The Virtual Trade Exhibition
An innovative on-line community is being pioneered as part of the Hull700 celebrations to provide local companies with the business forum of the future.

The Hull700 Virtual Trade Exhibition will allow firms to link their own Internet websites to the Hull700 homepage to create a business network on the world wide web.

Rob Terry, a creative consultant with the network's designers, Kingston Internet Ltd, explained the idea behind the exhibition.

"The internet provides a chance for businesses in Hull to promote themselves to a worldwide audience. Not only will the Virtual Trade Exhibition be a celebration of Hull's 700th year, it will also leave a lasting commercial legacy."

"Many firms in the city have already responded to the challenge of the electronic media and have their own web-sites, which raise their company profile and help to generate new business.

"The Virtual Trade Exhibition will take this process a step further, providing strength in numbers, increasing business contacts and allowing more sophisticated on-line marketing - just like a real trade show, in fact."

The network, accessible through the Hull700 web-site, will consist of a directory of links to company home pages, which will in turn carry a clickable logo leading back to the Hull700 page. Other features will include a search engine allowing more generic searches and a newsgroup in which net-surfers will be able to pose business questions for other users to answer.

Rob Terry adds: "One of the main advantages of pooling resources in a net community is that more complex displays, such as video presentations, become possible."

Rob Terry clearly believes that the net business community has a great future. "We are already seeing an increasing number of business transactions taking place on the Internet, from on-line banking to Internet shopping. With the advent of digital and Internet television, this trend is set to continue.

"This exhibition will enable local companies to get in 'on the ground floor' with the new technology and exploit the huge commercial potential of the medium."

The Hull700 Virtual Trade Exhibition will be launched on January 8, 1999 and will be promoted throughout Hull700 in the press. Kingston Internet will also be providing packages for those companies who do not have an existing website.

Details of how to link your company's website to the Virtual Trade Exhibition, can be found on the 'partners' page at the Hull700 website.

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