Virtual Exhibitions: The Complete Guide

Virtual exhibitions are the best way to showcase all you have. There are numerous benefits that companies, brands, exhibitors, and people from different spheres of life can squeeze out of a virtual exhibition.

Organizations continue hosting virtual exhibitions even after planners push in-person events back into the picture. The recent survey results showed that 51% of respondents are willing to host virtual exhibitions because of reduced expenses compared to in-person events. Moreover, 20% of respondents believe virtual exhibitions are more time-saving than in-person exhibitions.

Virtual exhibitions survey

Following this piece, we will discuss fundamentals, benefits, types, and a lot more about virtual exhibitions.

Chapter 1: Virtual Exhibitions Fundamentals

Virtual exhibitions, also known as digital exhibitions, offer much more than traditionally set-up exhibitions. Besides being convenient and affordable for brands and exhibitors, virtual exhibitions are a great way to build community. However, before we discuss the details, let’s learn the basics of online virtual exhibitions.

What Is a Virtual Exhibition?

VMUG virtual exhibit hall

If we go by the traditional definition, the public display of events and products is an exhibition. However, art exhibits and student project showcases, the more popular and growing virtual exhibition types, are redefining the concept.  

Virtual exhibitions offer many benefits compared to traditional exhibitions. They are more affordable, provide a convenient platform for both customers and brands, and offer a reliable way to network, build community, and showcase the company’s narrative.

To make the most of a virtual exhibition, one must be familiar with the tools that help execute a successful online display. The easier way is always to partner with the best virtual exhibition platform to stay far from any hassle. 

How To Create a Virtual Exhibition

Virtual exhibitions are becoming a popular choice for event planners for many reasons. They allow companies to demonstrate products to potential buyers and enhance the company’s image.

 Before you gear up for a virtual exhibition, you need to have your priorities set. It includes a clear vision of what you want to achieve from online exhibitions. You can use your online exhibition for multiple purposes. You can introduce new products to your audience, generate sales, improve the company image, etc. Here are some steps to help you plan and execute a successful virtual exhibition. 

Step 1: Plan Ahead

Early planning is key to a successful online presence, regardless of the event type. If you want to foresee challenges and combat them before they disrupt your event, you should start planning your virtual show months before the launch date. 

Planning a virtual exhibition involves a lot of work. You must start by researching the topic, working on your subjects, inviting speakers, setting a clear road map, and much more. However, suppose you feel intimidated by the responsibilities. In that case, there are virtual event platforms that can help you plan, manage, and host a successful virtual exhibition. 

When partnering with a virtual exhibition expert like vFairs, you get your virtual exhibition responsibilities sorted quickly. vFairs recommends that its customers connect with virtual exhibition experts on the platform at least four weeks before the event launch. This involves preparing the virtual exhibition event from start to finish. Furthermore, the team will assist you in exploring your entire pre-event marketing strategy. This timeline is suitable for setting up your live event for success.

Step 2: Prepare a Budget Breakdown

Budgeting can save you from excess stress. A budget breakdown includes deciding how much you want to spend on different aspects of virtual exhibition platforms, such as event marketing, features, and more. You can either stay on top of your expenses by creating a budget for your event or trust a virtual exhibition planner. 

For instance, vFairs helps you budget your event—vFairs offers assistance from event planner professionals. You can grab a quote for your event by contacting vFairs and looking at the platform’s budget planner to get an idea of how a leading virtual exhibition platform deals with event budgeting.

Step 3: Choose an Online Platform for the Exhibition

Many virtual event planners offer virtual exhibitions. However, only some virtual event platforms provide advanced features that can guarantee a successful online event. We recommend putting your money and efforts in the right place. 

vFairs stands out as the top choice for virtual event management. With the highest rating on G2 and the number one platform satisfaction score, it’s undoubtedly the most reliable virtual exhibition platform. 

Virtual Exhibition Features by vFairs

vFairs offers a wide range of virtual exhibition features that help organizers execute a successful virtual exhibition.  Here are features by vFairs offers for you to kick start your virtual exhibition fair. 

