Introduction
Donny Tormohlen’s 2021 PCMA article “The Challenge of Virtualizing Trade Shows and Exhibit Halls” examined a problem that became urgent during the COVID-19 disruption: conference presentations could often move online relatively easily, but trade shows depended on forms of interaction that were harder to reproduce digitally. Exhibitors needed product discovery, demonstrations, informal conversation, lead generation, trust, and access to prospective buyers, while organizers depended heavily on booth and sponsorship revenue (Tormohlen, 2021). The article’s central insight remains useful in 2026 because a virtual exhibit hall succeeds only when it is designed for digital behavior rather than treated as a graphical copy of rows of physical booths. The industry has also evolved. In-person events have returned strongly, while virtual and hybrid formats remain part of many event programs rather than serving as permanent substitutes. Current industry data indicate continued investment in digital and hybrid tools alongside strong demand for face-to-face commerce and networking (Cvent, 2026; Freeman, 2025). The contemporary challenge is therefore integration: organizers must connect pre-event discovery, live interaction, remote participation, data capture, and post-event follow-up around measurable participant outcomes.
Why Trade Shows Are Difficult to Virtualize
A conference often has a relatively defined content product consisting of lectures, panels, workshops, and discussion, many of which can be streamed or recorded. A trade show produces value more indirectly through movement, chance encounters, physical products, visual comparison, demonstrations, scheduled meetings, and spontaneous sales conversations. Tormohlen (2021) showed that early virtual-event experiments struggled when organizers tried to reproduce a convention center literally through clickable lobbies and digital booths. Online participants do not need to simulate walking between displays when search, recommendation, scheduling, short video, and direct messaging can connect them to relevant content more efficiently. The design question should therefore begin with the jobs participants need to accomplish: compare suppliers, understand a product, find subject-matter experts, qualify leads, build trust, identify partners, or maintain visibility. Freeman’s 2025 research reinforces the importance of these commercial objectives by reporting that commerce has become a leading reason professionals attend trade shows and conferences, with attendees placing particular value on conversations with knowledgeable representatives and hands-on interaction (Freeman, 2025). Technology should simplify those goals rather than imitate physical distance.
Engagement, Demonstrations, and Networking
Registration totals and login counts do not establish that a virtual or hybrid event created value. Online attendees can remain technically present while disengaging, so organizers need behavioral measures tied to the event’s objectives, such as completed demonstrations, relevant meetings, questions, resource saves, repeated visits, qualified leads, or post-event conversations. PCMA’s research-backed engagement reporting similarly emphasizes that interaction develops across multiple moments rather than through passive attendance alone (PCMA, 2024). Product demonstrations translate especially well to digital formats when software, technical processes, or equipment can be shown through video, screen sharing, simulation, or remote control. Recorded demonstrations can also be captioned and revisited after the event. Physical formats remain stronger where touch, scale, taste, movement, or direct testing matters. Networking presents an even greater challenge because physical events generate informal encounters in hallways, queues, meals, and exhibit aisles. Online networking usually requires deliberate matchmaking, themed groups, hosted buyer meetings, moderated discussion, or short appointments. These tools work best when they increase relevance rather than merely producing a high volume of random connections.
Hybrid Design, Accessibility, and Global Reach
A hybrid events should not be understood simply as an in-person program with a camera pointed at the stage. Remote participants need a coherent journey that explains how they can ask questions, meet exhibitors, view demonstrations, obtain resources, and continue relationships. Hybrid design can widen geographic access for people constrained by travel cost, disability, caregiving, visas, health concerns, or schedule, but it may also require separate production teams and duplicate elements of the event experience. Cvent’s 2026 industry summary reports that hybrid and virtual meetings remain common components of event programs even as in-person meetings retain strong commercial value (Cvent, 2026). Accessibility must also be planned rather than assumed. Digital platforms should support keyboard navigation, accurate captions, transcripts, readable interfaces, alternative text, and technical assistance, while physical venues require accessible routes, seating, communication support, and sensory considerations. Global reach similarly depends on time zones, language, broadband quality, payment systems, and cultural relevance. Removing travel does not remove every participation barrier, so inclusive event design requires multiple access pathways and clear expectations.
