“We have a lot of crossover between our events and wanted to create a single online headquarters to serve our customers with all the information we know about them,” says Nicole Buraglio, Director of e-Media, Hanley Wood Exhibitions. “It allows us to make recommendations based on their behaviors and/or demographics, which is a great way to cross-sell our products. It’s a customer service tool and a new profit center at the same time.”

 

Included with exhibit space or when attendees register for an event, the portals incorporate information from Hanley Wood’s attendee and exhibitor databases, so when users log on, they can easily see their past event history, such as the amount they’ve spent on sponsorships or the sessions they’ve attended. They also have quick access to contracts,Hanley Wood contacts, floor plans and more. Like Amazon.com, ConnectionPoint recommends other events or upgrades that might interest users based on their past participation. The portals also let users conduct Google-style searches in exhibitor or attendee lists or across the entire site.

 

For example, an attendee could search for only those exhibitors offering carpet services, or an exhibitor could search for architects in the Northeast to see a list of attendees who meet that criterion and schedule an appointment with them at a show. To enhance their exposure, exhibitors can pay for sponsored links for specific keywords or product categories, purchase banner ads or become the show’s official search engine sponsor.

 

A follow-up e-mail function even informs exhibitors about attendees who didn’t stop by their booth at the show, but match up with them based on their demographics, so they can send them an introductory e-mail after the event. To bring in social media functions, the portals are also linked to the company’s social networking system, hanleywoodConnect, as well as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.