Think Out of the Crate! Now's the Time for Hybrid Trade Shows!

Even as the air waves are being dominated by news on how the economy is being stress-tested, my phone keeps ringing as always with calls from marketers. My email inbox continues to receive emails from persevering sales folks. When budgets get squeezed, the marketers will continue doing what they do with less, by simply getting more resourceful about it.

The interest in virtual venues for marketing and other specialized purposes such as virtual job fairs, continues unabated. Medium-sized and small businesses are willing to use virtual trade show technology to find a way to differentiate themselves from competition.

We see large corporations that once resisted the move to virtual trade shows for reasons that range from political, to cultural or plain inertia, willing to talk to us and to call our customers for references.

We see new initiatives being launched using online venues. We are also seeing new uses being tested for subsets of our technology. All of these initiatives are designed to save money.

Should budgets get squeezed for marketers, the virtual venues are rightly positioned to help. 72% of show organizers polled last week by Expo Magazine say that the economy is affecting their booth sales. Even if that were not the case, given that there is widespread discontent among exhibitors about the way the trade show industry is (dis)organized it might be time for new forms of trade shows. It just might be time for some kind of new hybrid variety of trade shows to be born.

I am thinking out of the crate here, when I say that perhaps new event organizers will come up with a mechanism that uses virtual venues for pre-event research, planning and scheduling meetings. After that, the participants who pre-screen one another will travel to meet at some resort, carrying only relevant papers for conclusive face-to-face encounters, fun and socializing. No crates, no booths, just information, entertainment and connections. If there are any takers out there, we are willing to collaborate in such a social-business experiment.

Are There Any Limits to the Size of a Virtual Fair?

We get this question often: "Are there any limits to how big we can make our virtual fair?". Let us look at this from a few angles.

1. Like trees, they need trimming to stay healthy: If your virtual fair grows in a wild unstructured and lopsided manner, then the trunk will not be able to hold some of the branches together, resulting in some branches falling off. This is seen happening even in real-world trade shows. When a trade show grows too popular and too big, some of the bigger sponsors start creating little breakaway events, hospitality suites or simply just stop participating. Just like a tree, a virtual fair needs to be periodically trimmed to ensure the quality of the experience, depth of interaction and quality of users.
2. Every part needs care and feed: A visitor to a virtual booth needs to be engaged instantly and answers offered instantly. Virtual attendees whose requests for live interaction go unanswered (and I have seen this happen in many of the virtual trade shows that are out there - unstaffed booths) tend to drift away. Given this reality, the effectiveness of a virtual booth is limited by the number of booth staffers that are available live online during the virtual fair, and by the number of simultaneous virtual attendees that each booth-staffer can engage one-on-one. In our experience that number is 3.
3. They need to prepare for growing pains: In estimating the turnout at a virtual fair the organizers and providers have to make intelligent estimates, but the more popular a virtual fair gets, the chances are higher that the traffic estimates may not be very accurate. Outages have not been unheard of even in the who's who of websites, whether it is Amazon, Yahoo, Ebay, or - yes - Google. It goes to show that when a provider boasts of the most robust system there is, it just means that they have done everything humanly possible to ensure a smooth virtual fair, and that they have in place mechanisms to monitor and nip problems in the bud.

Virtual fairs can grow with no limits so long as they learn how to sustain nutrition to every corner of the virtual fair, whether the virtual event organizer plans to add a blog to it, or a career corner to it, or a social network to it. You will see this happen even with social networks that are huge. Beyond a certain point, the users tend to seek more depth in their interactions and start looking for groups to form clusters.

In a perfect world, if one assumes unlimited bandwidth, unlimited server capacity and software code written so well that the system scales and soars like poetry, the only limits on the growth of virtual fairs are driven by the limits of human behavior and needs.

Can Virtual Trade Shows and Virtual Job Fairs Save Newspaper Classifieds?

This topic seems relevant, going by the number of newspaper companies that have been contacting us for virtual job fairs. My understanding is that the newspaper industry is trying to find out ways in which the virtual trade show or the virtual job fair can be bundled into their existing offerings, and sold as a package to their advertisers, thereby lending support to their classifieds business.

It would be pertinent here to recount a failed experiment with a virtual job fair that was used by a publisher, leaving us with valuable lessons that I want to share. Our technology worked flawlessly (of course!) and minor customization was done to accommodate their needs. However, the virtual job fair was continuously up on their site, making it difficult for the publisher to explain to their advertisers how it was different from the traditional classifieds. I also believe it was an issue of not being able to articulate the cost-benefit of doing virtual job fairs versus or alongside classifieds for their particular industry. Here is the case study in an itemized style:

• Publisher approached us for virtual job fair
• Specifications included a permanent virtual job fair, with the ability to purchase time-slots of virtual booth display-duration in monthly increments
• Real time reporting (it is a built-in feature that we offer, but we also customize it for long-term clients)
• A built-in payment system (it was already there)
• Consultation on best-practices in virtual fairs
• Online support
• A early set-up fee and ongoing revenue-share
• The ability to walk away if it is not embraced by their market (we allow customers the ability to walk away with their data, regardless).

