Will virtual events replace traditional shows?
Today we are pleased to have guest-blogger Kim Orso, a Director of Beaupre’s Speakers Bureau, to discuss virtual vs. in-person trade shows.
There truly is a trade show or conference for everything – The Bead and Button Show, Totally Tools, The Shreveport Hunters Show. Name the industry, chances are there’s some event out there to support it. As a matter of fact, I just learned there are 13,000 events produced annually in the U.S. and Canada. This was reported in “The future of business events: Why trade shows live on” written by Columbia Business School marketing professor and author of Trade Show and Event Marketing, Ruth P. Stevens.Ruth’s article paints a very rosy picture for the future of live trade shows and conferences. She reports that the leading platform for virtual trade shows, Unisfair, claims to have run more than 300 virtual events on behalf of companies, trade associations and other organizations. Even though that number continues to grow, the virtual event hardly seems to be a threat to the traditional trade show.
Ruth spent a year and a half researching the business event scene in order to write her book. She argues that, historically, communications media (with the exception of the telegraph) have adapted and co-existed as new media channels have been introduced. As an example, television isn’t going away because of the Internet, it’s just changing how it does business. She sees integrated marketing communications as a way to success and says the Internet and live events should work in tandem. She also argues that online interaction can’t replace face-to-face contact.
I completely agree with Ruth on her assessment of the trade show industry. My brother-in-law has been selling paper to book and magazine publishers for more than 20 years now, and he’s frequently been asked how business is faring with the proliferation of the Internet. He responds positively by saying that we will always need paper, because of the three “B’s” – beach, bed and bathroom.
I look at trade shows in the same vein. They won’t ever go away because of the three “P’s” – product, people and productivity. Attendees want to touch, see and experience new products being introduced to market. Exhibiting companies like to meet face-to-face with potential and existing customers and partners. And, as long as companies pick the right events and properly prepare for a trade show, business can be very productive when prospects and partners congregate under one roof.
While the advent of the virtual event is intriguing and many online tradeshows have been successfully launched (see Stratus Technologies’ upcoming Availability Summit), the Internet doesn’t appear to be a real threat to the face-to-face venue. Instead, they can supplement each other and help companies get the most out of their marketing dollars.
- Kim Orso, Director Speakers Bureau
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