Vendor Information Page
2020 Virtual College Fair
Friday, September 11, 2020
10:00 AM - 12:30 PM
THIS YEAR NEXT STEP EDUCATION'S ANNUAL FAIR WILL BE VIRTUAL DUE TO COVID-19
Events Start:
Why A Virtual College Fair?
The safety of the students, parents, educators, and college recruiters is the number one priority of the Next Step Education team. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the recommended social distancing guidelines, we have made the decision to host a virtual college fair, with all of the Next Step Education experiences that our attendees have come to expect. We wanted students to have access to this impactful fair regardless of the instructional format of the upcoming academic year.
WE LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR PARTICIPATION
Preparation Steps For Fair Vendors
STEP 1
Sign Up: After registering for the fair, all participants, including students and vendors will need to create a FREE Hopin account and sign up for the event to login into the Virtual College Fair. You can create your FREE Hopin account by visiting their website at:
STEP 2
Preparation: Your vendor booth will be set up by the Next Step Education team with the information you provided in our vendor registration form. You will just need to enter the event, and click into your booth about 5-10 minutes before we begin to be ready for the students to enter after the announcements.
STEP 3
On The Spot Opportunities: If you have the ability to provide on the spot conditional acceptance or scholarships, we need to track that information. Please keep a list of attendees who you offer acceptance to, as well as scholarships and the amounts. We will correspond with your immediately after the fair to gather that important information.
THINGS TO KNOW / FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is Hopin?
Hopin is the first all-in-one live online events platform where attendees can learn, interact, and connect with people from anywhere in the world. Whether it’s a meetup of 100 people or a full-scale multi-track conference of 100,000 participants, Hopin’s a live video platform makes online events more personal and engaging. Hopin is designed to replicate an in-person event experience, only without the barriers of travel, venues, weather, awkward wandering, parking, and so on. With Hopin, businesses, communities, and organisations can reach their global audiences, gather in one place, and make an enormous online event feel small again.
How do I create my free Hopin account?
After completing the vendor registration form, you will need to create your free Hopin account to log into the platform for the virtual fair. To create your free Hopin account, you will need to visit their website at www.hopin.to and click Sign Up.
What if I have questions or difficulties during the fair?
The Next Step Education team will have Q&A booth for any issues that arise for participants throughout the fair.
Will every college have a speaking opportunity?
No, there is not a "stage" opportunity for recruiters to speak to all students participating. Time simply won't allow for that. You will speak with and recruit those students who enter your virtual booth. However, the Next Step Education team will be scheduling virtual college meet and greets this fall for college recruiters to have small intimate sessions with interested students. Please let us know if you are interested in this opportunity.
I'm offering on the spot opportunities. What do I need to do?
What will my experience look like?
As a recruiter, you will have a virtual booth to enter for the fair. It will be branded with your logo, your college's location, and the information you provided in the vendor registration form. You have two options to run your booth: (1) Live interaction "webinar" style session (the preferred method) or (2) show a video and simply man the booth chat for student questions. When live you will have the opportunity to interact with students who enter your booth and answer questions for the booth chat. *Everyone is currently set up for live "webinar" style.
How do I enter my booth during the virtual college fair?
It's important to make sure you are "in" your vendor booth at the Hopin event when it's time. This will allow you to answer questions in the Booth Chat and be on live camera to engage with visitors. When it's time for the event, head to the registration page five minutes before the event starts and click Enter Event.
To enter your booth, click Expo on the left-hand side and find your booth. Click it to enter.
What if a colleague is participating with me?
Hopin allows for up to 10 people to be visible in a booth. Your colleague will just need to be one of the 10 people. If there are multiple recruiters/alumni participants, we also suggest having your colleague enter the booth and man the booth chat while you are speaking. They will need to create their own free Hopin account to log into the fair.
How will I get contact information from my leads?
In your virtual booth, students will have the ability to click a button to "show interest" that will send you their email address to you. We also suggest personally tracking the students you interact with as well by asking them to type their contact info in the booth chat. The email address assigned to the "show interest" button is your work email, not the general admissions email. If this needs to change, please contact our team by clicking the contact button above.
If you have the ability to offer conditional on the spot acceptance and/or scholarships, please keep a list of those students who you made offers to. We are tracking that information and will need it to document student results.
Virtual Fair Partners
