Creating a Digital Experience for Coverings Show

When COVID-19 caused the cancellation of the in-person Coverings, a show that showcases the latest stone and tile trends, Taffy Events was in need of a tool for attendees and exhibitors to network and conduct valuable business. Taffy Events turned to their partner, Personify A2Z Events to discuss how they could offer a digital experience for their exhibitors and attendees in place of the face-to-face event.

The solutions Personify A2Z Events implemented were:

Enhanced Online Booth Profiles

There was a need for all exhibitors to have the opportunity to showcase their products and demo videos online. The Enhanced Online Booth Profile offerings were expanded to include a product image, video, press release, and show special for every exhibitor. Now providing every exhibitor a “virtual booth” presence, Personify A2Z Events expanded their marketing campaign to ensure that exhibitors knew about the opportunity and to add rich content to their virtual booth.

Online Galleries

The online product gallery, show special gallery, press release gallery and video gallery provided a digital showcase of the exhibitors’ products that attendees could browse and build a “favorite list” to reference.

Virtual Connection Suite

The Virtual Connection Suite provided secure online networking and matchmaking between exhibitors and attendees. Allowing what may have previously been in-booth conversations to now become virtual meetings. The Virtual Connection Suite included:

• Attendee–exhibitor product interest matching and recommendations
• Qualified attendee lead lists to exhibitors
• Secure email communication between attendees and exhibitors
• Online appointment scheduling for virtual meetings between attendees and exhibitors during the duration of the show
• Marketing and educational campaign support to exhibitors and attendees
• Post event engagement analysis report

The Virtual Connection Suite was set-up and deployed within four days and the first educational email to exhibitors was sent two days later. A total of four emails were sent to exhibitors and four emails to attendees about how to use and get the most from the Virtual Connection Suite tools.

Overall, engagement with the Online Profiles and the Virtual Connection Suite outperformed events of similar size in most areas of engagement. In addition, when comparing the exhibitor online profile engagement to Coverings 2019, engagement in 2020 was higher in all categories. The Virtual Connection Suite proved to provide ROI to exhibitors and attendees in a virtual setting.

Results from the Virtual Connection Suite:

• Exhibitor Profiles Complete: Coverings Connected 2020 exhibitors surpassed expectations with 86% profile completion.
• Product Uploads: Based on benchmarks from across client portfolio and on average for a show this size, Coverings Connected 2020 exhibitors reached 137% of the product uploads benchmark goal.
• Content Uploads:
  • Products: 307% increase over 2019
  • Press Releases: 780% increase over 2019
  • Show Specials: 2650% increase over 2019
  • Videos: 2412% increase over 2019
• Product Gallery Views: The product gallery was viewed 308% more than the average product gallery views gained for an event this size amongst client portfolio.
• Unique Visitors: The unique visitors to the website was 170% higher than the average for events of this size in amongst client portfolio.
• Emails and Appointments: With a condensed time to market the digital event, the adoption of emails and appointments requests for the first time exceeded 50% of the emails sent benchmark goal for an event this size.