Economics, Exhibitor Value, and Measurement
Virtual events can reduce venue rental, travel, accommodation, freight, catering, and physical booth-construction costs, but professional delivery creates other expenses, including platform licensing, streaming, production, integration, cybersecurity, captioning, technical support, content editing, and data management. Hybrid events may incur many costs from both formats simultaneously. The meaningful comparison is therefore cost per objective achieved rather than a simple claim that digital delivery is cheaper. Exhibitors likewise need packages based on commercial value rather than decorative digital booth size. Useful deliverables can include qualified meeting opportunities, searchable product content, expert-led education, targeted promotion, demonstration slots, analytics, and consent-based follow-up. Metrics should be agreed before the event and matched to purpose: awareness may use reach and recall, learning may use completion or assessment, engagement may use meetings and questions, and commerce may use qualified leads, pipeline, or attributable sales. Cvent’s 2026 reporting places increasing emphasis on integrated event technology and end-to-end return measurement, reflecting pressure on planners to justify rising costs and connect activity with outcomes (Cvent, 2026). Attractive dashboards are useful only when the measured behaviors correspond to actual participant or business value.
Data, Technology Integration, and Resilience
Digital event systems can collect detailed information about sessions viewed, searches, meetings, downloads, messages, and exhibitor interactions, making privacy and data governance central to event design. Participants should understand what information is collected, why it is needed, how long it is retained, and which exhibitors or vendors will receive it. Organizers also need security controls, vendor review, access permissions, and procedures for correcting inaccurate data. Technology integration presents a second challenge because registration, streaming, mobile applications, exhibitor portals, badge scanning, customer-relationship systems, and analytics may come from different suppliers. Mapping the participant journey and data flow before procurement can reduce duplicate profiles, repeated logins, and incomplete reporting. Technical resilience is equally important. Virtual and event design teams should plan for backup internet, redundant streams, recorded alternatives, speaker rehearsals, visible support, and clear responses to platform or venue failures. A sophisticated feature set provides little value when users cannot enter sessions or staff cannot recover from disruption. Reliability, privacy, accessibility, and simplicity are therefore core experience features rather than back-office concerns.
The Continuing Role of In-Person Events
The return of large physical exhibitions demonstrates that digital delivery did not eliminate the distinctive value of face-to-face commerce. Freeman’s 2025 trade-show research emphasizes real-time trust building, access to subject-matter experts, product education, and hands-on interaction as important parts of buyer behavior (Freeman, 2025). These strengths explain why In-person events remain especially powerful when products are physical, decisions are complex, or relationships depend on extended conversation. Digital tools can strengthen rather than replace those encounters by allowing attendees to research exhibitors beforehand, save products, schedule appointments, and continue conversations afterward. Event value can consequently extend well beyond a few hours on an exhibition floor. Pre-event communities, short introductory videos, appointment tools, and searchable directories can make physical time more efficient, while post-event recordings, Q&A summaries, resources, and targeted follow-up preserve learning and commercial momentum. This model treats the event as a longer relationship cycle. The strategic question is no longer whether “virtual” or “physical” should win, but which interactions are best delivered in each environment and how they can support one another.
Conclusion
“The Challenge of Virtualizing Trade Shows and Exhibit Halls” identified a durable problem: transmitting information online is easier than reproducing discovery, trust, demonstration, networking, and commercial exchange. The years since 2021 have shown that virtual formats are valuable for access, content distribution, remote participation, and extended engagement, while physical exhibitions remain important for sensory experience, spontaneous conversation, relationship building, and commerce (Cvent, 2026; Freeman, 2025). Effective hybrid strategy therefore begins with participant outcomes rather than platform features. Organizers should design distinct but connected journeys for attendees, remote participants, exhibitors, sponsors, speakers, and staff; protect accessibility and privacy; provide technical resilience; and measure behaviors that correspond to learning, relationships, or commercial value. Digital tools should also extend the event before and after the venue dates instead of attempting to imitate every physical feature on screen. The most successful event is not the one with the most immersive virtual lobby or the largest technology stack. It is the one that removes friction and gives each participant a clear, credible way to accomplish the purpose for which they joined.
References
Cvent. (2026). 390 event statistics shaping the industry in 2026.
Freeman. (2025). Unpacking XLNC: The future of commerce for trade shows and conferences.
PCMA. (2024). 7 research-backed ways to drive event engagement.
Tormohlen, D. (2021, February 1). The challenge of virtualizing trade shows and exhibit halls. PCMA Convene.
Cite This Work
To export a reference to this article please select a referencing stye below:
Academic Master Education Team is a group of academic editors and subject specialists responsible for producing structured, research-backed essays across multiple disciplines. Each article is developed following Academic Master’s Editorial Policy and supported by credible academic references. The team ensures clarity, citation accuracy, and adherence to ethical academic writing standards
Content reviewed under Academic Master Editorial Policy.
