Saloon allows you to organize trade shows online. - Screenshot / Saloon

This Tuesday, the aisles of Pavilion 4 at the Porte de Versailles in Paris were to be seen wandering thousands of people attracted by the e-Marketing fair. They will remain empty. Like many others, the event was postponed for several months (to September 1) to meet the containment requirements. If the situation is difficult for event professionals, it is also difficult for many tertiary companies which make these fairs their main lever to reach new customers.

"We found ourselves in a panic, because we count a lot on fairs, confirms Benoît Collet, marketing expert at Plezi a software publisher pros. There were no more business coming in… Something had to be done. This something is called Saloon. Saloon, like the salons that Plezi and his associates plan to revive online, but with two "o's", because in these times of confinement, the world of webinars is a bit of a far west. Everyone goes there from their online conference, offers free content, offers tutorials, demos. But unco-ordinated, these initiatives do not attract beyond the already convinced customers of each transmitter.

Aligned behind the same banner

"We wanted at all costs to recreate a meeting place for all the experts, to take advantage of the momentum created by a real salon," explains Benoît Collet, who initiated the project. In a short time, we developed Saloon by partnering with other start-ups like Livestorm or Crisp. The bulk of my work since then has been to contact all the boxes in our industry so that they all line up behind the same banner. "

Like Meraky, a communications and marketing consulting company. Its founder, Fanny Bourdon-Bart immediately joined the Saloon adventure. She will perform on the virtual stage of the first Saloon, the Three days of digital marketing organized from March 31 to April 2. "I'll talk about the laws of physics and marketing, how we can leverage other fields of knowledge to improve our marketing approach," she explains. It is a presentation that I have already given on stage, but never online. Like her, nine speakers will follow one another during these three days. Participants will be able to listen to them, but also ask them questions live and after the event.

Increase the audience

This is what attracted Ahmed El Haouari, co-founder of DeltaCE, a company that offers online services for works councils. This Tuesday, from his Alsatian residence, he will connect to Saloon to attend the conferences. "At the moment, we are all isolated, we do things in our corner, without being able to discuss our professional practices," he describes. Tuesday, I intend to ask questions, on the attitude to adopt especially in terms of sales and marketing in these times of crisis. Should we stop advertising campaigns for example? "

The leader has registered for several conferences. “This is the advantage of this format. It multiplies our audience, explains Fanny Bourdon-Bart. We take advantage of the network of each of the other speakers, it allows us to present our expertise to the greatest number. "And to hope to win contracts. Because if the founder of Meraky did not see her activity melt with the crisis, others were very seriously affected by the quarantine of the country. Until the gold rush resumes one day, they can still quench their thirst for knowledge on Saloon. Registrations (free) are still open…

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