Prior to CES 2021, what experience did your company have with virtual exhibits?
We've been incorporating digital experiences into our physical presences for years now, but 2020 presented us with the opportunity to make virtual experiences the centerpiece to our client engagements and not simply an extension of our real-world events. IBM's Industry City is one of these really powerful digital experiences, as it showcases our solutions through the lens of our clients, regardless of their industry.

How did your original plans for a physical exhibit compare to what you ultimately created as a virtual experience?
Because much of what IBM offers is not seen with the naked eye, we had an opportunity to present our solutions in a really unique way through Industry City. Showcasing all of these offerings in one show-floor footprint or physical environment would have been much more challenging. For CES 2020, we took the best of the best and leaned in on that, but an all-virtual CES 2021 afforded us the ability to highlight far more than we would have been able to do physically.

Did planning a virtual exhibit allow you any sort of creative freedom that a physical exhibit couldn't?
Since the content is built in a module that is completely customizable, we were able to deliver unique experiences for any use case. IBM markets around the world began to customize their experience for their individual clients and audiences. The versatile approach and "formattable" modules create an opportunity for personalization both at events and during meetings with top accounts. What better way to do that than to showcase the world as our clients and customers see it – their factory floors, their command centers, everywhere they interact with their customers, and even the places their products end up or are used, such as a cafe, a business complex, or a car on the road. That is really difficult to do physically!

What was the most challenging part of pivoting from physical exhibiting to virtual?
For us, it's about client engagement – how to create a virtual environment that comes close to replicating face-to-face engagements, whether those are in a booth, at client meetings, during networking events, and at receptions or parties. Over the past year we've really push the envelope in these areas and recreate the excitement and fun of being face to face with more intimate roundtables, virtual concerts, beer and wine tastings, and interactive celebrity experiences.

Were there any plans you had to forego due to logistical, budgetary, or technological concerns or limitations?
We've sponsored some amazing events over the past year, and many show producers are recognizing that more opportunities for attendee engagement mean a more successful event for the sponsors and for themselves. Other than the technical limitations of some of the platforms for the events we've sponsored, there's the challenge of data privacy/GDPR and IBM being able to ask attendees' permission to follow up regarding their interest. This is fairly straightforward in a physical environment, but we can't always create that 'Yes/No' opt-in on a digital platform that IBM doesn't own. So we need to get creative and link to our virtual experiences off platform to capture that information. This is a big issue across the industry, and we're hoping that show producers recognize this and create way to address it because none of us want to infringe on attendees' data privacy.

What advice would you give to CEA (or other organizers of virtual events) about how to improve the virtual exhibiting experience and/or optimize returns?
My top request is to address the data privacy issue. While there are some advantages to a digital environment, this isn't one. If we ever want to see a return on investment even close to what we'd see in a physical environment, exhibitors and sponsors need to be able to gather these company-specific permissions in order to continue conversations and engagement.

What question (or questions) should marketers ask show organizers before agreeing to exhibit at their virtual trade shows or events?

• What is the event platform and the associated applications?
• What will the digital booths look like? Specifically, what are the components, customizable fields, capabilities, and limitations?
• Is there a designated page for each sponsor, and are sponsors able to link to external websites/experiences?
• What, if anything, will the conference be doing to drive traffic to sponsors' pages?
• What are the one-on-one meeting and live-chat capabilities?
• Are there speaking opportunities available?
• Will we receive the contact info for attendees that viewed our speakers' sessions?
• What data permissions we will have for attending clients?
• What are the contract's clauses should the show organizer need to cancel or postpone the event?
• What are the clauses should the exhibitor need to cancel their participation? Are they favorable?

When CES returns as an in-person or hybrid event, how will your participation differ from what it was like prior to COVID-19?
Our hope is that CES and other key industry gatherings will return as hybrid events, meaning a blend of physical and digital. That's what seems to be trending, so that's positive news. This past year has shown us that when done right, digital engagements can be amazing. They will never fully replace in-person, events, but they bring a whole new set of advantages. As we navigate the second half of 2021 and go into 2022, audiences need to be able to consume content and experiences in ways that make sense and are comfortable for them. How did your original plans for a physical exhibit compare to what you ultimately created as a virtual experience?
We already used a persona-based storytelling approach at CES 2020, so that became our starting point for our virtual experience at CES 2021. We realized early in the process that exhibiting live would not be likely, so we quickly pivoted to a completely new strategy and approach. Fundamental to this was getting the right reusable platform in place and filling it with content that was compelling, personal, and interesting. We wanted to avoid it looking like a trade show stand or a website, so taking inspiration from the gaming and high-quality, 360-degree architecture world, we decided to build a more relatable and realistic environment. We put visitors at the heart of our experience, welcoming them to their 'healthy neighborhood' and inviting them to visit their neighbors and catch up on what was happening with them.

