Grape Vine Events Ltd (GVE-Ltd), organisers of the event, have invested heavily in building their bespoke platform over recent weeks, which means that the successful annual event can be held this year rather than succumbing in the same way as so many other events and shows have.
Hosted completely on the www.Viti-Culture.com website, visitors will be able to “visit” exhibitors on their individual stands. Each stand will be clearly branded and pre-populated with plenty of relevant and interesting material such as videos and will have the facility to host live chat.
There will still be the full itinerary of high quality seminars throughout the day that visitors expect. Full joining instructions and timings will be publicised in advance so visitors won’t have to worry about missing anything. The live webinars will also give an opportunity for live Q&A’s on “Show Day”.
Organisers GVE said they were “thrilled to announce that our headline seminar will be led by Richard Bampfield MW, who will be joined by Stephen Skelton MW and Matt Strugnell, vineyard manager at Ridgeview, to discuss the current and sometimes contentious issues facing the UK Wine Industry.”
They continued: “In addition, we will be offering free space to vineyards to create their own virtual cellar door, especially useful for those who don’t have an online presence already and as a supporting outlet for those already established. As a visitor, what could be better than viewing the vast array of supplies and services available to viticulturists, attend high-level seminars and be able to view and shop at an array of UK vineyards virtual cellar doors all in one place?”
Everything will remain in place until 31 December 2020, so visitors will be able to pop in until the end of the year. GVE added: “No other virtual show is offering such an extended platform – and we are proud to be able to support our industry to this extent through these uncharted times.”
GVE will also make the virtual event platform available to other event organisers who are looking to take their show online in a meaningful and professional way at a fraction of the cost of existing off-the-shelf products.
“In these tricky times, it is as important as ever to maintain the communication throughout the industry. These are unprecedented times, of that there is no doubt. The wine industry is one that looks at probability and severity when writing business plans and risk assessments and is pre-programmed to mitigate that risk. Resilience is our middle name. We do it all of the time, so we should be using that knowledge, shared experiences, opinions and advice to help everyone in our industry wherever and whenever we can. Viti-Culture LIVE 2020 is ideally placed to deliver that to every sector of the UK Wine Industry,” said Karen Wheeler, Director, GVE Ltd.
“Viti-Culture provides a showcase for interested and prospective growers to speak to experts and find out more about any aspect of wine production. Whether you have an already established vineyard and winery, are looking to plant, or want to invest in your own production facilities, numerous exhibitors, from vineyard consultants to land agents, specialist machinery manufacturers and dealers, winery equipment suppliers, agronomists, brand and packaging specialists and professional service providers attend Viti-Culture to advise on every aspect of establishing and managing a vineyard, to producing, packaging and marketing the wines.
“To our knowledge, there is no other event in the UK that provides a show-case b2b event where growers can access advice, supplies and services and have the opportunity to network together – all in one place.”
