Magazine - IGCEMA’s Virtual Trade Show Wrap Up

By Eric Kulaas in Shows and seminars on 23rd May 2010 6:00

IGCEMA (International Golf Course Equipment Managers Association) just concluded their first Virtual Trade Show. Though it was “Virtual”, it had a lot of the characteristics of a live trade show, booths for vendors, meeting rooms, and seminars.

Some of the booths had digital media from their websites so if you were familiar with that, there wasn’t much new. I’m not quite sure anyone knew just what the take on this would be, what was the best way to set things up and what would work best.

The seminars were in a format that most of the IGCEMA members were used to, using Ivocalize as the web conference tool. Meeting times seemed to be mostly in US time frames which I’m sure will be modified as world wide participation increases.

For me the seminars were the high point although even though they were virtual, being at work wasn’t and making the time to attend was not always possible. The other was seminars are seminars, you still have to be able to capture the attention of the audience. I thought this was an area where the vendors could put a little more effort. Viewing electrical diagrams online, in the afternoon, when it’s hot, is tough. Having video of the equipment or processes would have been an appreciated alternative. This is one of those areas where it’s a learning curve. The vendors have the techs attention, learning how to maintain it in the digital world requires a little effort but it may open some interesting doors.

I hear that the chat function was fun but for most of my visits, it seemed no one else was there. Apparently this was a technical issue that was fixed. Having Audio would be nice.

I’m looking forward to next years. Stephen Tucker, CEO; Mike Kriz, President; and John Patterson, Past President (who helped get it rolling) and all the board members and volunteers did an outstanding job getting this off the ground and even though it had it’s shaky moments, it has many more possibilities.

Nice article on this at TurfNet (click here to view)

Visit themilitantmechanic.com the great blog by Eric to get your fix of the militant mechanic. 

Read more articles in Shows and seminars, by Eric Kulaas or from May 2010.