Keys to a Virtual Kingdom

Wednesday June 15, 2011 | Filed under:

When I was a kid we loved nothing better than watching the Ed Sullivan Show. When he promised “a really big show,” Ed delivered.

I like to think ASI delivers every time we host a show, whether it’s bricks and mortar or virtual. This week, we earned a terrific confirmation from a participant at our latest virtual show, who commented: “My fingers are cramped from so much typing because we’ve been busy.”

Whenever we can cramp some fingers, I know we’ve done good!

In addition to great education and lots of show traffic, we gave away an Apple iPad and more than $17,000 in prizes. Throughout the all-day event, participants were treated to top suppliers, multimedia demos, digital catalogs and online sample requests.

Altogether, more than 1,500 visited the show, which generated 1,037 one-to-one chats. In addition, visitors viewed a total of 1,858 documents and 757 webcasts, staying at the show an average of  78.5 minutes – not bad for a free day with no expensive travel.

The best part is no matter where you are – or how you’re dressed – you can log on and learn, network and sell. And if you missed this week’s virtual event, you can access it on-demand here.

Stay tuned for our next show, scheduled for September 14.

We know the all-day, online events are effective because exhibiting suppliers experience an average 24% increase in ESP searches the day after each show.

And, don’t forget – you can attend education classes that are applied to your BASI or MASI certificates right from the virtual show floor.

While virtual events won’t replace in-person shows (Chicago is July 19-21), you can’t beat the ease and value.

If you were at the show, let me know what you thought by posting a comment or e-mailing me here. I’m also on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.