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Ever since the switch from physical passes and invites being distributed by post to digital passes being sent via email, fairs have struggled to provide an easy way for the exhibitors to invite their own guests. The introduction of exhibitor portals solves many of the issues that have existed. .
Shift to paperless
Art fairs have gone paperless in recent year. This is good for the environment but also gives fairs better control over who is attending, allowing them to model numbers and communicate with their audience in a more informative way.
The shift away from paperless has also reduced costs and allows fairs to know who is coming rather than just issuing passes and hoping people show up.
One of the major challenges however has been working out an easy way for exhibitors to invite their guests. Many fairs still require the exhibitors to hand over a list of names while others provide exhibitors with promo codes or special links to distribute to their clients. Neither are ideal.
Exhibitors are protective of their clients details (and rightly so)
Protecting clients’ data has become a priority for all galleries. In addition, communications coming out of the blue from a third party (eg. a fair) on behalf of the gallery is not optimal. Gallerists have one on one relationships with collectors and like to be able to communicate directly.
Problems with promo codes and multi use links
In order to circumvent the issues around GDPR and handling exhibitor’s client data, fairs have opted to issue unique promo codes and links that allow guest to book free tickets. This provides a sub-optimal booking experience and also is open to unwanted individuals sharing and booking free tickets who were not the intended guests.
Exhibitor portals save the day
The obvious solution is to let the exhibitors do the inviting themselves and we are excited to announce the launch of Exhibitor portals for fairs using ARTSVP for issuing VIP passes and selling tickets.
The use of portals allows exhibitors to generate unique single use invites and distribute them directly to their clients from their own email. The invited guest can then enter their contact details to confirm attendance (rather than the exhibitor entering the clients details), at which point the fair can issue the pass instantly to the desired email.
The extra benefits of portals
The use of portals provides further benefits to both the fairs and the exhibitors.
Individual exhibitors/galleries can:
- see which of the invite links they generated have been used
- share access to their own portal with their team
- see when their guests have booked and when they have been check in at the fair
Art fairs:
- Save time communicating with individual galleries to provide more links or passes
- Can see which galleries have activated their portals and who has started generating invites
- Can easily add allocation to individual portals
- Reduce holding contact data that has been provided by exhibitors
If you would like to arrange a demo to try out an exhibitor portal please get in touch with us by filling in this form and we will arrange a demo portal for you.
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