Help Exhibitors Help You. For Penton Media's Internet World Spring 2002 show (www.iw.com/events/spring2002) April 24 to 26, exhibitors could download a pdf version of the complimentary exhibit hall pass. The pass could be personalized with “Compliments of exhibiting company XYZ,” plus the company's URL, and then e-mailed by exhibitors to their hot prospects and key customers.

Facts at Hand. Another bright idea at the Internet World Spring 2002 home page was to allow exhibitors to download a pdf file of the Internet World Spring 2001 audit by ExpoMark, the trade show arm of the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Engage the Attendee Immediately. Computer Associates International, Islandia, N.Y., generated excitement for its April 21 to 25 mega-conference with an interactive hook on its CA World Web site, www.cai.com/caworld. A picture of keynote speaker Rudy Giuliani took up about a third of the home page, and attendees were invited to “Ask Rudy Giuliani a Question.” Users had to fill out just four fields (name, company name, title, and question) to send a query. Presumably, registrants who had engaged with the event before arriving in Orlando would be that much more interested in attending the keynote and the conference itself.

Recognize Your Loyal Fans. Key3Media's JavaOne Conference, held March 25 to 29, dedicated a section of its Web site to return attendees. By clicking the “Alumni” button, users learned about their special benefits, which included an exclusive entrance to keynotes and preferred seating, special alumni registration stations, a private alumni lounge, and special Alumni Club memorabilia.

. The users of Innoveda's electronic design automation software may be better with code than with the corporate hoop-jumping that is sometimes needed to get approval to attend a conference. With that in mind, the Innoveda Users' Group helped potential attendees of its late April conference by including a conference justification letter on its Web site (http://ug.innoveda.com) that users could adapt to their own situation. Here is an excerpt from the politely persuasive letter: “I know that we may not have budgeted for this, but it is a very cost-effective investment and it is cheap in comparison to other conferences. … It will cost us $450 for the Conference fee, plus travel and a few days out of the office. This is minimal compared to the amount of money invested in our design systems. And the better I understand these systems the more output I will be able to produce.”