1. Virtual Environment

NYU Virtual Auditorium

vFairs lets you leverage user-friendly 3D designs to create exhibit halls, auditoriums, and immersive lobbies. Here are some features that come with virtual environments:

  • Draw more audience attention with interactive exhibit booths. 
  • Deliver a message of diversity and inclusion with super-interactive animated avatars. 
  • Offer support and guidance with the help desk in a mesmerizing virtual environment.
  • Offer animated avatars for a unique virtual event experience. 

2. Pre-event Marketing

Pre-event marketing tools by vFairs

With vFairs, you can use AI-powered tools to enhance event performance. Moreover, you can use a custom domain and build landing pages to make your event content more exciting. Here is what more you can do with the feature:

  • Collect first-party data with an AI-reporting chatbot. 
  • Send automated emails and reminders to your audience through vFairs pre-event marketing features. 
  • Craft customized emails and set up emails for your target audience. 
  • Host multilingual content to give the audience a sneak peek into your virtual exhibition. 

3. Interactive Exhibit Booths

vFairs exhibit booth

The excellent part of partnering with vFairs is choosing interactive booths from a wide range of professional booth templates. Further are some more points to consider:

  • You can add customized graphics and avatars to your booth. 
  • You can access downloadable documents, videos, and other resources to help with your event content. 
  • Your attendees can engage in booth reps through chat, moderated Q&As, meeting schedulers, etc. 

4. Gamification

Event gamification by vFairs

There are plenty of engagement features to make your virtual exhibition event. You can hook your audience with trivia, leaderboards, and scavenger hunts. Moreover, here is more of what the engagement feature offers: 

  • Send event alerts and notifications so your attendees are always alerted throughout the event.
  • Live polls and Q&A sessions can help you grab instant feedback from your attendees. 

5. Reporting and Analytics

Reporting analytics by vFairs

To ensure your event is heading according to the plan, vFairs allows you to get real-time metrics with a live dashboard. The reporting and analytics features also let you:

  • Get precise data through an AI reporting chatbot. 
  • Track exhibitors’ performance through click rates, downloaded documents, booth visits, etc. 
  • Instantly share real-time data with exhibitors and sponsors.  
  • Visualize each user’s journey. 
  • Make use of the detailed post-event report. 
  • Track resource downloads and booth visits and predict views.

6. Customer Support

Customer support

A 24/7 custom rapport is a rare virtual event planner feature vFairs offers. Further, the customer support feature offers. 

  • Dedicated project team along with professional end-to-end project management support. 
  • Rated number one on G2 for its unique customer service.

Step 4: Promote and Start Registrations

Before you put your event live for the audience, it is wise to understand your virtual exhibition’s marketing needs. 

It would be best to spark excitement among your target audience for the upcoming virtual exhibition you planned. You can do this by opening up registration for the online event some days before the launch date. Once you grab information about your target audience through their filled registration forms, you can send reminder texts or emails about the virtual event.

You can create a custom email campaign with vFairs’ drag-and-drop email builder. You can also add custom branding and personalized tokens to your promotional emails. Learn more about vFairs’ advanced marketing tools here.  

Step 5: Create a Virtual Exhibition Lobby

Once you have grabbed the required registration, you must prepare a pleasing virtual lobby to welcome your audience. A mesmerizing virtual lobby will help you generate more publicity and attract more sponsors to your event. 

An interactive virtual exhibition lobby is not only attractive to the audience. Instead, the host can grab better sponsorship opportunities through virtually pleasing graphics and banners within the lobby.  

Step 6: Allow Interactive Elements

Virtual exhibitions have all the leverage to explore interactive elements to keep the audience hooked and engaged. You might wonder what more you can do with a virtual exhibit to make it more exciting. Well, we have a solution for you. 

vFairs offers many interactive virtual features that best suit your online event exhibition. You can keep your audience hooked with trivia games, Q&A sessions, live pools, chat options, and more. Remember the scavenger hunt that can keep your audience attached to the platform long. 

7 Benefits of Hosting Virtual Exhibitions

Considering the significant benefits of hosting an online exhibition for your brand, how can you determine if it’s the right move for you? Take a look at some of the most compelling advantages below:

1. They’re More Affordable

Let’s face it: Hosting a virtual event, be it creating a virtual museum exhibit or hosting an online gallery exhibition, can save a lot of money when choosing the digital mode. Virtual exhibitions not only eliminate travel and food costs but also offer convenience that attracts a global audience. 

