vFairs Monthly Product Updates: March 2022

Ready to see what we have in store for you this March? We’ve got lots of exciting vFairs product updates to share with you! Read on to learn about improvements to our virtual and mobile app, and how you can use them to host better events! 

Updates to Our Mobile App

Have you started using our mobile event app? Whether you’re already using it for your events or you’re just hearing about it for the first time, now’s a great time to get on board. We have lots of great new features available to make your attendee and sponsors’ experiences even more epic. 

Check out these product updates in our mobile app:

Splash Ads

Splash ads are full-screen, fully customizable graphic ads shown as soon as any attendee logs into the event through the mobile app. This is a great way to add value to your sponsorship packages, as it guarantees anyone who logs into the mobile app will see their ad. Likewise, if you would like to promote your own products and services, this ad placement will guarantee visibility to anyone logging in through the mobile app!

Banner Ads

Banner ads are another great way to increase visibility for sponsors within the mobile app. This gives you or your sponsors visibility at the bottom of the screen, regardless of what page an attendee is on within the app. Sponsors can link their banner ad to a URL, thus increasing traffic to high priority pages or even perhaps increasing their leads at the event.

Attendee Search

Networking just got easier in the mobile app with attendee search. Attendees and exhibitors can now search and filter through contacts within the mobile app, similar to the search and filter function available in the vFairs browser platform. This feature will help virtual or in-person attendees network more easily by finding contacts they’re interested in chatting with at the event.

Leaderboard

A vFairs classic has made its way to the mobile app. Attendees can now access and gain points for the leaderboard for certain activities within the mobile app. The leaderboard will collect points from across the mobile version and the browser version of the event. So, if someone logs into the mobile app and completes some activities, then logs into the event via web browser and completes more activities with points associated, all of those points will be tracked together and consolidated into that user’s overall score. The mobile leaderboard can currently track and assign points for logins, webinar watches, booth visits, QR scans and check-ins.

Embedded URLs in Virtual Exhibit Booths

Embedded URLs help create a more seamless experience and keep your attendees immersed in the event. This update means that links from an exhibit booth to a web page will now open up right within the mobile app, rather than opening the web browser app on an attendees phone. This is perfect for exhibitors who are linking to product pages, job applications or even contact forms on their site. An attendee can simply pull up the page, complete the intended activity, and continue browsing through the event!

Updates to Our Virtual Exhibit Booth

We’ve tweaked our virtual exhibit booths to improve the way exhibitors and attendees communicate, and to make the setup experience for exhibitors even more helpful. 

Here are some product updates to our virtual exhibit booth:

Emojis

Emojis are quickly becoming a part of interpersonal communication, both in a personal and professional setting. In fact, 21.54% of all global tweets in 2021 featured an emoji. This update offers an emoji keyboard on both the booth Q&A panel and the native vFairs webinar Q&A panel.This works much like an emoji keyboard on your phone or Slack. All attendees have to do is click on the emoji symbol to pull up the entire keyboard, search for the emoji they would like to use or include in their message, and send!

Q&A Notifications

If an exhibitor is using our booth Q&A feature, this update will help them and their booth visitors communicate even more efficiently. Anytime an attendee asks a question within the booth Q&A and a booth admin answers it, a small number will pop up next to the bell icon in the top right corner of the attendees event menu. Once they click on the bell icon, all of their answered questions will popup in an embedded window so they can review.

Validation Checks

When setting up content links and resources, as steps 3 and 4 of the booth setup process, sometimes exhibitors either add extra links or leave data incomplete that are required to finalize the booth setup. If this happens, the fields will be flagged and the exhibitor will see a warning or reminder when they try to move to the next step in the process. However, they do have the option to ignore the warning, since many booths are set up in phases. If they don’t have the content they need at that moment, they can simply continue with their booth setup and revisit that field to update later.

Updates to Our Virtual Webinars

Zoom Interpretation

We now offer automated language interpretation through Zoom, which is configurable through the vFairs backend. You can simply enable this option to provide the audience with a seamless webinar experience!

Updates to Our Chat Feature

Chat is one of the most important features at any vFairs event. We’re constantly improving it to make sure you and your users have the best networking experience possible! 

Here are some product updates to our chat feature:

Status Updates

Users can now update their status within the chat feature. Attendees can update their status to indicate whether they’re Available, Busy or Away to indicate to others whether it’s a good time to reach out or not. If an attendee is busy in a session or another chat, they can mark themselves “Busy”. If they have to step away from the event for a while, they can mark themselves as “Away” and update their status to “Available” once they get back. 

Chat Threads

We have now updated our chat thread feature so that it can be included in the older version of our chat. If you prefer the new chat window over our embedded chat widget, you can now access similar functionality to the newer version. Chat participants can simply click ‘Thread’ on the message they’d like to start a thread on, and type, and send. 

Updates to Our Certificate Feature

We now offer customized certificates to reward the attendees for various activities during the event. You can easily set the criteria for certificates and enable them in the event settings. There are multiple certificates available for different fields, including: 

• Logging in to the event and watching a webinar.
• If an attendee is super active, they can get a certificate for that! 
• This new feature includes certificates based on answering a trivia quiz or survey.
• In the case of multiple webinars, you can decide the specific target that attendees have to hit to get a certificate. 
• A “Must Watch All” toggle button indicates that the attendees must watch all webinars to earn a certificate.

We have also introduced the start and end time fields to generate certificates for those timelines. The certificate report has additional columns for leaderboard points, start date, end date, and correct answer percentage. In the case of registration fields, currently, only IS NULL or IS NOT NULL condition is available but stay tuned to see more customization options!

New Payment Integration

Hosts can now use a new form of payment within their registration forms – Authorize.net. This is a popular solution, especially for our clients in the US and Canada, however it can be used by companies around the world. Authorize.net is a subsidiary of Visa, which is a renowned payment network, so you can trust the security and reliability that this integration offers. This is a great alternative to Paypal and Stripe, if you want a payment gateway but aren’t currently using those platforms. It supports the following currencies: USD, CAD, CHF, DKK, EUR, GBP, NOK, PLN, SEK, AUD, NZD. 

More March 2022 Product Updates… 

• The mobile app now offers clickable CMS pages, which work similar to the browser version of the CMS. This is great for rooms that usually host multiple links, such as the networking lounge. You can now easily set up images and associated links, and attendees get a seamless experience. 
• Hosts can now create custom messages that pop up when items are found within our virtual scavenger hunt feature. This update is perfect for making your event even more tailored and aligned to your brand messaging!
• We’re now offering file upload tooltips within the vFairs backend. This update shows you exactly what file types and dimensions you need for a specific upload field as you’re building your event. This update will help streamline your own content production process and better plan graphics and files needed to perfect your experience.