It was late March, just three weeks out from the International Sign Association's (ISA) 2009 Sign Expo, when the organization's event media partner, BDMetrics, talked up a brand-new concept to consider for the 2010 show. Called the "Virtual Totebag," it's an eco-friendly tool that enables trade-show attendees to request, receive, store, and share session content and exhibitor collateral electronically, using their mobile devices.

"A bell goes off and we think, ‘Why don't we try it at this year's event?'" said ISA Vice President Brian McNamara. And that's how ISA came to beta launch the Virtual Totebag at its April 16-18 expo, held at Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay.

To utilize the tool, BDMetrics Senior Vice President John Triscoli said, attendees text collateral codes on display in conference sessions and exhibitor booths to request and download their desired materials at www.virtualtotebag.com. Attendees at the 2009 Sign Expo requested 461 materials from three pilot exhibitors and 37 conference sessions.

Considering that the Virtual Totebag "was implemented very, very late," McNamara said he is pleased with those numbers. Of the nearly 18,000 attendees, 2,400 went to educational sessions - which is where ISA focused its efforts. "We allowed session attendees to plug the code number for each session into their cell phone, and they could later download the PowerPoint presentations and handouts - eliminating all the printing of the handouts," McNamara said. "For a first time out - I believe our figure was something like a 30-percent usage - I thought the response from the participants was very favorable." And not everyone, he noted, had text capabilities on their phone.

The tool was offered to only three exhibitors; by that point, most of the exhibitors had already printed and shipped their materials. One of those exhibitors "had a better experience," McNamara said, because it could display the totebag option. "They had the capability of making their signage on site, which," he said with a laugh, "at a sign show, is a good thing."

While not being able to display the tool on ISA's own show signage was a drawback to adoption at the event, people have picked up on it since. "A reminder e-mail went out to the attendees along with the codes, so that if someone who had participated in the sessions had not downloaded the session materials, they were still eligible to," McNamara said. "That has been very helpful. I think a lot of people plugged in the codes and then forgot to download the materials."

Why would an association that is all about promoting messages in the physical space go virtual? It turns out that ISA attendees have complained in the past "about the quantity of hard materials that they had to carry," McNamara said. "I suspect that the demand for this is going to grow. I can't say that we're the greenest industry in the world, but we are making inroads."

Take Away
In addition to the printing and shipping costs meeting organizers and exhibitors save, the Virtual Totebag offers another benefit: BDMetrics generates reports on exhibitor literature and session materials downloaded by attendees. The session specifics, International Sign Association Vice President Brian McNamara said, will help the organization judge which educational content was most popular "in conjunction with our attendee survey. We'll certainly mix those two things together."

---

Michelle Russell is editor in chief of Convene.

Innovative Meetings is sponsored by the Irving, Texas, Convention and Visitors Bureau, www.irvingtexas.com.