An in-person virtual exhibition requires many more resources, which can be heavy on your or your company’s pockets. From having a budget for a stand spare to buying and shipping furniture and dedicating a certain amount for meals, you need a lot of resources to organize an in-person exhibition. 

On the other hand, a virtual exhibitor eliminates most of the high-cost elements. A virtual exhibition can be much more convenient for your organization if you are not ready to spend a heavy imprint on an in-person event. 

Check out our comprehensive event budget guide to better understand the cost difference between hosting virtual and in-person events. 

2. They Attract More Brands and Sponsors

sponsorship opportunities' by vFairs

Virtual exhibitions are a great way to attract more brands and sponsors and generate better leads. Once you partner with a reliable virtual event planner like vFairs, you can create a customized virtual environment that is attractive to sponsors. With advanced virtual exhibition features, you can allow sponsors and brands to take full advantage of the exposure. 

The customized virtual environment allows exhibitors and attendees to connect and engage seamlessly. The upgraded networking opportunities in a virtual exhibition are also an attractive way to attract more sponsors and brands to your platform. 

3. They Reach a Global Audience

Hosting a virtual exhibition is the ultimate way to expand your company’s presence and showcase its products and services to a wider audience.

With a virtual event, you can boost the exposure of your exhibitors, sponsors, and more. You can reach a broader audience and attract numerous potential clients worldwide by going global.

4. Sell Advertising Opportunities to Exhibitors & Sponsors

When you choose vFairs’ online virtual exhibition platform, you can access numerous benefits. It’s important to emphasize the valuable advantages that potential exhibitors and sponsors can enjoy. 

A key attraction is the expanded reach to a larger and more diverse audience, along with the multiple advertising opportunities that vFairs offers to enhance brand visibility and generate high-quality leads, such as pop-up ads, banner ads, and more within the vFairs mobile app. 

With vFairs, sponsors, and exhibitors have the potential to boost their recognition significantly by leveraging the information from real-time reporting and analytics tools.

5. Sell Sponsorship Packages

In addition to advertising space, there are numerous other opportunities to offer to sponsors and exhibitors. For example, vFairs provides fully customized and branded virtual booths highly sought after by exhibitors.

You can create tailored sponsorship packages to entice sponsors and exhibitors further. Charging admission fees is a popular and effective method of ensuring that your virtual exhibition is a profitable event.

6. Sell Content Post Event

Post event data/report by vFairs

Since we are moving towards a cookie-less future, events are one of the reliable ways to collect attendee data. With vFairs, there are so many ways that vFairs lets you make your event profitable even after the event is over! Event communication should be something other than a point to leverage only as the event is in talks. Instead, you should be ready to sell an enormous amount of actionable data on attendees during events, nurturing processes in creating involvement, sponsored emails, and more.

7. Create Content That Can Be Repurposed in the Future

On-demand content is revolutionizing the virtual event industry. Therefore, you should come up with content that doesn’t grow old. Creating relevant content for a long time is an excellent way to sell your virtual event to your desired exhibitors and sponsors. Your exhibitor and sponsors would love to be part of an event that can be in the talks longer. You, in turn, can generate more revenue from evergreen on-demand content.  

Top Features to Look For in a Virtual Exhibition Platform

When choosing the best virtual exhibition platform for your event, it’s natural to feel overwhelmed by the options available. However, vFairs is the optimal choice with its unique features tailored for successful online exhibitions. Let’s learn more about vFairs’ offerings.  

1. Branded Exhibitor Booths

vFairs exhibitor booth

Once you partner with vFairs for your virtual exhibition, you are in for some fun and exciting features—vFairs allows you to give your exhibitors complete control of their booths. Your virtual exhibition platform helps your exhibitors grab the attention of attendees, share information, and increase brand recognition through highly customizable booths.

Through branded exhibitor booths, your exhibitors can choose the design and graphics, select colors, pick avatars, and upload downloadable content and videos to engage their visitors. 

2. Group and Private Chat

Group chat feature by vFairs

You can increase attendee engagement for your virtual exhibition with group and private chat options. Your exhibitors can also fully take advantage of the chat options, such as hosting a group chat or creating 1:1 audio or video meetings to connect better with the leaders. These chat options help generate more leads, make a convincing sales pitch and ensure the attendees have a long-lasting interest in the event. 