What, if any, surprises did you encounter during the planning/creation process of your virtual exhibit?
One of the biggest lessons was the amount of content that is needed for virtual events versus physical events. You cannot rely on your staff to engage with people, so all that information needs to be provided in clever and engaging ways.

Did planning a virtual exhibit allow you any sort of creative freedom that a physical exhibit couldn't?
In a live environment, you are limited by the space, the staff, and the budget. But our virtual environment enabled us to create a whole neighborhood that visitors could explore.

Did going virtual change anything about your strategy, how you approached attendees, or what products/features you chose to highlight?
The virtual environment definitely allowed us to extend our reach beyond the traditional show attendees. We also focused on our key propositions, as we realized less is more.

What was the most challenging part of pivoting from physical exhibiting to virtual?
The most challenging part of going virtual is audience acquisition. Although your potential reach is wider, the time that people are willing to spend online is much less. So how do you get people interested in spending their valuable time with you and stay in your experience? You need to use any trick in the book to create a successful acquisition campaign.

What kind of pre-show marketing did you do to promote your virtual presence at CES 2021?
We used a mix of activities to promote our virtual presence. We leveraged some sponsor opportunities from CES, had an extensive social-media program, used our mail databases, and built a promotional landing page with high-quality content. But the most impact came from personal meetings our team set up with customers and the media.

How did your organization approach staffing a virtual exhibit that was effectively open 24/7 to visitors from time zones all over the globe?
A lot of the engagements were scheduled through one-on-one sessions. On top of that, we had a team on standby that was available to engage with our customers, and we had opportunities for people to book meetings with a Philips representative at a time of their choosing.

In your opinion, what was the most successful element of your virtual exhibit?
The personal approach with realistic people on-screen talking directly to visitors as if they already knew them. We like to think this mimics the kind of company we are: human, warm, and friendly.

What metrics did you track to measure the success of your virtual exhibit?
We monitored metrics across the whole platform, including dwell time, watch times, visitor journeys, content clicks, etc. This helped us understand what experiences, content, and products were most popular, which will help us shape future virtual experiences. But equally important, we also tracked media engagement, impressions, and media exposure.

How did the ROI of your virtual exhibit compare with your past exhibits at in-person iterations of CES?
Everything was up compared to 2020. Notably, customer engagements were up 171 percent and we had 613-percent more news articles than the year before.

What is the most important lesson you learned about virtual exhibiting?
Start early. Virtual exhibits actually take more time to plan and produce than physical shows. Plus all the hard work is at the front end, while at a live show the hard work happens on-site.

What stereotypes about virtual exhibits proved false?
We expected it would be easier to engage our audience because a virtual exhibitor's reach is potentially wider. In fact, it's much harder.

What, if any, unexpected benefit did you discover by going virtual?
Although we did not design this experience for regular sales engagements, it proved to be an important tool for our reps to engage with their customers. So depending on the nature of your experience, its utility may be much wider than anticipated.

What advice would you give to CEA (or other organizers of virtual events) about how to improve the virtual exhibiting experience and/or optimize returns?
Don't overcharge. We have been astonished by how much organizers are charging to participate in virtual events.

Do you plan to reuse your virtual exhibit for other virtual trade shows or events in 2021? If so, how will you evolve/adapt it moving forward?
Absolutely! We are already using our virtual exhibit for other events, internal engagements, and sales meetings. And we will continue to evolve the experience, creating new stories, personas, and exciting things for our visitors to see. Prior to CES 2021, what experience did your company have with virtual exhibits?
As the global pandemic hit in 2020, our team quickly pivoted to developing virtual experiences for our customers in lieu of in-person events. By Q4 of 2020, we launched The Hub, our home for AT&T Business virtual experiences. The Hub features a number of experiences, including a Virtual Briefing Center, Webinar Theater, and an Expo Hall. Within the Expo Hall we are able to bring to life the possibilities with our products and services within the specific industries that we serve. This includes our Healthcare virtual experience that we featured at CES.

What, if any, surprises did you encounter during the planning/creation process of your virtual exhibit?
While not entirely a surprise, we did need to shift how our stories were represented within our virtual experience. Shorter, snackable content is key to virtual experience since the attention span of a visitor is significantly shorter in a digital space. And without in-person staffers to enhance storytelling and adjust based on visitors' reactions or questions, our virtual exhibits also needed to be built for self-exploration.

Did planning a virtual exhibit allow you any sort of creative freedom that a physical exhibit couldn't?
Absolutely. As our team got more comfortable with building virtual exhibits, our virtual experiences became more and more dynamic. Our Healthcare virtual experience that we featured at CES was the first one we created, and it definitely looked more like a traditional trade show environment. Subsequent virtual experiences included elements that would not be feasible at an in-person event due to cost or space constraints. For Retail, we built an entire retail destination structure. For our FirstNet experience, which features our solutions for first responders, we built a whole subsection of a city with commercial buildings, residences, and even a pandemic response pop-up. In a virtual space, you are only limited by your imagination.