The things that the publisher did successfully included:

• Packaging the service in convenient bite-sizes for advertisers
• Giving advertisers special bundled offerings and term-discounts should they book virtual booth space for extended durations
• Sold booth spaces at a fairly low price, but much higher than the traditional classifieds.

The things that the publisher failed to do included:

• Failed to slice the duration into meaningful events
• Failed to distinguish between classifieds and virtual job fair.
• Failed to set the right expectations with advertisers, and therefore did not meet them
• Failed to set pricing at the basic level equivalent to the competing classifieds
• Failed to offer differentiated levels of the virtual job fair service
• Failed to understand its international potential (months after we shut down their virtual job fair, our support lines still used to get inquiries from Europe and Australia by job seekers and potential advertisers)
• Failed to either follow-through on the connections made, or track success stories, or promote them, or failed to do all three of the preceding.

Citing the reason that the concept of virtual job fair was too early for their particular industry, the publisher eventually pulled out of the virtual job fair once they found a significantly diluted web-based classifieds solution, which they offered to their advertisers to display classifieds. We make it easy for customers to exit with their registration data should they choose to, so it was a smooth transition. I admired the publisher for being a trendsetter, but they had not really broken away from the 'classifieds' mindset.

How can Virtual Fairs Save Newspaper Classifieds? Here are a few possible answers.

1. Offer audiences a branded experience from your advertisers: A virtual job fair is a powerful branding tool, even if it is not embraced by every job classified advertiser. Those who choose Craigslist.org can not be stopped. That is just the way it is. However, if a hiring organization is serious about quality future hiring, then they would do what I have seen many companies do - use not only Craigslist.org, but also consider other ways of nurturing an audience of followers who will be future employees. To attract such an audience, they need the help, not only of the Internet and social networks, but also of traditional newspapers.
2. Experiment fearlessly outside the comfort zone of the 'Classifieds' mind-set: It is up to the newspaper companies to listen and experiment fearlessly with these new tools. I use the word 'fearlessly' because presently all I see them do is put a few logos and link them to special pages for the logoed advertisers listing job openings. That is what I have seen a classifieds technology provider offer their newspaper industry clients. They call it a virtual career fair, though. That again stems from the fact that virtual job fairs have no standards, and no definition. Over a period of time, I expect the market to settle and agree upon definitions.
3. Stay at the wheel and keep your eyes on the road: The other problem I see festering is that virtual job fair users think that 3D-type immersive experiences maketh a virtual fair. Agreed, it needs to be fun, but do not forget the human element. It does not matter how you dress up your virtual fair. If it does not have real humans steering the experience from their individual locations, you are headed down a path of disillusionment for your advertisers, your audiences, and your classifieds. No matter what kind of virtual fair you use, make sure that it has real people behind it available for its live-duration.
4. Qualify the traffic: One size will not fit all. A virtual fair may not be the cure for all ailments that afflict newspaper classifieds, but in our experience virtual fairs have worked really well in controlled environments because they do what nothing else can do - they allow for instant communication in a structured manner. They allow exhibitors and hiring managers to see who has come by their virtual booth. From the attendees' perspective, they allow exhibitors or advertisers, or hiring managers to hand-hold their audiences. They give audience members undivided attention. Making audiences register is one of the smallest necessary hurdles that are required to qualify an audience. I can not over-emphasize the importance of qualifying the attendees for a virtual fair. Sweeping and gathering eyeballs off the web don't make for a quality virtual trade fair or a virtual job fair.
5. Give it time, promote it and nurture it: Newspapers have to learn to co-exist with the Internet. Virtual job fairs might be one way. I would strongly suggest that newspaper companies try virtual job fairs (or virtual trade fairs -- say a Used Car Virtual Trade Show) for 4 consecutive quarters. For kicks, advertise your virtual job fair or trade fair on CraigsList and Google. Promote it like there is no tomorrow for the current classifieds.

The debate has just begun. Virtual fairs are among the better kept secrets in the world of business. Those who use it successfully do not talk about it enough. They could be the answer that newspaper companies are looking for in learning how to make their classifieds coexist with the Internet. It would be interesting to see the results of the contest by ReinventingClassifieds.com and to learn about other ideas from the college-goers - always a valuable resource.

The making of a successful virtual job fair

This article attempts to address some of the questions that have been coming up among those interested in virtual job fairs and virtual career fairs. iTradeFair.com has deployed several successful virtual fairs including job fairs since 1999, in academia and Corporate America. In this article the writer highlights factors that make these early adopters want to come back and do the virtual job fairs over and over again.

The relevance of a virtual job fair today

With the widespread use of the Internet for job searches, recruiters and hiring managers have a larger pool of accessible job candidates. The consequent information overload is inevitable. A typical search within a job board gives a recruiter thousands of choices and not enough time in the day to review all of them. A virtual job fair serves as a levee to arrest the information deluge, capture a relevant, interested and manageable part of the database, invite them to a job fair, and fish for the best candidates. From the candidates’ perspective, they enjoy the ability to fish for the best opportunities. By creating manageable capsules of time, (web) space, and information, a virtual job fair creates a sheltered environment without the noise and clutter of the Internet for a recruiter or hiring manager to directly connect with a potential job candidate.

