Virtual conference platform preps for US, hopes to cash in on travel chaos

10:57 am PST • December 23, 2010

It’s cold out and the flight cancelations all over Europe are getting many of us. It’s amazing how much nature can impact business. So IMASTE, Spanish startup with a “virtual exhibition” solution hopes to bank on making events actually accessible. Today they release imastebox 2.0 (demo), a public beta of a complete upgrade to their platform. The new version boasts a complete visual make-over and integrates new features. With the upgrade, IMASTE hopes to break out of Europea and compete directly with large, venture capital backed U.S. players, including Unisfair, Inexpo and 6connex.

IMASTE was actually born offline in 2003, organizing real-life job fairs bringing together university students and the companies that wanted to hire them. Since then, the company hopped over to a much more interesting domain, evolving a European provider of virtual events, 3D online environments and online trade-shows.

The main improvements of this version are:

Visual enhancements: Enlarged 3D environments and new pavilions and venues
Navigation aids: new usable navigation menus and tools
Networking lounge and tool: To enable better interaction between participants and recruiters
Skype integration for video conferences
Social networks integration: with Facebook connect and twitter connect, and viral marketing tools
SEO improvements with stand pages indexation through full HTML versions
Meetings tool: So that recruiters can schedule meetings with job seekers and perform skype interviews.
New agenda tool
New stand interaction components: New photo gallery, video introduction for employee testimonials…
Performance improvement: with lazy loading strategies and asset size reduction
Full reporting of all user interaction at the event’s virtual stands

According to Miguel Arias, the new platform aims to “put together the virtual and physical trade show Business, creating a community that lasts longer than the event, thanks to social Networks and networking tools”.

IMASTE is rolling out an ambitious expansion plan, seriously eyeing the US, having already featured over 100 virtual fairs across 15 countries, all on the screen.