Creating a Hybrid Expo Hall

Organizations are looking for ways to expand their audience, engage their members, and demonstrate return on investment of their precious conference dollars. Hybrid meetings that combine the real-life with online are gaining some traction.

Virtual tradeshows are an innovative way to increase value to exhibitors and sponsors, extending the show both in scope and duration. Meetings & Conventions magazine recently profiled a Cisco conference that successfully utilized Chicago-based InXpo’s virtual exhibit hall as part of a live event. The conference was marketed under a single brand, and included both physical and online components.

A virtual exhibit hall supports many methods of interaction, including instant messaging, video chat, e-mail, and business card exchange to create qualified, trackable leads for exhibiting companies. InXpo also offers “Intelli-booth," an interactive company experience that allows customers to engage with your company’s products and services in ways that are meaningful to them. Both platforms provide detailed metrics regarding when and how often customers visited and what content was of interest. The firm also offers webcasting, online job fairs, and other HR-type tools.

The InXpo software is pricey – ranging from $50K – $100K for a standard configuration and more for a highly customized event – but provides options for conferences currently constrained by space, time, or geography.