Open Forum

We are working on our second event using the virtual attendee hub and I have to admit - it has been a bit of a let down with respect to its flexibility, functionality and configurability. One current issue we have encountered is the need to visually separate the exhibitor hall into separate areas for different audiences. Ideally we would have a filtered list of the exhibitors that are only available/visible to group A, another list of exhibitors available/visible to group B, and yet another list available/visible to group C - all based on attendee/registrant type.  Adding custom pages within the attendee hub to display the different groups of exhibitors would be ideal. I feel like we could probably do something like add pages within the actual Flex website and control visibility there, but if that is the workaround then what would be the purpose of purchasing the attendee hub?

Does anyone have any suggestions of how I can make this work in attendee hub?

Thanks!

Melissa

Hi Melissa, 

I have some questions for you to think about:

1. Is your audience so very different that they would find NO value in those exhibitors?

2. How would your exhibitors feel about not really being exposed to the number of attendees they *think* they're being exposed to?

3. What's the intrinsic value of having an impressively large exhibit hall vs a smaller, more targeted hall?

4. How would you expect this to work in a live event? Would you have separate exhibitor halls? Why?

If your audience is THAT different... perhaps they should be different events entirely?

I don't know about you, but I have gone to events where there is an impressively large exhibitor hall, which I love. If I'm not interested in the services of a particular exhibitor, I just walk past their booth. No harm, no foul, and I don't feel like the event planner did a bad job at marketing to me. 

Bottom line... maybe you're worrying about something you don't even need to be worrying about? 

We are working on our second event using the virtual attendee hub and I have to admit - it has been a bit of a let down with respect to its flexibility, functionality and configurability. One current issue we have encountered is the need to visually separate the exhibitor hall into separate areas for different audiences. Ideally we would have a filtered list of the exhibitors that are only available/visible to group A, another list of exhibitors available/visible to group B, and yet another list available/visible to group C - all based on attendee/registrant type.  Adding custom pages within the attendee hub to display the different groups of exhibitors would be ideal. I feel like we could probably do something like add pages within the actual Flex website and control visibility there, but if that is the workaround then what would be the purpose of purchasing the attendee hub?

Does anyone have any suggestions of how I can make this work in attendee hub?

Thanks!

Melissa

Thanks for the quick response Lori.  In the area of work that I am in, we do not conduct the types of events that are typical to the group here from what I can see. We do not usually have 'exhibitor halls' for our events as they aren't anything like a trade show - the closest thing we would have would be a poster session/gallery to provide access to various presentations related to different research projects.  First and foremost in this case, the need to separate the exhibitor area is customer driven - a requirement of the customer on whose behalf we are managing the event. For this event, we will be building out an 'exhibitor' hall to meet the needs of our customer. For a little more information - the exhibitor hall will be made up of different organizations and a collection of colleges/universities with each group serving a different role / purpose for the event. The need for separation is primarily to display a subset of exhibitors to be part of a 'career fair' that is only accessible to an identified subset of the event attendees.  The exhibitors are aware of their role/placement in the different areas of visibility so that is not a consideration.

Hi Melissa, 

I have some questions for you to think about:

1. Is your audience so very different that they would find NO value in those exhibitors?

2. How would your exhibitors feel about not really being exposed to the number of attendees they *think* they're being exposed to?

3. What's the intrinsic value of having an impressively large exhibit hall vs a smaller, more targeted hall?

4. How would you expect this to work in a live event? Would you have separate exhibitor halls? Why?

If your audience is THAT different... perhaps they should be different events entirely?

I don't know about you, but I have gone to events where there is an impressively large exhibitor hall, which I love. If I'm not interested in the services of a particular exhibitor, I just walk past their booth. No harm, no foul, and I don't feel like the event planner did a bad job at marketing to me. 

Bottom line... maybe you're worrying about something you don't even need to be worrying about? 

We are working on our second event using the virtual attendee hub and I have to admit - it has been a bit of a let down with respect to its flexibility, functionality and configurability. One current issue we have encountered is the need to visually separate the exhibitor hall into separate areas for different audiences. Ideally we would have a filtered list of the exhibitors that are only available/visible to group A, another list of exhibitors available/visible to group B, and yet another list available/visible to group C - all based on attendee/registrant type.  Adding custom pages within the attendee hub to display the different groups of exhibitors would be ideal. I feel like we could probably do something like add pages within the actual Flex website and control visibility there, but if that is the workaround then what would be the purpose of purchasing the attendee hub?

Does anyone have any suggestions of how I can make this work in attendee hub?

Thanks!

Melissa

We are working on our second event using the virtual attendee hub and I have to admit - it has been a bit of a let down with respect to its flexibility, functionality and configurability. One current issue we have encountered is the need to visually separate the exhibitor hall into separate areas for different audiences. Ideally we would have a filtered list of the exhibitors that are only available/visible to group A, another list of exhibitors available/visible to group B, and yet another list available/visible to group C - all based on attendee/registrant type.  Adding custom pages within the attendee hub to display the different groups of exhibitors would be ideal. I feel like we could probably do something like add pages within the actual Flex website and control visibility there, but if that is the workaround then what would be the purpose of purchasing the attendee hub?

Does anyone have any suggestions of how I can make this work in attendee hub?

Thanks!

Melissa

Hi Melissa,

I am sorry to hear you are frustrated with VAH. At this time, you cannot limit the visibility of exhibitors.  I am given the impression that the team is working on a future release of exhibitor custom fields as filtering options, but it is unclear if that would limit visibility to certain audiences.

In addition to Lori's suggestions above, I am checking to see if anyone has a workaround that would work for you and have let your account team know that you are seeking a workaround.

I encourage you to submit this as an enhancement suggestion on the Ideas page in the Community!

We are working on our second event using the virtual attendee hub and I have to admit - it has been a bit of a let down with respect to its flexibility, functionality and configurability. One current issue we have encountered is the need to visually separate the exhibitor hall into separate areas for different audiences. Ideally we would have a filtered list of the exhibitors that are only available/visible to group A, another list of exhibitors available/visible to group B, and yet another list available/visible to group C - all based on attendee/registrant type.  Adding custom pages within the attendee hub to display the different groups of exhibitors would be ideal. I feel like we could probably do something like add pages within the actual Flex website and control visibility there, but if that is the workaround then what would be the purpose of purchasing the attendee hub?

Does anyone have any suggestions of how I can make this work in attendee hub?

Thanks!

Melissa