ICT Village, 3D virtual fair on technology innovation

Tempo di lettura: 2 minuti

ICT VILLAGE - The virtual experience is yet to be experienced by some. However, those who have taken the opportunity are not only satisfied, they are even thrilled to repeat the occasion. This is the case of Faq400, a company that hosted a virtual 3D fair in the past year and now have created a larger and improved project. It is ICT Village, a virtual 3D platform that unites many people and deals with issues related to technological innovation.

ICT Village, the first 3D digital exhibition on technological and management innovation

From 20 May 2021 you can walk with your avatar between the stands of the Village community ICT Village. Not only that, there are numerous events, webinars and seminars in which you can participate live or see them comfortably on demand when it comes back to us more comfortable. The idea was born from the project Faq400, a fair with the intention of creating in Italy a reference point for everything related to the platform Power IBM i. But Guglielmo Maffeis and all those who were behind this project wanted something more. In fact, they felt the need to develop a community of users using the Power IBM i management program, so as to aggregate, inform and train them. This is why ICT Village was born the first digital 3D fair on technological and management innovation.

Everything you can find at ICT Village

Everyone can participate in ICT Village from the comfort of their own home. Having created the fair with 3D virtual reality, thanks to the technology of Advepa Communication, allows each of us to visit the stands and take part in the events at any time and from any place. There’s no excuse to get lost:

  1. "Live-Sessions" dedicated to IT Manager, CIO, C-Level of the final companies with inspirational-speech, case-history, round-table and a "virtual" Expo area with 60 stands in two pavilions where to meet operators, testimonials of customer companies and deepen the solutions available for the market;
  2. "Ondemand-Sessions": all product webinars will be registered and made available in the halls until the end of the Fair;
  3. There will be a Meeting area, where you can gather for a virtual "aperitif" or a Q&A session with an expert, etc. ;
  4. SPECIAL WEEKS - the first planned are:

Besides that, there’s a lot more to it and you can find out here.

The benefits of a 3D virtual event

Bringing the community to meet online has brought many benefits. The first is to offer the possibility of sharing despite the prohibitions imposed by the restrictive rules in force. Plus, there were economic benefits. In fact, by doing so, the fair could also take place without losing millions of euros in revenue. The economic success is also attributed to companies that have decided to set up their own stand within the fair. In fact, a virtual 3D fair allows to generate:

All taking into account the eco-sustainability factor.

To attend the fair, click here.

How much does it cost to cancel a fair at the opening?

Tempo di lettura: 4 minuti

COST CANCEL FAIR - The Covid-19 pandemic has forced many realities to stop. Among these there are fairs. All have suffered losses, especially those that at the time of the beginning of the restrictions were already in an advanced stage of preparation. Guglielmo Maffeis, organizer of Faq400, tells about his experience. How much does it cost to cancel a fair, in terms of cost and money, when you are already ready to open?

Cancellation arrived when the fair was already in an advanced state of preparation

For years now since the very first days of January we begin to take the first organizational steps. 2020 has not made exceptions. As always we started visiting different locations, arriving to choose the most suitable at the end of January.  In February we were hoping to be able to perform our exhibition because we had set it for the end of May.

By March 5th, we were pretty far ahead. In fact, we were ready for the market launch, actually  we had already published a video with the presentation interviews still enthusiastically. From there to days inspections would have to start, with the exhibitors, the catering and the teachers who would hold the training courses within the fair. We’re talking a few months/man invested.

Cancelled fair in presence but Faq400 still came to life

At the beginning of March, however, the news appeared increasingly dark. In order not to make fun of ourselves and of our sponsors, we decided to announce the cancellation of our "physical" event. But we did not lose faith because we are not used to letting "rot" situations. At first sight we charged Cinzia Bonanomi, our partner in charge of operational marketing, to think of an alternative. She came up with the idea of trying to walk the ground of the virtual fair, remembering a 3D exhibition seen years ago and built for the engineering district of Lecco that had fascinated her.

The virtual 3D fair has allowed us to reduce the costs of cancellation of the fair

In the field of virtual 3D fairs some roads have opened in front of us. We have made a selection with three possible suppliers, of which two foreigners, with the objective to close the contract within 30 April 2020. The choice fell on Avepa, for the speed with which it responded and for the conditions it reserved for us, especially meeting us on payment times. The goal was to open our fair for July 2020, practically a record. The solution has attracted us so much that even for when we will return to in-person events, we will propose a parallel virtual space.

The virtual fair has allowed us to continue working all year round, and above all to remain connected to our customers and partners. Unlike any negative forecast that could be read in 2020, the year for Faq400 closed with a slight drop in turnover.

Cancel a fair costs but less if you have the right intuition

When we decided to walk a new ground we had already started the activities of promotion, graphics, booking catering and hotels. In addition, we had already paid the deposit of the fair that would have hosted us. Economically speaking, we are talking about a few tens of thousands of euros invested just to start.

We recovered the deposit paid for the rental of the exhibition, I must say, finding great professional ethics in the body that we had hired. Then we cashed in the "minimum" refreshments provided by the DPCM issued during the first lockdown. But not having lowered the turnover over 33% as required by the new decrees, we will not receive further compensation. It’s better this way, because it means we "kept" our positions, organically I would say, indeed we launched into new markets and with future perspectives.