The other reason that a virtual job fair has become relevant is that hiring companies are trying their best to make their brand stand out amongst their competitors to attract the best talent that is out there. Many organizations are able to receive résumés of interested job candidates at their own career websites. Some even have a .jobs domain name to go with their overall web presence. With such elements they are trying to create an exclusive corner for their hiring needs and thus build some branding. To create an element of brand-loyalty even before they have become an employee of the company, many organizations prefer to have their own online event to invite and engage candidates who have expressed interest in working for that specific organization. The virtual job fair is an ideal way to maintain a pipeline of future employees that care about an organization’s brand

Three ‘C’s for a successful virtual job fair

There are several factors that make for a successful virtual job fair, but in our experience the most critical ones are making them Convenient, Crisp and Current.

1. Convenient: If a job fair can be wrapped around the needs of the job candidate, it has a better chance of success. We conducted a job fair where the recruiters ‘staffed’ their virtual booth on a Sunday morning (from the comfort of their home via the Internet) just to make it convenient to working professionals who may not have time during the work week for a serious job search. Candidates were able to attend online, connect instantly via chat with the recruiter, schedule an interview or even have an initial phone interview with the recruiter that Sunday morning. Since the internet does not have any boundaries of time, it stands a better chance of success if it creates spells of interactivity aligned with the convenience of the job candidates in mind. Convenience is also important to the hiring manager. Should a hiring manager wish to involve an engineer in the hiring process, it can be accomplished without the engineer leaving her or his desk, and still be able to address technical questions and concerns of a job candidate instantaneously. Making it convenient is the biggest hallmark of the success of a virtual job fair. Taking this a little further, it also means that the virtual job fair must be easy to participate from behind firewalls in case a working professional chooses to attend from the office. It goes without saying that the virtual job fair then must enjoy timely customer support during any hour that has been chosen by the fair organizers. It is all about making it convenient for the job candidate and the recruiter in terms of getting the required customer support for an easy and seamless experience. Respecting the time of all participants is paramount. To assume that the job candidate, hiring managers or recruiters have a lot of time to spend on the Internet is a fallacy. That leads us to the next C – Crisp.
2. Crisp: Time is a scarce resource. Let us not forget that the hiring manager, recruiter and the job candidate, each have a specific need – to be able to find one another, to find the right fit, and to connect as quickly as possible armed with as much information as possible. Virtual job fairs work best when they are used to facilitate and swiftly arrange for a phone conversation or an email follow-up leading to a phone conversation. Throwing too much technology at the users is inconsiderate and counter-productive. The second most important hallmark of a successful virtual job fair is to keep it simple and crisp, serving as a tool to establish an instant connection between the job giver and the job seeker. Anything else that interferes with this ultimate objective is a waste of time and therefore money. Keeping all the content in the virtual job fair concise, keeping the navigation consistent and predictable is very important. Of course, all of the convenience and conciseness you offer in a virtual job fair is meaningless if the content is not current, taking us to the next C -Current.
3. Current: Even if your virtual job fair is being created out of an existing database of job candidates or an existing job listing pool, and even if it is easy to simply pull all of that data into a virtual job fair venue, I would urge to resist the temptation to serve old wine in a new bottle. My recommendation would be to leave certain pieces of information out of any automated data transfers, and mandate that the job fair participants – both employers and job candidates demonstrate their commitment by making current their job listings and résumés respectively, as well as their contact information. Employers will tell you how frustrating it is to find interesting résumés that are outdated, emails that bounce back and phones numbers that never ring. In the same vein, job candidates will tell you how exasperating it is to go through job listings, fill out an application form, click on the ‘apply’ button only to find that the job posting has ‘expired’ or is ‘not available any longer’. Keep all content in the virtual job fair current, and you will have a winner.
   
   The first steps towards building a brand
   
   To keep all content in a virtual job fair current, it is also important that the job fair has a specific start and an end. A virtual job fair with a defined time-frame is successful for the following few reasons. It is not reasonable to expect hiring managers to be online ‘staffing’ virtual booths for more than a few hours. Hiring processes have a life-cycle, and matters have to move beyond the initial screening that the virtual job fair painlessly allows. When a virtual job fair is closed, it is best to open pre-registration and pre-announce the next virtual job fair. A pre-announced calendar of job fairs helps sustain the momentum of the first fair. It gives job candidates something to look forward to. It gives recruiters a breather. Most of all, it helps the job fair organizer build a brand for the job fair. Based on our experience, if you deliver virtual job fairs in brief spells of time, and also use it in conjunction with face-to-face job fairs, you will experience measurable success. One must remember that the Internet works best when used as a tool to enhance human interaction.

The author, Ramesh Sambasivan is the co-founder of iTradeFair.com, Inc. Thanks to Grant Hartman, a virtual event manager and social networking evangelist at iTradeFair.com for valuable edits to this article.

P.S.: This article is getting picked up by many blogs so I figured, why not by this one :-)