Hi Melissa,
I feel for you - that's definitely a non-traditional use! We have made the decision at the moment that we do not need Virtual Events for our use; we're sticking with Flex. So forgive me as, although I'm very familiar with CrowdCompass (which is a lot like Virtual Events), I don't know all the nuances. But here are a few thoughts:
- Could you set up individual Sessions? Can Sessions have separate exhibitor areas?
- What about Breakout Rooms? Would there be a way to utilize Breakout Rooms to meet that need?
- It's definitely worth submitting a request to consider separate Exhibitor areas in the future. One of the great things about Cvent is that they really listen to customer feedback!
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Lori Wildman
Senior Marketing Manager
DuCharme, McMillen & Associates, Inc.
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Original Message:
Sent: 12-21-2020 09:18
From: Melissa Williford
Subject: Exhibitor Display in Attendee Hub
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.
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Melissa Williford
Technology Services Project Manager
ORAU
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Original Message:
Sent: 12-21-2020 09:02
From: Lori Wildman
Subject: Exhibitor Display in Attendee Hub
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?
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Lori Wildman
Senior Marketing Manager
DuCharme, McMillen & Associates, Inc.