Virtual can result as useful in terms of costs in the future as well

We advise all those who want to take innovative paths to inform about the calls available for the digital transformation of their company: we did it, thanks to the project of our virtual fair presented according to the "BANDO SI 4.0 - Development of innovative I4.0 solutions by Regione Lombardia and Unioncamere Lombardia".

Also here Advepa has a hand in it: it was another distinctive element of our choice because we have joined a company specialized in facilitated finance and in drafting of calls of financing (the Sercam Advisory of Rome).

Our advice is: never stop!

We are in contact with organizations and organizers of events to tell them about our experience and join us in the construction of many three-dimensional "poles" of immersive reality. It’s a challenge that we feel we can pose to anyone who needs to stay in touch with customers all over the world, to live as protagonists this epochal transition and not get stuck for who knows how long. We have the necessary experience to guide this process, which certainly costs the effort to get out of the old ways, but which is an exciting challenge worth risking.

In fact, in our future we see only rosy perspectives that would not have been possible without the idea of the virtual fair for 2020. The big news is the expected doubling of the pavilions and the introduction of useful services to our community. We will finalize the new fair that will be called: "ICT Village" and will contain the best of the ICT offer for the Italian market. We will collaborate with 1) Erpselection, the first management software rating portal in Italy, 2) with CIO Club Italia, a very vital CIO association , 3) with AI the Artificial Intelligence explained in a simple way, 4) with Sercam Advisory, for calls for funding.

A village fair for communities

Tempo di lettura: 3 minuti

VILLAGE FAIR COMMUNITIES - The sector of fairs was affected by a great braking with, in most of the cases, countless economic losses. Several insiders could not manage to find in time solutions to limit the damage, others enjoyed such success not to miss in-person events. An example is Gulielmo Maffeis, CEO of Faq400 srl, who could seize two opportunities from this period, by jumping into the virtual world with a new project: a village fair open to multiple communities. The following tells about his experience.

Faq400 won’t stop and creates a virtual fair for the Faq400 community

In March 2020 we suddenly found ourselves facing an unexpected situation, but this did not stop us, in fact it allowed us to tread new grounds on which we will keep walking. We were not knocked down by difficulties and we searched for a solution that would suit us.

Faq400’s reality is driven by the will of building a community concerning who works with the IBM i/AS400 platform in Italy and abroad: we are connected to other Countries’ communities, in particular to the Common Europe. A large and strong community helps working better, networking, looking for partners, customers and resources. Thanks to new encounters, exchanges and mutual comparison, the community elicit ideas, collaborations and perspectives.

Since we live for these ideals, we definitely could not stop, therefore we relied on virtual reality. The creation of a virtual fair allowed us to continue working during the whole year nonstop, and above all to stay connected to our customers and partners. Differently from any dreadful forecast you could read around during 2020, the year concluded with a slight positive decline in turnover for Faq400.

The idea of a virtual village fair was born from a virtual fair

The desire to encounter and build relationships are essential for us. Faq400 virtual fair experience taught us that not even imposed distance can stop us. Therefore we realized that we were ready to explore new approaches and give birth to new ideas that could allow us to unite more people and realities as possible. This is why the intuition of a village fair was born.

“The choice fell on this terminology because a village is inhabited by several individuals who, while belonging to the same sector, usually carry out solitary battles. On the contrary, if we show off diversity, this is an enrichment for everybody. This is the message we want to get across through our project”.

A 3D virtual village fair in order to offer space to multiple communities

It has been a while now since we had last gathered for a large sector fair. Each of us went his own way, and those who used to do it in Italy were now dedicating more time to training and to start-ups. But last year’s experience taught us the importance of union, communication and connections, both in life and work. Thus we could not be indifferent.

Our fair’s concept is that it starts from the “bottom” and not from the top. That is to say, Communities are the ones gathering to inform and to question Vendors. And not only grandstanding Vendors. Therefore, the main objective remains the construction of a Community of Communities, which turns into a village where everyone owns a “home” to welcome customers. For now we are setting up the opening of more pavilions for each involved “community”.

A virtual village fair where everything is well organized

Furthermore, our fair is not meant to be created in a phyisical environment. In fact, it will be entirely online. Advepa Communication’s virtual reality technology, put into play for us, allows us to gather in a single place with multiple different realities. Something that is normally not possible. The possibility of giving birth to this project through virtual reality prevents dispersion, despite the size of space that will be used. In fact, everything will be organized and easily reachable, you won’t risk getting lost among the pavilions and having to wait for a long time to speak to the exhibitors you’re interested in. Advepa’s technology made it all clear and intuitive. Let’s forget about the dispersion we are used to.

A proposal that has already convinced many people

There are several different realities that have immediately responded with enthusiasm and availability. I am speaking of associations, user groups, rating societies, podcasts, etc. They will all have a dedicated area in the Fair to attract the audience interested in a range of services we thought about. For instance, they concern Jobs, talent search, calls for funding, software selection, IT podcast Radio, CIO Club, artificial intelligence explained in a simple way.For more about the 3D virtual events, click here