Pre-Event Preparation

Like any trade show, the key to success is preparation. The same is true when planning to exhibit at Cultivate’20 Virtual. This virtual event is a great way to promote your brand through digital marketing. This is a chance to communicate and market in a new way. The Virtual Trade Show Exhibit Hall gives attendees the ability to browse exhibitor booths. An Exhibitor Directory makes it easy to locate specific booths all with a click of their mouse. Nonetheless, promoting yourself as an exhibitor drives traffic to your booth to ensure you meet the customers you want.

Promote Your Participation and Reinforce Your Brand Promoting your participation in Cultivate’20 Virtual will help make sure your current and prospective customers know they can find you at this event. Exhibiting also provides an opportunity to drive awareness for your brand. Here are a few ways you can promote your brand and your presence at this online event: • Email an invitation to visit your virtual booth, or schedule time to talk with you or other members of your sales team. You might use a video message in your email to make your message more unique and personal. Here is a sample invitation letter. • Use social media to promote your presence at the show. • Create promotional graphics that your staff can forward to their business contacts to help spread the word about your participation at Cultivate’20 Virtual.

Promote the fact you are exhibiting in your company blog or e-newsletter. Create a homepage graphic on your website stating you are an exhibitor; have a call to action to visit you and/or to schedule an appointment. Mail – you might consider sending a postcard or letter to current or prospective customers by mail. Plan for live or recorded product demonstrations. If you demonstrate live, establish a schedule that you can promote in your pre-show communications. You will need to link to either your company’s own web platform or a Zoom or GoToWebinar meeting hosted by your company, where you can conduct a scheduled demonstration. Add the show logo and the fact you are exhibiting to the email signature line for all your company associates. See an example in our Exhibitor Marketing Tools.

Helpful Tip

Attendees can easily find exhibitors based on multiple search criteria. Clearly name the documents and files you upload your booth so attendees can easily find the information they need when they are searching the content in your booth and when they are reviewing their digital briefcase after the show.

Boost your Brand Awareness via Sponsorship Consider a sponsorship opportunity at Cultivate’20 Virtual. There are many ways you can boost your presence through sponsorship.

• Become a Sponsor of the Main Lobby; highly • Sponsor one of these programs: visible with limited availability. • An education session on a topic related to your • Have a new product to highlight? Participate product or service in the New Product Zone. • A keynote address • Have a new plant variety to promote?

Participate in the New Varieties Zone. • • • The Women in Horticulture program An industry round table discussion Daily show emails For details, contact:

Elizabeth Williamson by phone at (614) 884-1204, or email at: ElizabethW@AmericanHort.org, or Sherry Johnson by phone at (614) 884-1144, or email at SherryJ@AmericanHort

Setting up Your 3D Exhibit Booth There are two main aspects to setting up your 3D exhibit booth at Cultivate’20 Virtual. The first is the booth design layout and customized color. The second is uploading marketing collateral and information about your products or services for booth visitors to download into their virtual briefcase.

Helpful Tip

Watch our tutorial video on setting up your booth here.

1) Design Set-up

You may choose from one of six booth structures. To customize your booth and promote your brand, please provide a logo to the AmericanHort exhibit team or your assigned staff member for use in your booth header and determine a primary color by the designated deadline to be used in the booths as shown below.

Helpful Tip Have a file of your company logo that is 180 x100 pixels. This is the standard logo size on this event platform and will work best for you during booth set up. The areas colored moss green in each booth shown below will be changed to your brand color. Your brand color needs to be provided as a 6-digit HEX number. If you prefer not to customize your booth to your brand color, the booth will remain moss green.

What is a Hex Color? A HEX color is a 6-digit, 24 big, hexadecimal number that represents red, green, and blue. There are 16 million possible colors. Not sure what your HEX colors are? If you have your RGB or CMYK color codes, you can convert to a HEX color number using a hex color tool.

