Informa Markets Engineering, the leading B2B event producer, publisher, and digital media business for the world's $3-trillion advanced technology-based manufacturing industry, has teamed up with Competitive Edge, the expo industry leader with nearly three decades experience in developing and delivering custom exhibitor education, to offer a two-part webinar series designed to educate marketers and business leaders on the new world of virtual exhibiting, teaching participants how to take full advantage of the virtual event platform capabilities, as well as why and how to promote their participation to drive traffic. 

Both webinars are free to attend and can be viewed both live and recorded. Registration links along with timing are provided below.

Part 1 - Successfully Marketing, Selling & Virtually Exhibiting During a Crisis

Watch on-demand recording here.

Part 2 - Optimizing & Driving Traffic to YOUR Virtual Exhibit

Wednesday, October 14, 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Pacific Time / 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time

Learn more and register for the complimentary webinar here.

Melissa Magestro, VP/Group Portfolio Leader, Informa Markets Engineering, answered a few questions for MD+DI in an exclusive interview on the inspiration behind the series, what attendees will learn, and why virtual exhibiting is here to stay.

MD+DI: What was the inspiration behind the webinar series?

Magestro: Now five months into stay-at-home orders put in place in response to COVID-19, virtual events have become part of everyone’s new norm. In order to continue serving our medical design and engineering communities and keep our customers connected, we are building interactive virtual events where attendees and exhibitors can learn, discover new technologies, and connect with each other from the comfort of their homes or offices. Virtual events are different from live events though— and we want to help our customers be as successful as possible. So, these webinars are a way for us to provide strategies and tips that will help them get the most out of their investments in virtual events.  

MD+DI: What will each webinar cover?

Magestro: Our first webinar, “Successfully Marketing, Selling & Virtually Exhibiting During a Crisis,” is a complimentary all-new web-training session from tradeshow consultant Jefferson Davis, one of America’s leading experts on B2B marketing, sales, and exhibiting success. Davis focuses on why exhibiting virtually is an effective strategy, how to adjust your marketing and sales plans, critical success factors, and much more. This webinar will be helpful to any marketer or business leader whose company is participating in virtual events.

Our second webinar, “Optimizing & Driving Traffic to YOUR Virtual Exhibit” is a how-to webinar again presented by Davis, who will show participants how to optimize the core functionality of their virtual exhibit in the Swapcard platform, create an integrated marketing plan to drive traffic to your virtual exhibit before and during the event, and effectively interact with visitors to deliver value and capture leads. This is a must-attend webinar for marketers and business leaders who will be participating in Virtual Engineering Week.

MD+DI: What do you believe the future holds for virtual exhibiting? 

Magestro: This year has been one of change and adaptation for all industries. From an events standpoint, we made the decision to postpone many of our in-person events for the safety and wellbeing of our customers. We look forward to the day we can come back together as a community in person as nothing can replace the connections built and the value of in-person events and trade shows. However, we believe the future of our industry will be a hybrid of digital and in-person offerings. Expanding our digital and virtual offerings will enrich our live show experience, as well as help keep our communities connected all year-round. Thus, virtual conferences and exhibitions are here to stay.