3. Convenient Document Sharing

vFair’s convenient document-sharing feature lets you publish product resources such as tutorials, use case data, spec sheets, and release information. Moreover, your attendees can save resources in their virtual swag bags. These dedicated resources can later help them download content and study. 

4. Sponsorship Opportunities

Sponsorship opportunities by vFairs

Apart from attracting a wonderful audience, generating great leaders, and increasing networking opportunities, you want to squeeze all possible sponsorship opportunities out of your virtual exhibition. 

You can monetize your event with various sponsorship options. This way, you can give your sponsors the best way to receive maximum exposure in the virtual exhibition fair. At the same time, you can count on the number of sponsors coming your way. 

Chapter 2: How to Make Virtual Exhibitions Interesting

It is essential to clearly understand your objectives in preparation for your virtual exhibition launch. Virtual exhibition hosts strive to create unforgettable events by incorporating captivating features to enhance visibility and audience engagement.

Engagement Features for Virtual Exhibitions

Virtual exhibitions are fun only if they are free from back-to-back sessions that do not offer attendees time to freshen up. The good part is that introducing games and other icebreakers has become one of the best virtual event industry trends. To become part of this growing tradition, you need to grab the exciting engagement features for your event to rise above the noise. The following super-interactive engagement features will keep your event and audience alive for extended periods.

 1. Q&As

Make your virtual exhibitor an extended virtual webinar with unbreakable sessions, or create an interactive virtual exhibition that offers attendees a chance to relax, chit-chat, and learn. 

Long informative sessions are a disaster recipe for successful virtual exhibitions. Instead, you should encourage more Q&A sessions for your attendees. Fortunately, vFairs has you covered here as well. vFairs offers a highly interactive virtual event feature that offers Q&A and polls. These engagement features can be easily navigated so that only relevant queries make it to the platforms, and your target audience can grab only the relevant information.

 2. Networking Lounge

Networking lounge feature by vFairs

The networking lounge is indeed a networking feature you should long for. The feature lets you establish a dedicated place to join chat rooms, take a break from the event, and meet people. This is one of the best ways to ensure attendees enjoy the event, relax, and network. However, you can also create chat rooms based on popular topics or topics that strike common interests.

 3. Photo Booth

Photo booth by vFairs

What is the best way to ensure the attendees have a memory of the event they were a part of? A photo! In a long list of fantastic engagement features, vFairs offers an opportunity for your attendees to take fun photos in a photo booth.

The virtual photo gallery or booth is about more than just taking pictures. You can also create entertaining gifs out of them. You can play around with filters and backgrounds to bring your hip and happening side to the event. The photo booth gallery lets other attendees select their favorite photos and leave likes. 

4. Surveys & Polls

Polls during webinars allow you to assess your attendees’ feelings about the exhibition. They are also great for understanding what attendees prefer and what they would like to learn more about. Overall, polls are super helpful when it comes to collecting attendees’ information. 

5. Trivia

Trivia can make the event enjoyable. It lets you keep the event alive with exciting questions and better engagement. Moreover, vFairs integrates with the highly interactive trivia game Kahoot. Kahoot is a game that brings people with similar interests together. This game is integrated with several vFairs events and makes virtual events more fun and interactive. 

6. Schnitzeljagd

Scavenger Hunt by vFairs

We all know about scavenger hunts, but how familiar are you with a scavenger hunt for your virtual exhibition? The scavenger hunt has items around the event and shares a list of clues for your attendees to find them. Each hidden item has a score attached to it. The more things you have collected, the more points you win. 

This is one exciting way to keep your event going. A scavenger hunt is also an intelligent way to drive more traffic to strategic spots at the event. By placing a hidden item, you can send your attendees to a gold sponsor’s booth. Indeed, a scavenger hunt is a popular virtual event engagement feature, and you should take advantage of it! 

7. Spin the Wheel

Spin the Wheel is perfect if you find more ways to keep your virtual exhibition exciting and award your attendees. You use a customizable spin wheel and attach different values to each segment. The pointer then chooses which element to land on. This is one exciting way to keep your attendees hooked to the event for longer. 

