By Editor Morten B. Reitoft
The short answer is no. Regardless of the cancellations or postponements of events like FESPA, DSCOOP, drupa and more, many exhibitors are looking into hosting virtual events. The need comes from the fact that vendors need to present the products and services they were expected to show at the previously mentioned events.
If you are looking for software to handle your virtual show, there is a vast range of solutions in the market. I will link to some of them below.
However, before choosing a solution, I believe it's important to discuss why we like tradeshows and what we expect to achieve from attending.
Here is a list of some of the takeaways:
- Presentation of products/services
- Hands-on experience
- Talking to specialists
- Networking with friends, colleagues, partners, etc.
- The Social aspect
- The "whau" effect
- Learning/keynotes
Some of the takeaways can, for sure, be done virtually, but some are a bit more tricky. Since the cancellations of the events, we have wondered why the event-organizers haven't published any virtual events themselves? When we announced our PLAN B by INKISH, we got a lot of support from vendors, but one organizer was upset with us and announced that they would present some ideas on their own - which I haven't seen yet, however? Many companies have announced their own events. I believe the very first was Mimaki, and I know that some of the PR companies have come up with similar ideas to our PLAN B by INKISH.
However, if virtual events are not able to capture some of the takeaways from above, I am not sure about the value. If a majority of the exhibitors ends up doing their own virtual events, you could as well watch some films, visit a website, webinars or other similar things. If you end up asking all users to register on multiple sites to get the "tour" from numerous vendors, I don't think that will be better from a printers perspective? I believe the industry needs to gather around one virtual event, so that event at least can deliver a "whau" effect, and an opportunity to see products and services from various vendors. It is, of course, also possible to provide learning/keynotes via a virtual event platform.
As already mentioned, some of the takeaways are easy to do virtually, some more difficult, but achievable. We want to cover virtual events and participate in the production of films, text, and more. We believe supporting an approach delivered by the event organizers or at least complimenting these, is of the utmost importance.
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