The COVID-19 pandemic has been nothing short of catastrophic for the aerospace industry, and has devastated the annual show circuit with events cancelled and delayed to the end of 2021 and beyond.
The most innovative organisers have grasped the challenge and pivoted to virtual events, Farnborough led from the front taking their show virtual at short notice in July 2020; read the positive feedback from the industry here.
Speaking about FIA Connect, Farnborough's virtual conference and networking event, Gareth Rogers, CEO of Farnborough International says:
“We’ve learned a great deal about the value of FIA Connect and the creation and delivery of hybrid events. We are delighted that over eight out of ten trade attendees believe it can work alongside and complement our biennial Airshow.”
Despite the Aerospace market having the most difficult of times, client relationships still need to be nurtured, new business openings found & supply chain relationships maintained, and this means ensuring your business has a global show presence during 2021 can only be a positive thing.
Whilst physical events are postponed or cancelled, probably until Q3, there are some really creative possibilities in the virtual world. With events such as the Paris Airshow cancelled you may be considering what action to take?
In this blog we will share our advice, gained creating bespoke virtual event platforms over the last 10 months, on key considerations when selecting a platform that works best for your business.
This will help you establish which virtual event platform will provide the best fit for you.
Are you looking at what can be done within the confines of an organiser's event or do you want to host your own event, and invite your own guests and delegations?
In either case you need to ask yourself the following questions about your event and brand objectives;
The objectives will dictate which functionality is most important to you, virtual event software is generally designed for the mass market and often you will have to consider making compromises where the functionality hasn’t been built specifically for the Aerospace industry.
Our advice is to think big, replicating your normal impact at a big tier one physical show in the virtual event space is still, most likely, to offer significant cost savings on building a physical stand.
There will inevitably have to be changes to your event programme, the one thing the virtual space doesn’t have is a runway but by employing creative thinking, such as live streaming from remote sites, you can offer an exciting showcase for your products.
Here at DBpixelhouse we have offered innovative solutions to the aerospace industry for over 25 years.
“Even before Covid-19, we were doing live links to remote sites during air shows. We used satellites to link live to new aerospace product demonstrations and live interviews. With the onset of new technology, this is massively easier & more cost effective than it was. We have also produced some quite complex streaming solutions for large and small corporates since the pandemic began.” - David Bulley, CEO of DBpixelhouse
In the virtual world there is nowhere to hide if things go wrong, the key to a successful virtual event is ensuring that every aspect of your show has been tested and run through beforehand.
In the physical world there is always some distraction on the chalet or stand next door, in the virtual you have 100% of an attendee’s attention, how well you design your virtual presence will determine how long you are able to keep that person engaged and that's what generates new business and maintains current relationships.
The whole events sector has learnt much about virtual events in the past 10 months, what was an option to increase sustainability and accessibility of shows has become a necessity and after a period of accelerated development there are now a large range of virtual show solutions available.
Virtual events open up the possibility for much greater attendance so an interactive 3D environment will allow you to engage engineers looking for information, wishing to discuss design implications and view new product demonstration or host delegations, sourced by Organisers, to deeper level discussions in secure meeting room environments.
A good virtual platform allows all the usual interactions to happen – sometimes more than can happen in the physical event. Whether you want to replicate your chalet in 3D, complete with walk through and multiple meeting rooms, or create a simpler interactive booth, the right brand platform will be able to provide the solution you need.
Our experts at DBpixelhouse have worked in aerospace industry events for the last 25 years and are proud to have been chosen by leading global companies to bring their physical events into the virtual world as part of the Pixelhub platform.
If you are looking to embrace the future of aerospace events with an online event and show solution, be sure to get in touch with us today. We’d be delighted to help you!