COVID-19 has forced trade fairs, a traditional B2B tool, to change. These in-person events provided businesses with plenty of opportunities for networking.
Now, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they’ve been cancelled and have had to reinvent themselves. In our digital era, it’s unsurprising that trade fairs have moved to the digital realm to survive.
Online shows have brought a number of benefits, such as lower costs, higher attendee numbers and the comfort of attending directly from your desk. But they also have a number of disadvantages when compared with traditional trade fairs, among them the reduced networking opportunities, especially since business relationships created in person tend to be stronger and have greater impact.
In the post-COVID era, business show organizers believe that digital exhibitions are here to stay, even though conventional trade fairs are already starting to be held again. Organisers are therefore trying to find a way to create a link between these two options so as to exploit their respective advantages when it comes to creating business relationships between companies.
