To See or Not to See

This week, upwards of two thousand people made the same trek as I, descending or perhaps ascending to Hollywood, California to check out OMMA:High Anxiety. On the day of my arrival to town, though, I received a notice from another trade show announcing it had just opened. Usually such an occurrence spells the death knell for one if not both shows, as generally speaking, people can only attend one venue at a time. What if that limitation didn’t exist though? Luckily for one if not both shows, despite the overlap in dates, little cannibalization occurred. How? One of these shows took place online. From a journalistic perspective, that the two overlapped made it a good opportunity to compare the real world of OMMA to the SecondLife of trade shows, eComXpo. In this week’s Digital Thoughts, we’ll take a look at the pros and cons of the real world to the virtual world.

· Cost – even when you get lucky and a tradeshow occurs close by, traditional shows still require, on average, a significant investment in both time and money. With regards to time, you can get some level of work done, if necessary, but the level of productivity cannot compare to time in the office. Thinking of cost, tradeshows have high prices for full admission and that doesn’t include the hundreds, if not thousand dollars, per person cost to stay at the show. While probably not true with all virtual tradeshows, eComXpo offers a large portion for free, including not just the exhibit area, but also many keynote speeches. You have no travel costs in time or in money, and even at full price, attendees would struggle to pay more than $100.

· Convenience –The virtual show resembles on demand television. You can come and go as you please, spending as little or as much time as you’d like. eComXpo has set times mainly for the virtual exhibitors. Employees do not have to man a booth but they need to spend some time in front of the machine to answer questions. Without the human component – the show could stay open in informational mode for months with little required of attendees or exhibitors. The set times also create scarcity which, among other things, helps increase the networking odds. Traditional shows take more out of you; they have what you need, but getting from place to place gets draining fast, especially if you don’t stay in the hotel the show is at. I will say though, that I still enjoy the experience of walking the floor compared to clicking from one to the next.

· Set Up – Having not exhibited, I cannot say what a virtual tradeshow involves in this respect. From an attendee standpoint, I almost prefer the offline show. The process for doing so online still feels awkward and making the most of it means creating some online bling – you will need a picture and job blurbiage as others will see this when they "run" into you either at a booth or the virtual lounge. It’s a good reason to use a site like RepVine.com so that you can point people to a place to hear about you, rather than having to enter your information again and again. Additionally, with the virtual show, your personally identifiable registration data goes with you wherever you go, and they give you less control over who will see it.

· Attendance – in a way, you have to give the nod to a virtual show, as it can attract as many, and in many cases more, attendees and sponsors as a real show. OMMA, even the one held in New York, might draw four thousand people; eComXpo will see more than seven thousand. As expected, it’s a function of convenience and expense. You don’t have the same feel when online; it’s not quite as virtual as Worlds of Warcraft, but you just know that as games like SecondLife increase in popularity and the technology for virtual shows improves, being there will feel more like being there. It has an appeal now, but it doesn’t quite suck you in fully.

· Sponsors – eComXpo has done an admirable job, not just in the number of sponsors it attracts, but offering customization options so that each booth feels somewhat unique. They also provide a means for those exhibiting to customize the content they share and the overall user experience. The virtual show still has a way to go before this can compare with the impact of a traditional show. At a traditional show, sponsors can make more of an impact, and booths can stand out more.

· Speakers/Learning – Traditional trade shows often have the upper hand in obtaining speakers, but credit goes to eComXpo for continuing to increase the level and diversity of their speakers. Their shows also boast a "University" component where visitors can access the presentations on their own time up to a few months after the official dates. Speaking at their shows generally involves doing a PowerPoint with voice included. It takes about the same amount of time, if not a little more, to get right than doing a regular presentation, and it’s still a slightly new experience for speakers and listeners. It will take some time before a majority of people view the experiences interchangeably. Interestingly, for those that do not pay the upsell fee to join eComXpo’s University section, you can also purchase presentations ala carte. If, at some point in time they decide to split revenues with presenters, I could see this as a good way to attract not just better, but more useful content, as the marketplace would be deciding. Then, with good content on online advertising, it isn’t too far off to picture the creation of an ebook and direct marketing site for affiliates to promote.

· Connections/ Deal Making – Here too classic tradeshows like OMMA have had the upper hand. The virtual world will never take the place of the real world in business, but it does add some incredible efficiency to it, just as MySpace did to meeting new people. You don’t have to physically stop someone to meet and get to know about them. You can simply click on their profile. If you do have an interest you can chat or send them an email. The number of people you can learn about is multiples greater, although it is slightly harder to get a response. The virtual set up also works very well if you happen to be an affiliate looking for new offers. You can bring yourself up to speed very quickly on the various companies, interact with a sales rep (assuming one is on duty) and then sign up if you so choose. eComXpo does a great job of aggregating people who normally attend shows but do not always have booths. It gives these people a level playing field and from the affiliate perspective makes it so much easier to obtain actionable information.

The virtual and primarily free eComXpo continues through today. For any that haven’t had the experience, you should give at least thirty minutes of your time. If you are like me, you might find some irony in a physical tradeshow company being one of the top sponsors for a virtual event. But in the end it makes sense; I don’t think you can have one without the other. In my mind, eComXpo works as a standalone even, but its future might lie as a platform to augment existing shows and make them better. The company offers enough technology and an engaging enough experience that it could make an offline series of shows that much more compelling and hard to miss (in person).