The PhotoPlus International Conference and Expo is focusing several of its efforts on engaging both exhibitors and attendees through social media and other interactive platforms. Last night, over 500 individuals turned out to the Jacob Javitz Convention Center in New York City to participate in a “Test Drive and Tweet-Up” product preview that affords registrants a preliminary showing of what the exhibition has in store.

“The tweet-up is an attempt to take advantage of social media since there are some really strong Twitter communities with respect to photography and imaging—we thought it would be a good step to take advantage of that,” says Jeff McQuilkin, the show’s director. “Its a way for us to reach out to that community.”

The first hour of the tweet-up, which ran for three hours, was for members of the media to view products exhibitors will showcase on the show floor, ahead of the event’s opening today. McQuilkin says that this initiative “gives the press a preview of new products. It certainly helps with our registration and exhibitors really like the opportunity to get some one-on-one time with the press, especially if they have a new product or service to debut. We think this is a great way to do it while at the same time getting some feedback from the end-user—without the hustle and bustle of doing it on the tradeshow floor—the exhibitors value the quality time and exposure from the press.”

This is the second year the PhotoPlus International Conference and Expo [PPE] has hosted a “Tweet-Up” event—the group rolled it out for a second year because of its value to the event’s stakeholders. Large Twitter walls were included for the pre-show event and they will also be placed on the show floor to help foster sociability. Product demos, presentations and giveaways are some of the Tweet content that exhibitors send out during the event.

Internet Broadcasting To Generate Buzz

While the tweet-up helps engage exhibitors, attendees and media professionals that are on site for the event, PPE is also making sure prospective attendees and exhibitors, or those that can’t attend, can also be engaged—the group has designed an Internet broadcast for the event called PPE TV that gives selected coverage to some of the happenings on the show floor, which, in total, sits at about 145,000 square feet. About 27,000 attendees are expected to come out to see over 300 exhibiting companies.

“There are sessions, keynotes and demonstrations and we wanted a way to capture some of that valuable content—some of which is once in a lifetime content from sessions with different photographers coming together,” says McQuilkin. “There is a great demand for information from the speakers in a one-on-one interview format, as well as some of the vendors for new products. Our first thought wasn’t how do we monetize this but how do we capture this and make it available? There’s such a demand for great content so we’re certain there are ways that we can work with strategic content after the show and during the coming months, especially for people who couldn’t attend.”

The content is going to be available on a few different Web sites, including the show’s. Once the content packages are established, the show planners will then decide which aspects to monetize with various vendors and partners. Right now the event will capture 5 sessions—three seminars and two keynotes—that are 60 to 90 minutes in length and will be cut into a long format. There will also be 90-second interviews with speakers and vendors.

Not all of the materials will be free. “Some of it is to generate interest but we are seeing if we can make some of it available to only members of our Nielsen Photo Group as a benefit and some content may be monetized on an individual view basis, I’m not sure yet and we’re still figuring out how to set it up,” says McQuilkin. “Our main goal is to capture the content and make it available as much as we can for at least the next year.”

The group is working with Resource Magazine, Resource TV and Adorama TV to provide technical support in shooting, constructing and distributing the content. In house staff and the show’s partner magazine, PDN and Rangefinder Magazine, will help in conduct interviews.