News: New Zealand company launches virtual events platform

New Zealand company Virtual Expos NZ (VENZ) is launching a virtual events platform this Friday, 20th March. To demonstrate the functionality of their software, the launch will be held online from 9am (New Zealand time) with invitees attending using their own computers (or any computer with broadband internet access).

The advantages of the technology to participants include high quality interactivity with exhibitors, speakers and other attendees through instant video chat, and being liberated from geographic and time constraints.

According to VENZ, virtual events are also a marketer’s dream because every facet can be documented and analysed at length to extract valuable business intelligence and help qualify and prioritise leads.

‘The sophistication of the software means going virtual is finally a genuine alternative and we believe virtual events are poised to take off in this country. Our platform enables new and more productive ways of doing business through the creation of realistic online environments – trade shows, job fairs, conferences, shopping malls, seminar series, training and instant video conferencing – where real business happens, with real people connecting in real time, achieving real results,’ says VENZ Chief Executive Frances Manwaring.

VENZ was established by four Wellington business people in December 2008 in recognition of the need for some new thinking about how New Zealand’s people and organisations connect with each other and the rest of the world to attract trading partners, investors, job seekers, learners and visitors.

Recognising the potential of virtual events technology for the New Zealand context, VENZ joined forces with pioneering American firm, Expos 2, whose founder and president Steve Strickland has become a shareholder and joined the VENZ board.

In addition to selling licences for Expos 2′s software, VENZ will be developing and managing a range of its own events. The flagship, national trade fair ExpoNZ, will be a world first when it launches later this year. The company’s vision is to create a vehicle to showcase the very best New Zealand has to offer in order to build on and further develop the positioning already achieved in overseas markets for ‘New Zealand Inc.’ and individual businesses.