RGB to HEX: RGB or CMYK to HEX:

rgbtohex.net convertacolor.com rapidtables.com/convert/color/rgb-to-hex.html

Another way to get your HEX color is in a document like Word, Excel or PowerPoint - use the select color feature and insert the R, G, B numbers and below this will be your HEX color number.

Cultivate'20 Virtual 3D Exhibit Booth Options

Click on the images below to view details on content areas size specifications.

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2) Booth Content

The second aspect of completing your 3D exhibit Video Upload Specification R ecommendations booth set up is uploading booth content. You can • Quicktime MOV • Stereo audio upload audio and video files, product brochures, • H 264 codec • 16-bit product images, and more. Below is a chart with • 16:9 aspect ratio • 44.1kHz (bit rate is recommended file format and size specifications. • 1920x1080 or 1280x720 variable) HD dimensions (which will • No files over 2GB You will be assigned an AmericanHort team convert down to 605x340) (recommend 500-800 mb)

member who will be available to answer booth set up questions and provide other assistance should you need it. Click here to see the complete

content technical specifications. Suggested files and file formats to upload into your 3D virtual booth:

Content Media Type

Audio

Video Upload

Video Embed

Documents

Link – New Tab

Link - iframe

Content Examples

Welcome message

Welcome video, product demonstration video, product images video, advertisement, etc.

Marketing brochures, product listing, price sheet, etc.

File Format

WAV, MP3

MOV, MP4, MPG, WPV

YouTube, Vimeo, Ustream

.pdf, jpg, png, word, excel, ppt (We strongly encourage PPT slides, word, and excel documents, be converted to a .pdf file format) http browser link

http browser link

User Experience

The audio or video file will open in a new window or an iframe within the virtual experience.

The content item will display within a window (iframe) within the virtual experience.

Download and print functions are available within the iframe display. This link will open in a new tab.

This link will open within a window (iframe), within the virtual experience.

How It Works for an Attendee

After logging in, attendees can enter the various areas of Cultivate’20 Virtual from the Lobby.

The navigation bar or clickable navigation tiles (on the walls, above doorways, etc.) are used to move from room to room. Attendees can enter the Exhibit Hall by clicking on the “Exhibit Hall” icon at the bottom, by clicking on the doorway to the Exhibit Hall, or from the blue directory sign in the foreground of the Lobby.

Once an attendee has entered the Exhibit Hall, they can either scroll through the 3D exhibit booths, or search for a specific exhibitor by company name or product category.

Instructions for Entering your Booth

1. Log in to the virtual environment. You will arrive at the Lobby. 2. Use the navigation bar or wall icons in lobby to find the booth you are assigned to represent. 3. Enter the exhibit hall and find the booth you are assigned to represent. 4. Enter your booth and find your name listed on the info/rep card. Your chat bubble next to your name should be green indicating you are online. (If you do not see a green bubble, visit the virtual Help Desk.) 5. You will see the rep dashboard to the left of the info/rep card. Please click on this to begin managing your booth’s chat.

Staffing a Virtual Event Staffing an online trade show is like an in-person event. You will want to have your sales team trained on your show goals and objectives, your new products, and any special offers or engagement activities you have planned for your booth. Have your staff wear branded apparel and even have a coffee mug or cup with your logo on it, as this might be visible on screen if you are having live video chat with customers or if your staff participates in networking events like the morning coffee chat, afternoon industry interaction discussion groups, or a virtual happy hour or social event. You can help your staff stand out in these video environments by creating your own virtual background, or use one of the available Cultivate’20 Virtual backgrounds to customize your video presence.

Chat with Customers in your Booth

When a visitor enters a booth, you will receive an alert so you and your team can greet your visitor and have a conversation through two primary chat options:

Private 1:1 Chat

This is a chat between a Booth Rep and an attendee. You can have up to 10 private chats occurring at one time. You can also add another Booth Rep to your 1:1 private chat.

Helpful Tip

When an attendee enters your booth you will receive a doorbell ring notification.

Public Group Chat

The Public Group Chat will automatically launch when an attendee enters a booth. The Public Group Chat window allows Booth Reps and attendees to engage in a group chat. Booth Reps and Attendees who join the Public Group Chat can view the history of comments and Q&A within that Public Chat by scrolling through the list of posted comments and questions.

