Virtual trade shows can boost ticket sales

The Vaccine Virtual Congress, underway in Boston, uses Web pages to help participants feel they're at the convention center.

When Elsevier, a medical and science publisher based in Amsterdam, closes the third and final day of its Vaccine Virtual Congress at the Westin Boston Waterfront hotel tomorrow, the presenters will be able to field questions from researchers in Iran, while a scientist in China will be able to "virtually" walk the trade show floor and visit vendors' booths.

"People go to these meetings to meet other researchers," said Sharat Sharan, chief executive of ON24 Inc., a San Francisco company whose technology is making the virtual trade show possible. "I can't buy you a beer virtually, but clearly you can interact with other researchers."

Before releasing its Virtual Show technology three months ago, ON24 was already a leading webcast company. Its beefed-up product allows for more interactivity and better mimics the look and feel of actually attending a trade show. The product's release is well timed, as corporate travel budgets are being scaled back and the trade show industry takes a hit because of the economic recession.

Elsevier said it polled customers and found that 90 percent were likely to travel to two shows a year, such as this week's Boston conference, which is expected to draw 500 people. But if travel costs could be eliminated by making attendance at shows as easy as logging onto a desktop computer, the number of events Elsevier's customers said they would attend jumped to four.

This week's conference focuses on vaccines and infectious diseases. By opening the event to those who cannot travel to Boston, it is able to reach nearly 1,000 additional participants on six continents and in 51 countries, including Brazil, Cuba, India, Iran, South Africa, and Sudan.

The physical show opened yesterday. Tomorrow, the virtual portion opens. Online participants can sit in on presentations ranging from "The ferret and human models for influenza vaccine evaluation" to a session on health insurance. Virtual Show's interface has the appearance of a convention center, and an embedded video player allows viewers to see demonstrations, slide presentations, and other information speakers may use in their sessions. Other areas, including a resource center, will give users access to the latest information being presented at the show.

In all, six sessions, including two video programs, will be offered. Participants can also chat with other researchers, view research posters, and visit vendors. ON24 has customized the technology's 3D interface to have the look and feel of a hotel conference center, complete with a view of the Boston skyline outside a computer-generated window.

An added benefit of Virtual Show, Sharan said, is that the presentations can be archived online, making it possible for participants to virtually attend sessions that may be happening at the same time, or allow them to view part of a conference at a more convenient time.

"This almost gives you indefinite access to an infinite number of sessions," he said.

The Elsevier show is one of 25 that ON24 is hosting this year, with growth expected to continue next year - in part because of the uncertain economy and anticipation of more cuts in companies' travel budgets.

"I think the Virtual Show stuff we're talking about is just starting to get a lot of attention," Sharan said.