KBIS/IBS Virtual Attendance Strategies

[Jamie]

Are you planning on attending the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show and/or International Builders Show next week? I’ll be “at” both, and even have a virtual Wellness Design for the 55+ Homebuyer presentation I recorded as part of the IBS talks, but I’m still figuring out what “walking” these shows will look and feel like.

How are you planning to adapt your usual trade show strategy to the online medium? My feet are happy about the change. The rest of me, not so much, but I may be overthinking it.

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[Fred Kauber]

I will be attending, and have attended a lot of these virtual tradeshows in recent years as I am deeply involved in technology circles where this has been a trend pre-dating the pandemic. The best experiences are keynote sessions that allow active chatting from participants, as vendors often jump into that conversation and make contextually relevant comments; I’m not sure that KBIS plans to do that but that’s what I will be looking for. I will likely primarily focus on the keynotes as I’m interested in macro trends that may be of interest to our community here, but others on the team like Janice are going to be meeting extensively with the brands and manufacturers exhibiting.

P.S> I really enjoyed your interview on the site! 😉

[Janice]

One of my favorite aspects of trade shows is chatting with other designers about who saw what, and hearing about everyone’s favorite products. In a typical show, I do so much running around, I always miss something amazing, so getting others’ input is a great way to hear about any “hidden treasures” that I might have otherwise overlooked. So in addition to manufacturer appointment, I plan to visit some of the “lounges” to connect with others designers who are also “walking” the floor to get some different perspectives on what everyone sees as trending. That said, I’m really going to miss the cooking demonstrations, and the home made ice cream!