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Exhibitor
Digital
Live
The exhibitor is digital at a live event and the visitor is live
Live Event
Live
contact attendees prior to an event , to understand their challenges and to introduce them to exhibitors . Hosted buyer programmes and vertical communities , meanwhile , enable you to focus on a niche using digital . And with the right digital assets , you can undertake data tracking and community segmentation . The conclusion was that there are no boundaries when it comes to using digital .
Parsons also gave a warning of the consequences if the crisis drags on : “ If a country hasn ’ t had a show for two years , things will change , and it will become a material issue , especially in Europe .”
For the Eventgers group , led by Nicole Peck and Mike Frost , touchpoints were very much taken literally as communication touchpoints and as another opportunity to talk to customers . The group presented two concepts : a ‘ code of conduct ’ and an ‘ expectations of ALL participants ’ document . The code of conduct is a mutual commitment with mutual benefits for the organisers , sponsors and attendees , to make people feel at ease and
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Visitor
Digital Event
The exhibitor is live at an event and the visitor is digital
Digital
comfortable . The importance of no failure of compliance and consistency are key .
The aim of the ‘ expectations of ALL participants ’ document is to maintain high quality throughout events for customers . This acts as an additional touchpoint for organisers , which clearly outlines the benefits for all stakeholders and the commitment required in terms of time , content and community . The code of conduct is limited to health and safety regulations , yet there is far more scope for tailoring and customisation with the ‘ expectations of ALL participants ’ document . The two resources can interweave with each other .
Nicole Peck noted that , although we are in the business of connecting buyers and sellers , the surveys highlighted how poor many of our strategies are around data and data use . “ Time is our most treasured commodity and should be mutually respected ,” she added .
Mike Frost said that in the future venues will likely be at reduced capacities : “ We have to make sure that a high proportion of attendees to
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Left : Touch Point Model – a model that helps to group and understand new tradeshow touchpoints |
our events are high-quality attendees to ensure that we have that customer satisfaction at the end ,” he said .
Stephanie Selesnick ’ s Strong Girlz + 1 group showed a video of a ‘ safe ’ visitor journey for attendance at a conference in Las Vegas , starting with packing for the trip , and moving on to contactless check-in facilities at the hotel , car rental and the registration process using a Citizen Care pod with thermo-scan to check temperatures . There was also the use of enter-only / exit-only signs and a room setting based on social-distancing rules . The speakers even had to wear masks , which was challenging for sound reasons .
At lunch , there was a maximum of three people per table , and at the end of the conference , each attendee was given a Covid-19 test .
Having attended the event , one conclusion drawn by participants was that the ability to communicate with the registration partner is imperative , as many people are not good at registering in advance . With effective rules and guidelines in place , it is still important to remember that what people do pre- and post-event is out of organiser control .
“ Late registration will be a lot harder with the new legislation .” Stephanie Selesnick said , emphasising : “ What people do preand post-event we can ’ t control ; what we can do is keep people as safe as we can .”
The ETT Club session participants concluded that the industry is somewhat divided , with some viewing the pandemic as a chance to work on new touchpoints and improve performance , while others are waiting for things to return to as they were before Covid-19 .
Despite those differences , Parsons probably spoke for all participants when he praised the value of the ETT Club format for thrashing out issues and finding solutions : “ A think tank is also about disagreeing within a team , in order to see things a different way and generate new ideas ,” he said .
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