I’ve now made contact with most of the virtual trade show vendors, and of course all were eager to demonstrate their platforms.\u00a0 Most have some type of event occurring around now, so the best thing to do is to visit them during those events.\u00a0 I know firsthand that there is a big difference seeing the features in a sterile environment vs. seeing the actual flow of people and their use of the platform through an event.<\/p>\n
Since the show is going to be in mid-2009, perhaps June-ish, I know I need to get materials together for a decision very soon.\u00a0 The association needs time to evaluate my recommendations and then spread the word to their base.\u00a0 This association is fortunate because it is a pretty tight group (they know their vendors and their attendees, and both are very motivated to exhibit and attend).\u00a0 It seems like 5-6 months is a minimum amount of time before the show to be getting in gear, even for this tight group.<\/p>\n
It became clear to me that, rather than go from demo to demo initially, I should put together a basic list of feature areas, and then engage the vendors.\u00a0 I don’t mean to create an RFP, especially before seeing more demos, because I also have firsthand experience as a potential bidder knowing what a pain it is to respond to RFP’s (and, although it’s a bit cynical, many times RFP’s are used really to justify the author’s selection not a real competition).<\/p>\n
So here are my initial thoughts.\u00a0 I will revise them over the coming days as a I review web site materials from the vendors.\u00a0 I don’t expect to dump them on vendors and expect the vendors to answer — I figure I can review their web sites to get a better picture of their platform, start filling out the various areas, then double-check my observations with the vendors. Show Administration<\/strong> Vendor\/Exhibitor Administration\/Setup<\/strong> Speaker Administration<\/strong> Attendee Administration<\/strong> Talks\/Presentations<\/strong> Exhibit Hall<\/strong> Attendee Networking<\/strong> Reporting\/Tracking<\/strong> Support<\/strong> Pricing\/Costs<\/strong> Beyond the Show<\/strong> Other Features<\/strong> I’ve now made contact with most of the virtual trade show vendors, and of course all were eager to demonstrate their platforms.\u00a0 Most have some type of event occurring around now, so the best thing to do is to visit them during those events.\u00a0 I know firsthand that there is a big difference seeing the\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.eqsim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.eqsim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.eqsim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.eqsim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.eqsim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.eqsim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89,"href":"http:\/\/www.eqsim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions\/89"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.eqsim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.eqsim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.eqsim.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nOverall<\/strong>
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Are non-English languages supported, and how is it determined on show, vendor, speaker, or attendee basis?<\/p>\n
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What types of tools are available for managing vendors, speakers, attendees?<\/p>\n
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Variety of booth types
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What is platform for customizing booths?
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Can the booth integrate Adobe Flash?
\no\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If so, which versions (ActionScript 2 or ActionScript 3)?
\no\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Can Flash extensions access booth features, such as initiate Chats, open documents
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What types of videos and\/or multimedia can be used?
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Any e-Commerce facilities\/functionality?
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What formats are acceptable for the booth?<\/p>\n
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Is there live streaming?
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Is there pre-recorded broadcasts?
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Are Q&A\u2019s (following) sessions all text chat, or mixed?
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Are Q&A\u2019s recorded for later use\/review?
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Can the speaker share his or her desktop, or other WebEx-type functionality (white boards, polls, etc.)?
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Can audience members speak (audio) or take the microphone?
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What does a speaker have to prepare o
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What formats are acceptable?
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Can there be multiple speakers\/presenters, and from different locations?<\/p>\n
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Platforms (Win\/Mac\/Linux)?
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Require any browser plug-in?
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Browser or other compatibilities (e.g., Windows Media, etc.)
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How intrusive is sign-up?
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How intrusive is login?<\/p>\n
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What browser and software does an attendee need to participate?
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What kind of support is given during the conference for attendee problems?<\/p>\n
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How does a participant \u201csee\u201d the possible booths or vendors?
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Are there booths of different sizes?
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What kind of interaction can an attendee have with a sales\/booth rep?
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What kind of tracking is kept for an attendee?<\/p>\n
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Does it integrate with networking after the show?
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How do attendees network?
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Is there a place like a lounge where attendees can network?
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Why does an attendee want to hang out in the lounge?<\/p>\n
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What kind of reporting is done, and how is that accessed?
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Can extensions or loaded content hook into tracking (read\/write)?<\/p>\n
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What kind of support is available before the show, for
\no\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Vendors
\no\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Speakers
\no\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Show Organizer
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What kind of support is available during the show, for the same groups as above, as well as Participants\/Visitors?<\/p>\n
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Pricing\/cost structure<\/p>\n
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How can the show creators get value after the show?
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How can exhibitors get value after the show?
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How do participants get value after the show, for example, social networking?<\/p>\n
\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"