profile in advance, so they can make the meetings as productive as possible. This way, the ‘community’ nature of the event starts months in advance and continues well after the show itself is over.” 

A Web site extends the trade show another 361 days: The International Builders’ Show’s Virtual Trade Show Web site: www.buildersshow.com

The Builders’ Show is a giant: 1,600 exhibitors, 100,000 attendees and 350 educational programs packed into two and a half days in Orlando every January. About five years ago, Ignacio Cabrera, Staff Vice President of Exposition Sales for the show sponsor, the National Association of Home Builders, decided he wanted to use the show Web site to give exhibitors more value. He and his team created the Virtual Trade Show, a section of the show Web site that allows exhibitors to create their own virtual booths and make themselves available to attendees year-round. 

Exhibitors are taking advantage, in spades. About 99 percent have created a site, posting product information, graphics, press releases and links. Each pays a nominal fee of $150 to participate. As attendees visit and ask for more information, the exhibitors can send them e-mail, whether to set up appointments in advance or keep in touch after the show.

“The key benefit to exhibitors is the year-round access to attendees,” says Cabrera.  “But to me the best thing is that it gives our smaller exhibitors a playing field that’s level with the big construction companies. It was an uphill battle to get exhibitors to understand it, but now they look forward to it.”

One of the secrets to their success is the help desk, managed by Elena Pearl, whose team supports exhibitors by phone and e-mail as they set up their virtual booths. The virtual event goes live every September 1 and stays up through the following August. Pearl’s team reviews the exhibitors’ content as they post it, to make sure nothing inappropriate goes up.  They also take suggestions from exhibitors for ongoing improvements and additional functionality.

How a Web site can help avoid hotel block attrition charges: AIHce
Web site: www.aiha.org/aihce05/aihce.htm

Like many show organizers, the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) and the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) have struggled with a decline in show-sponsored housing registration that threatens the minimum guaranteed room blocks negotiated with show hotels.  For some years, they had been unable to fill their block for the American Industrial Hygiene Conference & Exposition (AIHce), which the two groups jointly sponsor every May in Annaheim. 

For their 2005 event, the groups decided to take action. On the theory that linking housing and registration might have an impact, they brought in ITS to supply both services.  This year, attendees who visit the AIHce Web site and click on the “Registration & Housing” button are linked to a site created by ITS. 

But AIHce doesn’t just leave it at that. They added a special offer: Attendees who book their housing through the site get $150 off their conference registration. At last report, 83 percent of registrants were signing up for the hotel, too. Considering that a certain percentage of attendees are local to California and drive in daily, this is a welcome development. To date, 81 percent of the room block was filled, compared with 66 percent at the same time last year.

To further bolster the housing take rates, the AIHA added a special FAQ section at the Web site that makes the case directly to association members. The organizers carefully explain how important it is to the association that they avoid attrition fees, and list a half dozen advantages to the attendees in staying at contracted hotels, says Carol Tobin, Director of Education and Meetings at AIHA.

Taking care of business: SEMAshow.com
Web site: www.semashow.com

The Specialty Equipment Market Association’s (SEMA) Web site strategy: Supporting the core business and supporting new growth.

The core businesses are, no surprise, selling booths and driving show attendance. So it’s these two business processes that drive the home page design. Clear instructions for both exhibitors and attendees appear on the left-hand navigation bar. The registration page is immediately available. The home page look is clean and uncluttered.

The latest SEMA show Web site was introduced in 2003. “We are very happy with the current version of the site,” says Peter McGillivray, Vice President of Marketing and Communications. “Our booth space is regularly sold out. Our registration growth rates are fantastic. “This is a 40-year-old show, and we’ve all just been through a down market. But we’re lucky — our industry is hot right now.” Between 2003 and 2004, booth space grew from 105,000 to 118,000 square feet, and attendance rose from 51,000 to 58,000 qualified buyers.

Beyond the core business, the Web site is also tasked with supporting new areas of business opportunity. In SEMA’s case, the show is well known, but the association behind it is relatively obscure. So in an effort to raise awareness and usage of the association itself, SEMA has linked its industry research, education and regulatory outreach information to the show site. 

To improve its overall appeal, the association spent six months researching the needs and interests of its various market segments. The research results were then used to develop new Web site content that pressed the hot buttons of both buyers and exhibitors. The previous rendition of the Web site simply listed the products sold in each section. But the new copy provides a richer perspective. Says McGillivray, “We know this new content is resonating because we see our words picked up and repeated in the enthusiast media, like Hotrod and Mobile Electronics magazines. We’re not only pleased that the Web site is making an impact — we’re flattered.”