On March 3, SDM and its sister publication, SECURITY, made history by hosting the first-ever virtual trade show in the security industry — iSecurity. The event provided all 1,500-plus attendees with an opportunity to attend a virtual conference and exposition right from their own laptops or desktops at home or at work. All they needed was an Internet-connected computer.

“I think this is an excellent way to get information out to consumers,” commented one attendee. “I think that the only way to improve it would be to promote other vendors to participate. Again, I think this is an excellent idea.”

iSecurity featured a virtual exhibit hall where vendors such as Anixter, Axis Communications, RS2 Technologies, Deister Electronics, Intransa, Jam Plastics, and Convergint Technologies had booth representatives available online to answer questions and guide attendees through the resources that were “on display” in each booth — material such as product descriptions, spec sheets, brochures, case studies, white papers, etc.

An attendee reported that “the ability to chat with reps real-time without being on site at the trade show,” was most useful.

The conference part of iSecurity featured five live webinars, as well as several additional pre-recorded webinars that could be accessed “on demand.” The topics were set to appeal to a wide range of attendees’ interests, including the Forecast for Security in 2010, Network Testing & Troubleshooting, Zero Tolerance Is Not Enough (workplace violence), and more.

“I thought the format was good,” remarked another attendee. “I enjoyed the presentations I watched and like the fact that many were available on demand rather than being held only at a certain time when I might have a scheduling conflict.”

iSecurity piqued the interest of attendees and created a favorable buzz around the concept as well as the content.

iSecurity is available in archived form until March 2011, at the link below. 

Links

• iSecurity