8. Social Media Wall

With integration with Walls.io, vFairs lets you collect all social media posts related to your event. After collecting all the seats for your event, you can add them to a real-time branded feed on your event. This way, your attendees can see what people are talking about your event and how your event is catching more attention. 

9.  vFairs Spatial Connect

Spatial networking feature by vFairs

vFairs’s proprietary feature, Spatial Connect, uses 3D simulation rooms to bring more physical networking to exposure in a virtual setting. Attendees can move a virtual avatar through the virtual space as if walking through an actual venue. Their avatars can connect via audio/video with others in their vicinity and spark interesting conversations. Your attendees can enjoy concerts and speaker sessions while chatting with one another. 

Here are some insights into how the Spatial Connect feature works: 

  • Users can create more of their avatars with keyboards. 
  • Close-quarter audios allow attendees to enjoy private conversations only with users nearby. 
  • Multiple rooms let you collect information about different areas of interest.
  • Native reporting lets us gauge the time used through spatial connection.

10. Breakout Rooms

vFairs lets you create a small workshop, also called breakout sessions. These breakout rooms are split into small groups where attendees are asked to solve problems as a team. Breakout sessions are highly collaborative. Therefore, it is also one of the most efficient features for fast networking.

 11. Miro Canvas

The Miro platform allows attendees to celebrate with each other on an interactive whiteboard. The whiteboard will let attendees share their ideas and plan activities and workshop projects. One great thing about this integration is that the feature works on video, making it easier to feel like you are part of in-person group work. 

12. Matchmaking

Virtual matchmaking pairs people with similar interests in a virtual event. Once people are paired up, they are brought together in a video call to have exciting conversations. This is amazing for significant events like virtual exhibitions, corporate events, or alum reunions. This feature has been super popular in virtual job fairs, where applicants can easily find suitable candidates. 

13. Leaderboard

The leaderboard features let you incentivize specific actions and award attendees for their participation. You can attach points to the above-listed engagement activities or other actions people take within the event, such as visiting a specific booth or watching a webinar. This will encourage your attendees to participate more in the virtual exhibition and help you create an interactive virtual event. 

Chapter 3: Types of Virtual Exhibitions

By now, you know that virtual exhibitions offer endless possibilities. However, to take your shows to the next level, you must understand the basics, including the types of virtual exhibitions and their requirements. 

Here is a quick breakdown of what we mean by different types of virtual exhibitions. 

Virtual Museum Exhibits

Creating a virtual museum exhibit is a great way to ensure that art and history get their attention. The art community has been adapting to the growing demand for virtual exhibits.

Uniting the perfect audience is necessary to create an online museum exhibit or online gallery exhibition that achieves its goals.

Virtual art galleries and museum exhibitions benefit the artist but are also excellent attractions for art lovers. Art lovers might want to be in an in-person environment where they can feel the art and artist closer. However, with enhancements in virtual events, the preferences of art lovers have changed significantly. The comfort of enjoying the presence of other art lovers and classic art is one luxury of living in a digital age. 

Online art exhibitions are the best way to earn better leads, exposure, and a wider audience. You can gain so much from hosting a virtual presentation for your museum. However, the demand is to ensure you combine our art with a virtual exhibition service from a reputable virtual event organizer. Here is an example of how a certified virtual event platform can help you with a successful virtual museum exhibition. 

Example: NOC UK 

The National Oceanography Centre UK decided to host a virtual open day using vFairs. By utilizing vFairs, the organization successfully attracted a wide range of attendees to its event. This remarkable event featured virtual exhibit booths, scavenger hunts, chat rooms, and more. 

Student Showcases

You might be familiar with open-day virtual events, but do you know how popular student exhibitions are? Colleges and universities are on their best game to host the best student exhibitions to showcase their talented students. 

Virtual exhibitions serve as an excellent platform for architecture students to present a diverse range of buildings within a digital realm.

Example: Young Enterprise Trade Fair

In its 13th edition, the Young Enterprise Trade Fair brought a record number of teams and their companies. The event was a success with vFairs, a virtual platform with unique features that allowed students to represent themselves at their respective virtual booths. 

