Personalised virtual exhibition stands from Quadrant2Design

A real attempt was made during lockdown to get virtual exhibiting off the ground. These efforts failed, largely due to clumsy execution and a failure to understand the true nature of an ‘event’. Now, design & build contractors Quadrant2Design have created a powerful concept that marries virtual technology with the traditional ‘physical’ exhibition stand.

During those bleak months of lockdown, we watched the idea of ‘virtual events’ and virtual exhibition stands, start to get attention. We struggled to see the attraction. Surely an ‘event’ is a time-limited meeting, where you mingle, talk, share ideas, get introduced to new products and services, and maybe even share a joke or two! A virtual event was none of those things.

Well, in the end the virtual event boom never really happened. But at Quadrant2Design we started to think – what if we could create a personalised event website for exhibitors, that worked alongside the client’s physical exhibition stand, that generated real excitement and drove more visitors to our customers' exhibition stands?

After all, exhibitors are spending considerable chunks of marketing cash, on what is essentially a two or three day event. Wouldn’t it be a great idea to generate as much marketing-heat around this time-limited event as possible? And maybe even extend that 2 to 3 day event into a much longer lasting marketing opportunity.

And thus was born Quadrant2Design’s personalised event website concept.

Fortunately, as well as being exhibition stand designers, we are also website developers. This dual expertise enables us to build a client’s personalised event website, with the same design-assets as used on their physical exhibition stand.

So, this personalised event website shows visuals of the stand, that exactly match the client’s final exhibition stand, creating powerful brand-building recognition and memorability.

The event website also contains modules that show the exhibition stand’s hall location, show dates, show location and travel information. Other functionality showcases new products and services to be seen, show offers, a ‘meet the team’ section and an option to make an appointment for show demos or meetings.

The client’s event website goes live 5-weeks pre-show, and is kept live for 5-weeks post-show. This creates an enormous return on investment, allowing the client’s marketing team to leverage what was a 2-to-3-day event into a 10-week marketing campaign.

Marketing opportunities include:

•  Email marketing to show visitors with link to the personalised event website, promoting your exhibition stand, up to 5-weeks pre-event.
•  Invite visitors with superb visuals of your stand, aiding recognition and memorability.
•  Highlight and promote new products or services to be seen on your exhibition stand.
•  Guide visitors to your stand location through hall-maps and recognition of the stand.
•  Allow show visitors to pre-book stand demos and meetings.
•  Introduce staff members working on your exhibition stand.
•  Provide a platform for truly memorable follow-up email marketing for up to 5-weeks after the show ends.

And here is the big bonus. When an exhibitor sends marketing emails, pre-event, to show visitors, linking them to a personalised event website, we should remember that many of these potential visitors may not be able to attend the show.

In that case – your exhibition stand – as seen on your personalised event website, will be the only exhibition stand they see. They will see your branding, your products and services, your offers and your marketing message – without visiting the show.

Now that is a real virtual exhibition stand!