Virtual expos

As firm believers in virtual exhibition, virtual events, expos, and congresses it was heartening to find that the editors over at entrepreneur.com have begun to share our views.

This is their example:

"Robin Cowie, president of WorldwideBrands.com, a Maitland, Florida, wholesale and drop-ship resources provider, went from attending virtual B2B e-commerce trade show eComXpo to hosting a booth at the show. "We treat it like a normal convention," says Cowie, 35, whose company reached more than $3 million in sales last year. "We have three staff members dedicated to it. They're constantly chatting and exchanging information during the show, and I don't have to pay for travel."

Our good friend Pete Dunkley over at Depo Consulting now has a column at Events:Review - on the subject of virtual events:

"One of the more common misconceptions about holding events in virtual worlds such as Second Life is that they always involve avatars [your character within the virtual world] presenting to avatars," says pete. He argues thre are many ways to get started.

Stream content into Second Life, stream content from SL into a conference or event. "Having a virtual audience raises the possibility of selling incremental advertising, sponsorship and the floor space for trade stalls for the virtual offshoot." Worth noting!