Health Care Exhibitions

It should come as no surprise that the healthcare industry is at its best when it comes to introducing future advances with a forward-thinking approach. And what’s an innovative, practical, and convenient way to spread information through healthcare virtual exhibitions? 

Virtual event organizers like vFairs are best to partner with if you want your virtual healthcare event to enable an increased ROI and earn better profits. The platforms offer various services to help adapt to whatever is required to create a successful show. 

Example: Lymphoma Workshops

Virtual auditorium for Lymphoma Workshops by vFairs, all in one event management platform

One example of a successful healthcare virtual exhibition is lymphoma workshops. Lymphoma Workshops are regional, one-day educational programs that provide the latest information about lymphoma, diagnosis, current treatment options, and patient support issues. 

The leading virtual exhibition platform, vFairs, supported the virtual health care workshop. vFairs provided its services to help the Lymphoma Research Foundation connect lymphoma experts with patients virtually.

Virtuelle Fachmessen

Trade shows are best when hosted by a virtual exhibition expert. Virtual trade shows involve promoting products and services to a broad audience. 

These days, virtual trade shows are going pretty great. Be it appliances, food snacks, or unique-looking furniture. There is nothing you cannot promote in a virtual trade show. Most of these events have been successful when paired with a virtual event organizer with the best services. 

You do not have to fret over finding one because vFairs will handle all your troubles. vFairs lets you sit back and relax while you grab qualified leads. Apart from having a greater global reach, better return on investment, and increased visibility, there is much more you can earn by hosting a virtual trade show with vFairs. If you’re still in doubt, this interactive piece will help you learn about virtual trade shows and how vFairs is the best partner you can choose for your investment virtual trade show. 

Example: Harbor Wholesale Foods

Harbor wholesale foods

Harbor Wholesale, one of the largest independent food distributors in the North West, faced various challenges, including transitioning to virtual events while still achieving their event goals. They found that vFairs was the ideal virtual exhibition platform, providing unique and realistic virtual events. With vFairs, Harbor Wholesale experienced a remarkable 35% increase in sales compared to their most recent in-person trade show.

Virtual Product Exhibits

Virtual product exhibits bring unlimited virtual sales tactics to practice. You not only get the chance to connect better with your customers through a virtual product exhibit, but you can also get access to qualified leads. 

Your customers can view and understand your product and its journey from the comfort of their homes. The complete digital experience gives you a better return on your initial investment. 

A virtual product trade show is best known for providing better sales and opportunities. This is primarily because a virtual product exhibit lets you reach a broader, more diverse audience like any other virtual exhibition. 

vFairs allows exhibitors to design personalized booths to get more audience attention and enable them to represent their company better. It is something you can not do on your own. 

Besides getting better-qualified leads, your product trade shows provide branding opportunities to corporations and small businesses. The smaller brand gets a better chance to spread the word about its products and services and get valuable exposure without putting all its capital at risk. Moreover, suppose you are attending a product exhibition relevant to your industry. In that case, you will likely see a lot of competitors onboard. It is the perfect time to learn more about your industry, inquire about upcoming trends, and gain insights into how your competitors work on their products. 

Virtual product exhibits are also a great way to socialize. Suppose you did not get to mingle with your exhibitors and people. In that case, hosting a virtual product allows you to run into many more professionals in your industry. If you want to learn more about how vFairs can help you grow in your industry by allowing you to host a virtual product exhibit, then click here

Example: Apple’s Wanderlust

Apple wonderlust
Source: Apple

In 2023, Apple, a major industry player, revealed its highly anticipated iPhone 15 and Apple Watch Series 9 during the groundbreaking virtual product exhibit Wanderlust. This event unveiled the latest hardware and established a new standard for virtual product showcases.

Virtual Art Exhibits

Virtual art exhibitions are gaining popularity because they offer artists numerous opportunities. With professional virtual event organizers, artists can showcase their work to a global audience while keeping costs low. These exhibitions provide a unique platform for artists to present their creations in a digital space, reaching a diverse and engaged audience.

Utilizing a comprehensive virtual exhibition platform like vFairs, organizers can fully leverage advanced features to launch a successful virtual art exhibition. With animated avatars, customized venues, and a fully immersive virtual event experience, a virtual art event is set up for success.

