Exhibitions go remote

SMALL businesses can now have a presence at international trade fairs without leaving home.

Virtual Expo International, the brainchild of Australian exhibition experts Peter Norman and Paul Bernasconi, involves building a stand, incorporating virtual reality and the Internet, at a major international exhibition.

The stand includes dedicated video screens and keyboard stations from which potential buyers or agents can access an exhibitor by inserting their business card into a special reader. This gives the exhibitor the enquirer’s contact details.

Mr Norman said the presentation could be as simple or as comprehensive as the client wished. Companies can use their Internet web pages as the basis of their Virtual Expo site or it can be tailored to suit.

“Participation in a major international exhibition can cost an Australian exporter many thousands of dollars as well as occupy a great deal of the time of senior executives,” Mr Norman said.