The COVID-19 pandemic dealt a major blow to everything including trade shows. These were places for engineers, programmers, and developers to meet, learn about new trends and technologies, and check out vendors and products. They typically involved a combination of show floors, keynotes, and sessions that took up a lot of space. Face-to-face meetings were touted as the reason for being there in person. The physicality of these environments forced a fixed timeframe, hence the timeliness of the events as well as their limitations.
Companies that run trade shows did a major pivot to virtual trade shows. Most of them were executed very poorly, at least initially. There’s a heavy dependence on video conferencing and streaming multimedia.
Over time, some trade shows adapted sufficiently, but not all. Presentations and keynotes work well, as streaming video and are actually better than being there in person sitting in the back row, where you’re looking at a big screen display of the person at the podium. Artists and comedians prefer audience feedback, but not so much for a trade-show keynote.
The technical sessions fare at about the same level, although the question-and-answer aspect can go both ways. For larger groups, the problem of hearing a question tends to go away with video conferencing or text chats. The face-to-face interaction is obviously subpar, though. On the flipside, distributing artifacts like the slide presentation is trivial online. Unfortunately, most online trade shows don’t take advantage of this distribution feature to enhance an online event.
The trade-show floor is where online solutions really come up short, and why everyone is looking forward to in-person events. Scheduled meetings aside, online events lack the serendipity of stopping by a booth and having someone show you something you’ve not seen before. This is an area where radical improvements are ripe opportunities for video conferencing and trade-show companies.
In the meantime, I’ll be heading out to a couple shows and attending many more online. I hope to see you at either style of event.