 Example: NYUAD Art Gallery 

NYUD virtual art exhibition
Source: NYUD

The NYUAD Art Gallery in Abu Dhabi showcased a captivating exhibition highlighting nine artists and art collectives using technology to express their creativity. 

Chapter 4: How to Attract Exhibitors to Your Virtual Event

By now, you know how big virtual exhibitions are. However, hosting a virtual event is more than just an opportunity for your exhibitors. The more you invite good-quality exhibitors to your show, the more everyone involved benefits.

9 Ways to Promote Your Virtual Event to Exhibitors

You must have the best exhibitors on board to ensure your virtual exhibition is a massive success. Exhibitors are the power behind a successful virtual arrangement. However, finding quality exhibitors is challenging when dealing with a virtual show or virtual art event with a lot of competition. 

Nevertheless, as we have suggested many effective moves to conduct different types of virtual exhibitions, we are here to help further. Here are some helpful tips to attract exhibitors for a successful virtual exhibition.

1. Inform Them about Creative Ways They Can Promote Their Brand

Splash ads

You will surely benefit from many tools and features when you have decided to link with a virtual event organizer to conduct a virtual exhibition. For instance, vFairs comes up with a bundle of advanced virtual event tools and the best features for a successful virtual exhibition. So, instead of keeping the information to yourself, you should guide your exhibitor on how they can leverage the tools and features to connect better with their audience. 

Some of the valuable promotion features of the vFairs virtual event platform, which you should discuss with your exhibitors, are as follows:

  • Mobile app’s splash ads and banner ads 
  • Mobile app white labeling
  • Branded badges and lanyards
  • Sponsored welcome video
  • Sponsored virtual exhibit booth
  • Multimedia logo on the event’s homepage

2. Networking Opportunities

With vFairs, the networking opportunities are endless. The platform lets your exhibitors and attendees develop connections within the event. 

vFairs offers live chat tools to engage with a more comprehensive, diverse, and global audience through a single platform. Other than this, vFairs offers the following event networking tools:

  • Live Chat room
  • 1:1 audio/ video chat
  • QR-based contact exchange
  • Smart matchmaking

 Check Event Networking Tools for more details. 

3. Lead Generation

Lead capture app

Lead generation is your exhibitors’ top priority. Therefore, with vFairs, your exhibitors can search profiles to find the best fit for their target audience and request they set up a meeting during the event. vFairs’ lead capture app comes with:

  • Contextualize data
  • Capture event ROI
  • Event setup and configuration

Check the Event Lead Capture App for more details. 

 

4. Marketing Tools

An event can only aim for success with the proper marketing techniques. To help you create hype for your event, vFairs offers a broad range of marketing tools, including AI-powered marketing tools, to help create content for marketing campaigns in minutes. Furthermore, the vFairs offer:

  • Branded event landing pages
  • Drag and drop email builder
  • AI writing assistant
  • Community building

Check Event Marketing Tools for more details. 

5. Product Listing

With vFairs, it just gets better. Your exhibitors can showcase unlimited products without incurring additional costs. 

6. Online Sales

In the case of virtual trade shows, your exhibitors can access real-time updates of attendees’ book products, shortening sales cycles, and more. 

7. Offer Marketing and Sales Consultation

One thing is for sure: the success of your virtual exhibition depends upon the success of your exhibitors. Offering marketing and sales consultation services might go beyond the standard scope of work. It will surely help you execute a successful virtual exhibition. Similar to this vFairs team will introduce you to a wide range of features to produce successful results. You also have to convey the information to our exhibitors further. 

It includes informing them about the gamification features that can make events more exciting, and integration features that convert maximum online leads into sales, and much more. 

8. Provide Measurable Results

vFairs event reporting tools

Similar to how you expect to receive real-time updates of your event through your virtual event organizer, your exhibitors also need evidence of ROI. It would help if you informed them about all the additional aspects of participating in your virtual event. 

Remember that exhibitors are at the back of your event. You must take all the proper measures to attract reading companies to your virtual exhibition. It might be challenging, but once you partner with vFairs, you have so much to offer your exhibitors that they cannot reject. 

9. Additional Sponsorship Opportunities 

There is no better way to attract high-quality exhibitors to your virtual exhibition than by offering them accessible additional sponsorship opportunities. You must present how your sponsors can gain value from your virtual event. 

