Las Vegas, Nevada — An SEMA360 organizer on Wednesday announced that the virtual show will deliver significant real-time interactivity between vendors and attendees.
SEMA events Vice President Tom Gattuso said many vendors plan to make representatives available from the typical 9 to 5 p.m. show day. However, Gattuso learned that many exhibitors intend to man their virtual booths beyond the regular hours, to make up for the different time zones and their international audience.
“The virtual SEMA360 show floor will technically be open 24 hours [during] SEMA week,” said Gattuso.
He also says that many international visitors have now embraced this idea and at registering for SEMA360 at a decent rate.
Due to the popularity of the virtual event, Gattuso can see this continuing pass the pandemic by offering a “digital companion” once in-person shows return, because of the “international appeal.”
Vendor representatives-attendee interactions in the exhibitor booth (manufacturer showcases) might take form of a public text chat or video conference, said Gattuso.
An attendee and vendor can split off into private meeting rooms which can be set up as regular chat, Zoom or Microsoft team meeting.
“It’s important to have that one-on-one communication,” he said. An attendee could invite someone into a meeting who’s also online at SEMA360. Gattuso believes this could permit a pricing or order conversations between buyer and vendor representatives.
The virtual vendor booths can involve videos, websites, PDFs of documents, like tool specifications or parts brochure. This platform will also offer how-to-videos, said Gattuso. SEMA360 will have assign a vendor a complimentary customer service liaison to help develop their virtual booth from start to finish.
Gattuso said he was intending for SEMA to be looking at about a range of 500 companies during the visual show, but with the pace they are on now, he believes they will exceed their prediction.
“But we’re still a little early to know the true number,” he said.
SEMA is targeting for an audience of about 20,000 to 30,000 people, with thousands already signed up.
“Overall, we really wanted to address four main areas of interest with SEMA360,” Gattuso said. “Besides a vendor-buyer marketplace, these areas include education, a new product showcase — that’s going to be a big feature [added] to the platform, and a builder showcase.”
SEMA will offer attendees more than 30 free educational sessions to accommodate their unlimited number of students.
“While circumstances have refrained us from meeting in person this year, SEMA remains committed to helping our industry members succeed and prosper,” SEMA senior manager of professional development Gary Vigil said in a statement Wednesday. “Each educational session in SEMA360 was carefully crafted to help attendees make smarter business decisions and offers the exciting opportunity to hear stories and advice from a diverse collection of highly successful, entrepreneurial leaders.”
For the virtual event, he said, they will ask attendees’ interests based around 15-16 show sections and use this to recommend which booths, educational session and attendees marking similar focuses.
Vendors can apply for SEMA360 at a member rate of $495 and a non-member rate of $1,495. SEMA members just looking to attend will receive free admission to the show; non-members will be charged $25. Register as a “manufacturer” or “buyer” on www.SEMA360.com.
