IBEX will eliminate corporate marketing materials on paper, starting from the 2011 show, as announced today by Viridistor LLC. National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) and Professional BoatBuilder magazine, co-owners of the International BoatBuilders’ Exhibition & Conference (IBEX) have chosen Green Box solution to deliver all-electronic distribution of corporate marketing materials.
GB with Myriad - Image courtesy of Viridistor
The Viridistor solution will be used to provide all-electronic distribution of corporate marketing materials in IBEX Show exhibitor booths as well as for handout of presentation materials at IBEX conference educational sessions.
This new approach to eliminating the use of paper-based documents at trade shows and conferences will be demonstrated to exhibitors, attendees and the news media at the upcoming IBEX Show, to be held September 28-30 at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, KY. Viridistor will provide demonstrations of how the system works so that participants in future boating industry shows in 2011 and beyond will be able to see how it can enhance show and session involvement for the 500 or so exhibitors and more than 6,000 attendees at typical IBEX shows.
“We are impressed with the Green Box solution because it truly promises to significantly reduce or eliminate the distribution of paper materials at our boating industry shows and conferences, and to reduce the cost of exhibitor participation in the shows,” said Thomas Dammrich, President of the National Marine Manufacturers Association. “New approaches to reducing costs and protecting our environment are more important today than ever.”
“The Viridistor approach will save exhibitors at our IBEX Shows a big percentage of their show costs by not having to print literature, and it will give them an even more impressive way to use tools such as videos to market their wares to boat builders,” said Carl Cramer, IBEX Show Co-Director. “In addition to having more creative ways to sell to attendees, this solution reduces the tonnage of refuse generated at shows and conferences and it makes life so much easier for attendees. They won’t have to lug around bags or binders filled with paper while at the show and they get such a versatile way to manage all the marketing materials and educational session handouts to make the best use of them.”
The paperless service enables organizations to “go green without going broke” by bringing exhibitor information management into the 21st century and it provides benefits for all participants:
Trade show and conference owners, such as NMMA and Professional BoatBuilder magazine, can offer a versatile and practical new service to their corporate users;
Exhibitor companies get to eliminate their second largest event expense – the printing, shipping, inventory and handling of promotional literature for events;
Management of convention centers and meeting facilities reduce their costs by eliminating the single biggest source of post-event waste – since trade shows are second only to the construction industry in the volume of waste produced;
And event attendees no longer have to lug around hundreds of pounds of paper at an event – plus they get powerful USB-based devices that let them manage all event-related information during the event and can be used as high capacity computer storage devices when they’re done with them.
“We are delighted to be working with NMMA and Professional Boatbuilder to help make their IBEX shows more environmentally aware because these two organizations are at the leading edge of new technology adoption in the trade show and conference industries,” said Terry Mullin, Viridistor President & CEO. “Their commitment to reducing costs for their exhibitors and decreasing the carbon footprint for all their shows is commendable.”
When exhibitors sign up for the Viridistor service at the IBEX shows, they will receive access to Viridistor “cloud” web servers where, prior to the show, they can upload their electronic “literature” of all types – including word processor documents, spreadsheets, PDFs, videos, PowerPoint presentations, digital photos, conference session documents or any other electronic materials. When exhibitor staff arrive at the show and check out their Green Box units at the Viridistor service desk, their uploaded materials will be downloaded onto their Green Boxes in a matter of seconds.
“When attendees register on-site, along with their normal show ID badges they will receive lanyards with free high capacity USB devices attached,” Mullin added. “As they tour the show and discover products and services for which they want more information, the USB drives are simply inserted into a USB port on the Green Boxes in exhibitor booths to instantly download that exhibitor’s materials. In addition, attendees who have signed up to attend educational sessions can collect all of the presentation material handouts on the USB devices rather than hauling around piles of paper printouts or large binders of materials.”
Attendee USB-devices are tailored to each specific show and will feature an electronic show guide and floor maps so that attendees can search exhibitor offerings by company name, by product category and by booth location. Using the Viridistor Presenter™ and Presenter Manager™ software applications, people can arrive the day before the show, pick up their registration materials and review all show activities before the show opens. They can better plan what they want to see and with whom they want to meet – and they can even download their schedules to their smartphones for use on the show floor. The software applications enable attendees to review all of their collected literature more easily following the show and can offload to a Mac or PC any files they want to keep as well as share materials with colleagues. Once they’re done with the information, they can erase the contents and have a high capacity external USB memory device for their own use. Viridistor also provides a recycling program for people who don’t need or want an extra USB stick and donates any returned USB devices to schools.