As we said, once you are fortunate enough to join hands with vFairs, there is almost nothing that you have to worry about. You can find ways to offer additional sponsorship opportunities to your exhibitors. Instead, vFairs does the job for you. 

Check event sponsorship packages for more details.

Chapter 5: Emerging Use Cases for Virtual Exhibitions

It is no secret that virtual exhibitions have taken over traditional exhibitions. We have seen the benefits of turning everything virtual in the past two years. However, even with virtual exhibitions, change is inevitable. A lot is happening in the virtual exhibition space. The following are some emerging trends you will witness this year and beyond. 

Virtual Reality Exhibitions

Virtual reality exhibition

Embracing virtual exhibitions is crucial in today’s fast-paced world. To truly stand out, you must incorporate new and innovative features that captivate your audience. Like any marketing strategy, the key to success is grabbing your audience’s attention. One way to achieve this is by showcasing your commitment to innovation.

Virtual Reality (VR) is a rising trend in the event industry that has piqued the interest of companies looking to engage their exhibitors, sponsors, and audience. Leveraging VR allows you to offer a unique and attention-grabbing experience. If you’re planning a virtual reality trade show, remember that your audience will be bombarded with numerous sales pitches. Creating multi sensory experiences that set you apart is essential to make a lasting impression.

Virtual Reality is becoming increasingly popular across industries. Businesses of all sizes recognize the value of jumping on the VR bandwagon. Promoting VR exhibitions such as VR art exhibitions, through a virtual reality experience for your next virtual exhibition, will likely attract more attention.

Consider this: Hosting a virtual showroom exhibition offers unlimited potential without the high venue rental costs associated with in-person events. With virtual reality, the floor space for your virtual showroom is virtually limitless.

Furthermore, virtual reality exhibitions are gaining traction in museums. They offer interactive installations, games, and more, allowing visitors to engage with the art rather than simply observe it.

The possibilities virtual reality can bring to the virtual event industry are mind-blowing. It’s only a matter of time before Virtual Reality becomes a staple in event industries!

Metaverse and Virtual NFT Gallery

Metaverse and NFT Gallery

Imagine a digital world where you can socialize, interact with digital items, and participate in various activities. That world is called Metaverse.

The metaverse combines augmented reality, virtual reality, and blockchain technologies, allowing for the emergence of virtual NFT galleries. These virtual spaces resemble real-world galleries but have the unique ability to engage fans worldwide. 

The popularity of blockchain-based virtual galleries has soared, attracting NFT enthusiasts who can showcase their collections in enhanced virtual spaces. These developments are just a glimpse of the revolutionary changes happening in the virtual event industry. Stay tuned for more exciting advancements!

And that’s a wrap! I hope you learned everything you need to plan a successful virtual exhibition. Feel free to contact the vFairs to get a detailed walkthrough of the platform.

FAQs

How long does it take to set up a virtual exhibition?

To have a successful virtual exhibition, we recommend you contact event professionals at vFairs a few months before the event launch. The team will handle everything, including event planning, software onboarding, event design, and uploading content.

How many booths can I have at my virtual exhibition?

With vFairs, there is no worrying about booths. You can set up an unlimited virtual exhibition booth, and the team will set them up for your exhibitors. vFairs has successfully hosted virtual exhibition events with over thousands of booths.

What kind of content can exhibitors add to their booths?

Your exhibitors can find information about their company, product, and service, PDF manuals, videos, external links, and custom HTML content. Moreover, each booth is virtually administered by a representative from the exhibiting company.

How many attendees can vFairs support?

vFairs support unlimited registration. Therefore, you can feel free to have as many attendees as you want on board at your virtual exhibition

How long can the exhibition stay live for?

Your event can remain live for as long as you wish with vFairs. You can get a yearly license to keep the event live for an entire year. You can then renew the right to hold the event live indefinitely.

Virtual Exhibitions: The Complete Guide

Shahtaj

Shahtaj is a content marketer at vFairs. She has over six years of experience creating and marketing content for IT, SaaS, and Event Tech industries. When she is not keeping up with the latest trends and news in the event industry, she binge-watches reality TV shows and sitcoms while managing her toddler's tantrums.

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