Online. Remote. Virtual. Digital. Webinars instead of trade fairs - we rescheduled briefly. A review.

Bustling in the aisles, crowded stands, face-to-face customer talks, good acquaintances with stand neighbours, stand-up snacks and brave feet. Not this year. This year everything was different. Corona has also forced us to rethink our marketing and prove how flexible we are. Now that the biggest fairs for us - the DMEA and the Röntgenkongress - have taken place online, it is time for us to draw a conclusion. Did it work?

In marketing, preparing for a trade fair initially means a lot of organisation and - let's be honest - stress and tension. From the stand concept with the stand builder to the communication concept to the flower arrangements, everything has to be planned down to the smallest detail. What if a hotel room is underbooked, the food is not enough, the 3 x 6 metre wall graphic contains a spelling mistake or the system breaks down? Just thinking about it has given us many a sleepless night. Most of the tension always falls away from us when we see the stand in front of us, live and in colour, and none of the imagined scenarios have come to pass. And then it starts. The first visitors arrive at the stand, the aisles fill up and everyone in the team now helps together. Always in focus: the customer.  

And then, after three days, everything is over. Even before all the brochures are packed away again, the carpets are removed from the aisles and the dismantling team arrives to dismantle the stand into its individual parts again. And every time it is a great and very rewarding feeling when the team can look back on a successful fair together. The stress is forgotten in that moment.

2020: Everything suddenly different
This year: webinars. Our project plan, which we had painstakingly worked out and perfected over the past few years, was shaken up this year. We, i.e. the NEXUS marketing team, rethought flexibly and thought about how we could stay in contact with our customers in the best possible way. We have developed alternative online concepts for both the Röntgenkongress and the DMEA, each in the form of two-day webinar series. Print products took a back seat and everything was online, remote, virtual, digital.

The tension was different with the webinars: Are we live yet, is the camera on and is the connection holding? New skills are required, such as webinar moderation. This is more in the blood of some and less in the blood of others, but we all managed it. So once again: Did it work? It did!

We grew even closer together during this crazy time, communicated twice as much with each other, helped each other out and inspired each other with new ideas. When and if we will be able to return to the usual (and beloved) "fair madness" is uncertain. However, it is likely that there will be a completely new "normality" from now on. "Whatever may come, we are prepared!" - is not true. But flexible and creative!

The show will go on
And we will continue: With webinars on burning industry topics and product innovations, with online workshops for our clients and remote consulting. All information on planned content is available here at any time: NEXUS / WEBINARE.

Take a look!