If you click out of the box, you can open it again by clicking on the Public Group Chat icon.

For more details on how the Public Group Chat and Private 1:1 Chat work, click on the links below to view two additional training documents. An AmericanHort team member can assist you with any questions you have on how the chat function operates.

Booth Representative Private Chat Booth Representative Public Chat

Current Participants shows who is still viewing the chat window. As a Booth Rep, you can download the Public Group Chat log from your assigned booth (attendees do not have this option). Reps also have the option to ‘delete’ comments for within the chat (attendees do not have this option).

Learn more by watching this video on chat functions.

The Info/Representative Card gives attendees the ability to get information and reach out to the Booth Reps. • Attendees can engage in a 1:1 private chat with a Booth Rep by clicking on a green chat bubble. • If a Booth Rep leaves their assigned booth to enter another location within the Virtual Environment, the chat bubble will remain green, and booth attendees will still be able to send a chat message to that Booth Rep. • If a Booth Rep logs out of the environment, the chat bubble will be grey, indicating the Booth Rep is unavailable for chat. • Attendees can e-mail a Booth Rep at any time.

Helpful Tip Encourage your team to connect their LinkedIn profile to their Cultivate’20

Virtual registration. This can be a great way to connect with attendees.

You can provide LinkedIn profile links when registering your booth staff, then make sure to allow attendees to view LinkedIn Profiles.

Virtual Conversation Tips • Greet attendees at the start of the day, welcoming them to your booth. • Assign a team member to chat with individuals lingering in the Networking Lounge to move them to a live education session. • Ask attendees for their feedback on your new products, what they’re seeing at the show, or a Main

Stage session. • Suggest the best datasheet/video/booth that will extend their learning. • Introduce attendees to experts or executives by inviting them into a small group chat. • Monitor your booth’s public chats and contribute relevant comments to keep the conversation moving. • Use the watch list to record notes and capture conversations on top prospects.

Attendee Profile Card Each visitor to your booth will have an Attendee Profile Card. When viewing an Attendee Profile Card, a Booth Rep can: • Email the attendee • Add the attendee to the 'Watch List' • View the attendee's number of booth visits • View the attendee's chat history - active and history • Make notes that are viewable by all representatives • Download • Click on the “Chatted With” hyperlink to view the chat and email it to yourself

New Varieties and New Product Zone Set Up

Both the New Varieties Zone and the New Products Zone will have a directory listing that will lead to a booth. The directory listing will have your logo and will click to your New Varieties or New Product Zone digital display.

In these digital displays, you can upload videos, photos, jpeg files, etc. that showcase your newest plant varieties or new product innovations.

New Varieties

New Products

The set up of a New Varieties or New Products Zone booth is very similar to the set up process for your own company 3D booth. AmericanHort staff can help answer more specific questions about this set up.

Click here to view the New Varieties and New Products Zones content areas size specifications.

Technology Requirements Here are the Minimum System Requirements:

1024 x 768 screen resolution minimum 1.4 Mbps internet connection minimum Allow Flash Disable Pop Up Blockers Disconnect from a VPN (if possible)

Click here for the full technology requirements.

Operating System

Windows 10 Windows 8.1 + Pro Windows 7 Android 4.4+ Apple Max OS X 10.9+ Apple IOS 8.4+

Processor

1GHz

RAM

1GB

Internet Browser

Internet Explorer 8+

All recent versions of Google Chrome

Safari 5.0+ iPhone/iPad – Safari/iOs 5.1+

Hardware

Audio: Sound Card with Speakers

Video: Screen with 1024x768_ resolution support Android Phone/Tablet – 0S 2.3 or higher, Chrome, Native Brower 2.3+

Windows Tablet – IE 10+

Media Playback

HTML5 Streaming enabled browser

Apple iOS http streaming enabled browser

Internet Connection

Dedicated high speed connection of 900kbps+

Android http streaming enabled browser