Although physical events have been allowed in China since June, RX Global China is acutely aware that many international exhibitors and visitors are unable to attend.

For NEPCON Asia, the market leading electronics event, the teams response was to develop a hybrid brand strategy involving the launch of a series of ‘digital only’ NEPCON events to augment their physical show.

The first NEPCON Live took place on Friday 31 July, with a ‘Playback Day’ on 1 August. The event attracted 8,036 attendees – 6,601 to the live one-day event, and an additional 1,435 on Playback Day. 138 exhibitors took part and there was significant engagement with content, including 17,929 vendor presentation views. 415 video meetings and nearly 5,775 online chat sessions offered clear evidence of the viability of online content to drive meetings.

All exhibitors at NEPCON Asia were given the opportunity to participate in NEPCON Live at no extra cost, with 138 taking part. Thirty-seven exhibitors opted for ‘premium packages’ which included a live streamed or pre-recorded webinar. These webinars offered exhibitors significant scope to expand content beyond the confines of the physical event to include real time factory scenes, big machinery and production lines, as well as multi-angle product shots and dynamic equipment demonstrations. They also included 1:1 zoom style sales webinars, so that exhibitors could handle real time enquiries.

Attendees could search the exhibitor listings, bookmark companies of interest, communicate instantly via video/audio chatting, or scan and exchange business cards if they were not ready for a real-time chat.

Remaining online through August, NEPCON Live also continued to run as part of NEPCON Asia from 26-28 August. 25 exhibitors took advantage of the online matchmaking services at the event to arrange 32 meeting with 12 remote buyers. These meetings took place in a fully equipped VIP area enabling the buyers to effortlessly communicate with the online buyers.

The feedback from exhibitors was very positive and the team are planning another NEPCON Live event before the end of the year to further boost customer confidence in China post-Covid, and provide new business opportunities for exhibitors and attendees.