How to Participate at Decisions Spring 2012 – Microsoft Dynamics

(Part 3 of 3)

I mentioned in Part I of this series that I had great results from the first virtual tradeshow I participated in as an exhibitor.  That event was hosted by Microsoft, and they never ran it again.  I think the feedback from exhibitors was poor, which at the time, was surprising to me.  Now that I’ve attended and exhibited at a few, I can see why many companies don’t get out what they put into them…and why some attendees feel that their visit didn’t pay off.

Here are 5 ways to ensure a virtual event will be complete waste of your time

In other words, don’t do these things – you’re killling a viable, extremely effective way for customers and solution providers to connect cheaply and easily.

1.  Don’t take the time to set up your booth so it’s usable by attendees (more…)

What to Expect at MSDynamicsWorld Spring 2012

(Part 2 of 3)

nChannel will be exhibiting at MSDynamicsworld’s Decisions Conference during the GP day scheduled for June 18th.  If you’ve never considered exhibiting or attending a virtual tradeshow, here’s a chance to experience one of the few really well produced online shows so you can what they are supposed to be like and the value you can get from them.

Just like a regular Conference, the Decisions event has a guidebook or schedule of events that you can review once you’re registered and inside the online conference.  Prepare yourself…it’s like entering real conference center, complete with the sounds and virtual people walking around. The difference is you don’t need to take a bus or walk 5 miles to get to the food, a place to sit, a conference session or the exhibit hall. (more…)

MSDynamicsWorld Spring 2012 and the Value of Virtual Tradeshows

Why Aren’t We Doing More of These? (Part 1 of 3)

Decisions Virtual Conference 2012

Back in 2006 Microsoft floated an opportunity to several distribution-focused independent software vendors that I was initially skeptical about. The concept was a virtual tradeshow and while it appeared to be a neat concept, it was crazy expensive and I couldn’t help but think “Is the market really ready for this?”

I ended up paying to participate as a virtual exhibitor, and I ended up conversing with potential partners and customers all over the world (but very few in North America). We closed just one opportunity from this event which more than paid for itself, but Microsoft never ran it again – apparently because many participants weren’t as lucky as me (?).

I mentioned the program to Adam Berezin at MSDynamicsWorld about a year later. At the time no one had money to attend or exhibit at traditional shows, and using this concept (more…)