I have been trolling around the NPA PMX LIVE Event this morning and find it technically amazing. There are dozens and dozens of presentations that are filled with information from speakers that have decades of experience in our industry.
One of the beauties is that you can go back and look at seminars at your convenience. Even the keynote speakers are available at your pleasure. The virtual tech is spellbinding.
I won’t get in to just how many people actually attended vs how many registered and how many were vendors vs attendees. I’m of the opinion that an event with only vendors can be successful. A lot of business is done between companies. And as an industry we could use more of that.
I would like, however, to learn from our experience of the past two virtual shows. Let me ask you some questions. I would appreciate the answers here, but even if you consider the questions at your office, there may be some benefits.
- When you attend virtual events, do you even minimize the screen and do other work (multitask) at the same time?
- Do you jump from seminar to seminar – You find one not full filling, so you go to another?
- Think about interactions with the speakers – do you feel you get good answers to your follow up questions in the dialogue box?
- Let’s talk about exhibitors. When you enter a ‘booth’ do you get the information you want?
- If you see a number of booths on your screen, what would attract you to visit one over another?
- Would you prefer booths be listed by category?
- When you browse, do you have a specific goal or are you simply looking?
- At an in person event, has something caught your eye that you weren’t looking for, and you ended up considering a purchase?
- When you talk to the booth staff, in the dialogue box, do you feel comfortable?
- Would you prefer a “Zoom” like conversation with the booth staff?
- And the big question – do you prefer in person or virtual events?
The “Western States Acquirers Association” has issued the following news release:
The Western States Acquirers Association (WSAA) had initially planned to host a series of virtual sessions as an alternative to our 2020 WSAA conference. After conversations with a number of our Sponsors and leaders in the Merchant Services industry, it has become apparent that, as an industry, we are heavily focused on year-end recovery efforts as a result of the ongoing COVID pandemic. WSAA is very sympathetic to the difficulty of everyone impacted by the pandemic both directly and indirectly. As such, the WSAA Board of Directors has elected to forgo the previously announced virtual sessions to allow our fellow industry professionals to focus on the business of getting back to business.
Does this make sense to you? Let me know of you have any answers to the above questions. No need to address them all.
JVH