What was the most challenging part of pivoting from physical exhibiting to virtual?
I imagine many existing experiential-marketing teams have robust sets of best practices for building live, in-person experiences. But more often than not – as was the case for us – digital was a new arena. Considerations specific to digital, e.g., hosting, security, and user accessibility, had to be accounted for. In our case, we leveraged other subject-matter experts within our marketing organization to ensure we met the digital standards and best practices.

What advice would you give other marketers in terms of selecting virtual-exhibit providers?
Virtual experiences involve just as much – if not more – storytelling as in-person events. Therefore, a provider's familiarity with your business is key. Clearly, a provider's technical capabilities are also very important. Seeing a demonstration of what could be built in a specific virtual platform was helpful for us. There are a lot of template-based virtual platforms out in the market, but also some highly customizable ones. We went with the latter because of the unique needs of our business.

When CES returns as an in-person or hybrid event, how will your participation differ from what it was like prior to COVID-19?
The investments that we have made in virtual experiences will continue to be important as we return to in-person or hybrid events. While more personal face-to-face interactions are preferred, virtual experiences provide brands with the ability to extend the conversation beyond the boundaries of an in-person event, both before and after. Before the event, we can create excitement and drive traffic to our physical experience by giving a preview of what solutions we have. And after the event, we can reach attendees that were unable to participate in the live experience. How did your original plans for a physical exhibit compare to what you ultimately created as a virtual experience?
The volume of a physical exhibit doesn't fit into a virtual experience. We went from designing a physical space to designing and producing concise digital experiences. A lot of care went into ensuring the experiences were purposeful journeys where attendees could easily navigate to learn about our technologies. We made sure our content was clear, concise, and easily accessible.

What was the most challenging part of pivoting from physical exhibiting to virtual?
Programming. Making sure our content was concise.

What kind of pre-show marketing did you do to promote your virtual presence at CES 2021?
On Dec. 7, we published a news release highlighting our participation at the all-digital CES and two Intel press conferences. We also released several teaser videos to promote our presence and a behind-the-scenes preview of Intel's "Do Something Wonderful" performance featuring employees in rehearsal. These were shared on Intel's social platforms.

How did your organization approach staffing a virtual exhibit that was effectively open 24/7 to visitors from time zones all over the globe?
We proactively reached out to our key customers and scheduled meetings and demo sessions with them.

What tips can you offer for training virtual booth staffers?
Just as in real life, it's important to keep messages crisp, clear, and conversational. Ensure that teams are aligned on the important messages while allowing them to personalize their conversations. Prepare, be engaging, and be authentic.

In your opinion, what was the most successful element of your virtual exhibit?
The two news conferences, which were 30-minutes each and delivered exciting new technology updates to our key audiences. The formats were concise and contained compelling real-world demos.

What was your top objective for your virtual CES exhibit, and did you achieve it?
Our top objective was to amplify the exciting news from Intel's news conferences in our exhibit – and yes, we certainly did! We accomplished this by making both conferences part of the journey in our virtual exhibit. Both news conferences were also available at Intel.com and our social platforms. We also made sure the experiences were accessible to our 110,000 employees around the world!

How did the ROI of your virtual exhibit compare with your past exhibits at in-person iterations of CES?
Our reach increased substantially, as more people were able to attend CES and experience Intel's news and demos.

What is the most important lesson you learned about virtual exhibiting?
In regard to content production and programming: A lot of work must go into crystalizing the key message and developing engaging, immersive, purposeful experiences that will appeal to a global audience.

What stereotypes about virtual exhibits did you learn were false?
The habit of replicating an actual booth or convention center lobby is dated and limits creative possibilities. We can take visitors on amazing journeys if we truly embrace experiential marketing!

What, if any, unexpected benefit did you discover by going virtual?
Global reach through thoughtful content production and programming. Today, almost anyone can attend from the comfort of their homes, and many digital events in 2020 saw their attendance numbers exceed expectations. This should continue as the industry gradually evolves to hybrid events.

What advice would you give to CEA (or other organizers of virtual events) about how to improve the virtual exhibiting experience and/or optimize returns?
Give brands more time to plan activations and opportunities to connect with audiences in hybrid environments.

What's one thing you learned through your virtual CES exhibit that you plan to apply to future virtual exhibiting efforts?
Engaging, purposeful content is valuable, and maintain a global, digital-first mindset. Keep content short. Edit longer sessions into the most important chapters or moments, slice and dice, and post online and social platforms.

Do you have any tips regarding budgeting or planning timelines that could help other marketers as they set out to participate in virtual trade shows?
The tips are the same as in real life: Clearly define your objectives, target audience, key messages, and key performance indicators. Then give your teams and agencies enough time to properly plan, produce, ratify, and deliver.