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  • 1.  Exhibitor Display in Attendee Hub

    Posted 12-21-2020 08:27

    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


    #EventApp-Building/managing

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    Melissa Williford
    Technology Services Project Manager
    ORAU
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  • 2.  RE: Exhibitor Display in Attendee Hub

    Community MVP
    Posted 12-21-2020 09:03

    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.
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  • 3.  RE: Exhibitor Display in Attendee Hub

    Posted 12-21-2020 09:19

    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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  • 4.  RE: Exhibitor Display in Attendee Hub

    Community MVP
    Posted 12-21-2020 13:42

    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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  • 5.  RE: Exhibitor Display in Attendee Hub

    Cvent Staff
    Posted 12-21-2020 17:44

    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!



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    Jodi Meier
    Online Community Manager
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  • 6.  RE: Exhibitor Display in Attendee Hub

    Posted 12-22-2020 08:08

    Thanks for the response and for checking internally for a workaround Jodi. We were very eager to start working with the attendee hub but it has honestly been a let down for us because of the lack of ability to really do anything with it. The only really tangible benefit I feel it offers us at this point is the ability to use cvent's video conferencing/zoom licensing. We occasionally have events that require many more zoom licenses than we currently have available. We are finding CrowdCompass to actually be preferable in some cases - both financially and in terms of capabilities. The ROI for attendee hub just doesn't seem that great at this point because of the limited functionality it offers.

    I have submitted my suggestion (and several others) to the ideas page. 

    Thanks!

    Melissa



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    Melissa Williford
    Technology Services Project Manager
    ORAU
    ------------------------------