Five university teams won cash and prizes at the 2021 Destination Marketing Contest hosted by Taiwan’s Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), and the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA). At this year’s contest held on 1-5 November, seventeen teams from five countries showcased their destination for the meetings, incentive travel, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) market.
TAITRA and the Bureau of Foreign Trade have a long history of inspiring future leaders through the organization and sponsorship of international student competitions. In the past, teams sponsored by TAITRA and the Bureau of Foreign Trade traveled to Taiwan to represent their destination at the annual contest. This year, TAITRA moved the exhibition online with the help of, iStaging, an online platform for virtual showrooms, tradeshows, exhibitions and tours.
The ‘Marketing and Proposal-Planning’ first prize went to National Taichung University of Science and Technology, Taiwan, with Malaysian Universities Sunway University winning second prize and Taylor’s University winning third prize. The line-up of Taylor’s University, Hoa Sen University, Vietnam and Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages, Taiwan, came in first, second and third, respectively, in both the ‘Virtual Exhibition and Booth Design’ category as well as ‘English Tour Guide’.
All of the teams learned how to use the iStaging platform for this virtual exhibition in a short time with the help of online video tutorials and a real-time online workshop with iStaging expert, Stefan Oostendorp. The team from Assumption University, Thailand, impressed with iStaging’s VR platform, came to an agreement to allow students to use their VR platform to design their own expo in the virtual world as part of the course work for their event management class. “ iStaging’s intuitive platform empowers university students to transform a simple student power point presentation into a real experiential learning experience in the virtual world.” said Dr Scott Smith from AU’s Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management. Adding, “The students did such a wonderful job creating an engaging experience at the competition that I will now be incorporating iStaging into the lesson plans of my classes this semester. The drag and drop style of iStaging’s user-friendly program allows students to quickly present marketing plans, presentations and projects through the use of virtual showrooms, virtual exhibitions, virtual tradeshows and virtual tours.”
iStaging has worked closely with many international brands of the fashion retail and consumer retail industry such as LVMH, Samsung and Giant to include a virtual experience for visitors. Now, iStaging is working with prestigious Universities in Asia.
iStaging is a leading provider of out-of-the-box augmented and virtual reality solutions is headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan. The company also has satellite offices in San Francisco, Shanghai and Paris. iStaging aims to help people transcend space by crafting immersive visualization products that empower the world to interact with distant people, places or objects.
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