What story does your virtual booth tell?

Very few websites tell a story well. I must admit that even iTradeFair.com's corporate website fails to tell the story of what our work really means to our users. It is harder to capture stories when you have 59 exhibitors logged in from 17 different states to meet with thousands of attendees from 7 different countries. That, however, is no excuse for our website not telling a good enough story about the human side of our work, about the connections we help make, about the businesses that we help make visible to corporate buyers, or about the job candidate who got a phone call from a corporate recruiter on that Sunday morning immediately after she noticed the candidate's virtual footprints on her virtual booth (yes - this customer for a job fair actually staffed their booth virtually on a Sunday morning to find the best job candidates).

Getting a corporate website to come up with a universal script for a story that appeals to all visitors is a tough call. However, it is a lot easier to make a virtual booth that is set up for a specific purpose to tell a compelling story. When you have self-administration capabilities to add and manage the content in your virtual booth independently, use it often and use it creatively until you perfect your story-telling abilities. Here are a few suggestions:

If your virtual booth is in a trade show that is specific to a closed corporate trade show, then you can tailor every item on your virtual booth to speak the lingo that your corporate audience can relate to. You can tailor your presentations to that specific audience. You can get your CEO to tell a story about your company, give it her own personality, and make your virtual booth stand out in the crowd.

If your virtual booth is product-specific and has a story behind it, perhaps a secret recipe handed down in the family, or a product that customers love to talk about, use that on your virtual booth. Your virtual booth can show your customers saying great things about your company.

Your virtual booth can be a podium to get your team to talk about how proud they are to be making the product for the customers.

Your virtual booth can give a factory tour taken with a camcorder.

Everyone seems to be selling solutions these days. Give your virtual booth some personality. Make it tell a story tailored for the audience.