17 creative ways to offer more value to exhibitors

Deliver more value to your exhibitors at online trade shows with these top tips from guest blogger Falguni Jain of Hubilo.

Exhibitors are the backbone of trade shows. Whether you’re hosting your trade show offline or online, you must show them the value of participating in your event.

Make sure you design your online trade show in a way that fulfills their objectives – be it brand awareness, lead generation, or relationship building.

Here’s how you can leverage a virtual event platform to address their objectives:

Customizable virtual booths

● Let exhibitors create highly personalized and professional profiles on your virtual event platform. It gives them a place to showcase their products or services.

● Give them the space to upload their banners, product images and videos, descriptions, contact and social details, and downloadable assets. Also, provide them an option to include profiles of their team members with whom attendees can video meet and chat.

● Offer them the option to pick a booth size (small, medium, or large) or even grab the featured spot at the virtual reception.

Branding

● Display exhibitor logos and banners on your website, registration page, event login page, and main event page.

● Use push notifications to give them shout-outs and remind attendees to visit various exhibitor booths.

● Mention them at regular intervals on your event feed.

● Give them an option to sponsor your sessions and highlight their logo on your agenda page and chat window.

● Ask the session host to give them a shout-out during a live session.

● Invite a speaker from their team to speak at one of your sessions or contribute to a panel discussion.

● Link an online photo booth with your virtual event platform and brand it with their logo.

● Ask them to sponsor different gamification activities, such as in the form of contest rewards. Then promote them by highlighting their name in the contests they sponsor.

● Incorporate their booth in a virtual scavenger hunt. It will motivate attendees to visit their booth and interact with their team members to find answers to certain questions.

Networking & Lead generation

● Give attendees the option to drop their e-business cards, send chat messages, or schedule one-to-one meetings with the exhibitors. It will allow your exhibitors to interact with highly interested attendees.

● Ask your exhibitors to sponsor networking lounges and breakout rooms. They can use this opportunity to give product demos, host workshops and activities, facilitate Q&As, or partake in networking with attendees.

● Provide them with a premium matchmaking functionality so they can receive smart recommendations of which attendees they should connect with.

● Share detailed leads data, categorizing each booth visitor as a hot, warm, or cold lead. It will help your exhibitors save time and allow them to reach out to the most relevant leads.

● Offer them useful insights on how attendees engaged with their booths by giving them access to an analytics dashboard. Showcase key metrics such as profile views, product views, chat, and meetings data, and CTA clicks.

Remember, your exhibitors are equal partners to your event’s success. And the right virtual event platform can help them participate in your event in a more meaningful manner, allowing you to give them a significant ROI.

Author Bio: Falguni Jain is a content marketer for Hubilo, the virtual and hybrid event platform built for engagement and event excellence. Hubilo's mission is to drive engagement - first and foremost - yielding greater business results. Engagement with your deeply branded experience, paired with our proactive and full-time customer success team ensures every event run on the Hubilo platform executes perfectly every time.

This content is sponsored by Hubilo.