Similar to last year's eFair, the opening shot of the lobby was impressive, with moving pedestrians and links to various features, plus the audio-visual treatment in the top right hand corner which welcomed visitors to the GlobeCampus eFair (replacing last year's York University TV spots). Major sponsors of the event appeared to be the Association of Canadian Community Colleges and the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, whose logos were displayed in the lobby. The University of Waterloo and the University of Victoria banners were also prominently displayed in the main lobby area.

The Exhibitor Hall

Unlike the lobby which was populated with animated pedestrians, the exhibitor hall floor was completely barren. There were NO people anywhere - the booth counters were completely lifeless. While the "booth attendees" function allowed you to see who was at the booth with you and which individuals were institutional reps (an improvement over last year's fair), it did not allow you to see who was chatting with the reps. Perhaps most disappointing was that a large majority of the booths were devoid of institutional representation - even if you wanted to speak with someone about their institution, it nearly impossible to do so via the chat function (This may have been a result of my ‘early morning' visit to the site - some of the reps from Western Canada may not have arrived yet).  

In all there were 13 Canadian Universities and Colleges exhibiting at the fair (down from 15 Universities last year) - Algoma University, Concordia University, Georgian College, Humber College, Lakehead University, Shad Valley, University of Calgary, University of New Brunswick, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, University of Regina, University of Victoria, University of Waterloo, and York University. Interestingly enough, nearly all the institutions that participated last year did not return for the 2009 e-fair (Acadia, Brescia, Carleton, Dalhousie, Laurentian, McGill, St. Mary's, St. Francis Xavier, Trent, Trinity Western, UPEI, and UBC's Sauder School of Business). One major difference this year was that Colleges as well as Universities were invited to participate.

Once again, similar to last year's eFair, the individual booths offered some diversity in their appearance, with similar functionality - videos, documents for download, chat room, one-on-one chat with reps, and plenty of links to the institution's website. Most of the exhibits contained links to institutional websites, virtual tours, or micro-sites on the own webpage. (To reiterate Ken's comment from last year - it seems odd to me that students should register and navigate the exhibit hall, just to land on your institutional page or recruitment micro-site.)

Several of the exhibits contained links to institutional social media offerings. The University of Waterloo provided a link to their Facebook page, Concordia provided links to Facebook and YouTube, and UNB provided links to Facebook and Twitter.

UNB took a particularly interesting approach to their left-hand bulletin board. Instead of traditional links such as programs, co-op, admissions, UNB offered intriguing statements like "The nation's best" and "we're coming to you" - links that made me want to check out UNB further.

UOIT (one of the few repeats from last year) also had a very interesting exhibit. As might be expected, the left bulletin board took the visitor to a virtual tour off the institutional site. The right bulletin board took the visitor to their institutional viewbook (also from their main website). And, when clicked, the small monitor on the booth loads an institutional video. The exhibit is very simple yet effective.  

The University of Calgary took a very simplistic approach to their exhibit. Instead of the institutional video found at the majority of the booths, uCalgary had a bulletin board with "Apply Now" written across it. Similarly, the left hand board, which is generally devoted to various links such as programs, admissions, and virtual tours, contained the message "Request more information."  

The Webinars

The webinars were similar in format to last year's eFair, with scheduled presentations by a range of speakers on such topics as "How to pick a college or university that's right for you", "Why getting a liberal arts degree still matters" and "The value of a college education in Canada". The presentations were typically 15 minutes or so, with IM questions to be answered at the conclusion.  

 All in all the GlobeCampus eFair was an interesting experience. While it provided a unique venue from which to ‘visit' universities and colleges from a distance, to obtain information and (theoretically) speak with institutional reps in ‘real time', the efair concept might be slightly ahead of its time as much of the information provided could easily be obtained from visiting the institutional website or micro-site directly (instead of being redirected as the case is with the GC fair).

Did you attend the GlobeCampus eFair, or exhibit there? What was your experience? Any other comments or observations you think would be of interest?

(If you missed the Virtual University Fair, it will remain online for several weeks at www.GlobeCampus.ca)