Online Exhibitions : Enhancing the user experience and exhibitor value

Abstract: Achieving the feeling of a personal connection over the internet is difficult but at the same time more relevant than ever with the world moving more and more towards digital meetings and online events. This study investigates how an exhibition area at an online conference could be created to provide a good user experience as well as provide value for the exhibitors at the conference. The study was performed through interviews, three stages of prototyping as well as usability testing of these prototypes to gather data and feedback on what could be done to achieve this goal. Through the principles of social presence, human centered, and user centered design, a prototype of how such a solution could look was developed. As a result, the test users felt that they would feel welcome in the digital booth and that they felt a greater incentive to join conversations with the exhibitors. On the other end, the exhibitors also felt like this solution would provide value in the form of monitorable gathered data that could be followed up on to investigate the value that the conference has given them. This concludes that engaging and valuable online exhibitions can be created as long as careful thought is put into designing them with the user and human in mind.