Let’s make a virtual expo that doesn’t suck! (Part 1)

So here’s the thing. I believe that virtual expo events, as of now, still sucks so bad.

And apparently, many people have ranted the same thing about virtual expos and conferences especially during 2020. Here’s one from the CEO of Haute Dokimazo:

There isn’t a reason for them to be there live. If it’s just a webcast with a chat, what’s the point? If it’s recorded for later, why show up live? Slides and talking head or audio track? No thanks. Plus, they can listen to it later as a recording while working.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/virtual-events-dead-liz-lathan-cmp (Liz Lathan, CMP)

And another rant from a software developer,

The reason that virtual events suck is that we’re trying to replicate in-person events. We’re doing old-school iOS skeumorphism but for primarily social gatherings.

https://aparker.io/posts/virtual-events-suck/ (Austin Parker)

Yet another rant, but this time it’s a YouTube video:

Most virtual events SUCK because they don’t invest in bringing the hosts/MCs/moderators that connects passion, energy, and engagement between the speakers and the attendees. (They mostly focuses on technology and bringing more attendees)

https://youtu.be/9dcup7EO2z8 (Brian Fanzo)

---

Before continuing to read this blog post, please take a time to read their full opinions on how virtual expos and conferences suck, ’cause I’m feeling the same thing, too.

In addition to that I’ve discovered three main points which made the virtual experience even worse:

1. Attendees love more to explore “What’s Around”, not “What’s Inside”.

Meanwhile, virtual events (in this case, expos and conferences) are too focused on “what’s inside”, instead of “what’s around”.

Now, if you have paid expensive tickets to attend a physical expo/conference in another country, let’s say, Apple’s annual World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) in San José (taking the WWDC 2019 venue, McEnery Convention Center as an example), I bet you won’t fly to California just to go to WWDC then fly back home, right?

Oh, if you’re curious how far is the WWDC 2019 venue from my home, here’s a map for you:

• (WWDC 2019 Venue) San Jose McEnery Convention Center
• My home at Jakarta, Indonesia

Some of you will, and in fact have, the opportunity to explore what’s inside the city. Walk around the streets and parks, dine inside malls and restaurants, hang out with some new friends, or even have the opportunity to explore nearby towns and cities which made up the greater Silicon Valley.

Now, you might be thinking how this affects your attendees’ overall experience. In fact, when they enter the physical venue where the event is being held, these attendees often spends time exploring around the area:

• looking at one booth and another,
• meet and chat with new people,
• then attracted to a specific booth which offers free swags and interesting stuff,
• and finally confused, but then amazed, with the event currently happening on the Main Hall.

However, it’s quite difficult to replicate this kind of experience when it comes into virtual events. Most of the time, those attendees are just “attendees” , who spend an hour or so watching sessions then gone, instead of being the “participants” , who don’t just come to watch those sessions, but also interact with hosts, booths, and other participants, too!

Now, if you have watched a lot of virtual seminars, workshops, exhibitions, and so on, have you interacted, 1:1, with another participant in the same event which you don’t know yet? If you haven’t done that, well that’s one main problem with virtual expos right now, especially when most of them don’t offer that kind of experience yet. Oh yeah, events without discussions could discourage them to watch the entire session at all, as most of the time spent for watching that sessions can also be used to do other things such as work and play.

Now, if there’s a virtual expo where you can’t fully interact with them, then what’s the point of creating new virtual expos at all? Why not create a series of webcast or podcast then consistently upload them to YouTube for others to watch? It’s way more convenient for attendees instead of painfully clicking each exhibition arrows, “floors”, and even the damn Sign Up, Log In (SULI) page where I forgot my supposedly-hard-to-guess password for that account?

2. Localization is important.

Many virtual expo websites, especially with those mimicking of a real expo space and “hosted” in Indonesia, don’t care much with localization beside translating all of the content. However, some of you might know how localization is both important and powerful in video games to deliver their content to international players, while avoiding conflicts with the players’ culture and ethnicity. Now, how is that important for such a virtual expo? (Spoilers: it’s more than just translations!)

Okay, let me give you an example here. Go to the BINUS Education Virtual Expo (BEVE) website and observe the people on the “Main Lobby”.

None of these reflect the high school students and parents wishing to enroll in BINUS University , which should be the intended audience for this great, futuristic expo. Most people depicted on this picture doesn’t seem to bring children and even babies, as what many families do when attending such an education expo. Oh yeah, where are the lecturers, officials, and committees who spread flyers to those who come into the venue, either?

Then, I’d like to introduce you into a similar virtual expo hosted by Virtual Expo ID. The expo’s lobby are filled with some blonde-haired people. Which unfortunately, they don’t reflect what most Indonesian people look like!

Those two examples might be trivial and silly, but believe me, designing a more suitable (virtual) venue can bring better impressions from intended audiences. And that’s why virtual expo organizers should spend more time improving the venue. It’s like what makes video games such as Minecraft and Fortnite feel good and welcoming towards millions of users no matter their skills or locations.

3. Not friendly towards mobile devices also means you’re not friendly towards attendees.

I don’t need to say again and again that mobile devices have taken the worldwide Internet traffic, That means many users are likely to visit online virtual expos through their mobile phones.

However, many of these virtual expo websites, are not mobile friendly! And why? ‘Cause most mobile devices have their limitations when rendering videos and (3D) graphics to make it run smoothly, and power efficient!

Let’s look at BEVE again. When you look up into one of the “floors”, you’ll get this nice, wonderful 3D graphics:

Now, let’s try to load the same page on mobile and you’ll instead see this list:

4. SULI (Sign Up, Log In) Madness.

Have you always been asked your email and password just to view what’s inside a physical store or booth?

Now, then why these virtual expos require you to log into an account just to view what’s inside the booth?

This reminds me of one of the worst UX (user experience) practices: requiring people to sign up or log in (SULI) just to view what’s inside. Now, let’s say there’s an online shopping app which uses that bad UX pattern. I bet that most of the users don’t have the idea which items are being sold, ’cause they can only be seen if you have an account! So why bother creating a new account if you’re unsure about that?

Many apps have taken that wise advice, really. Even some apps such as Duolingo took a step further. When you first launch their app, Duolingo simply asks and trains you to understand a new language before asking you to do that SULI thing. So, again, this is something that UI/UX designers and app developers start to take care about. And I really hope that stubborn virtual expo organizers learnt that the hard way.

---

So, after so much ranting about those virtual expos, we’ll explore new ways to delivering a virtual expo experience that, well, does not suck. Stay tuned for more info!

The post Let’s make a virtual expo that doesn’t suck! (Part 1) appeared first on Reinhart & Anak i++.