Virtually everything on sale at trade fair
Tuesday, 3 June 2008 11:20AM - Rockhampton Campus
News in brief:
Shoppers opened their minds and their virtual cheque books at Visions Virtual Enterprise trade fair in Rockhampton last week.
News in detail:
The event was the culmination of 16 weeks of work by members at CQ TAFE's virtual enterprise in Denham Street. The 44 participants have been working towards their certificates II and III in Business by performing different roles within a real office environment.
The trade fair was entitled Visions on Denham Virtually Everything, with an environmentally friendly focus. Participants marketed their virtual products and practised their sales techniques and customer service skills.
Four Visions Virtual Enterprises staff members attended an international trade fair in Brisbane before their Rockhampton event.
The international fair at the RNA Showgrounds in Brisbane was hosted by Universal Global Resources, with guests from 86 countries including Japan, China, United Arab Emirates, India and Vladivostok.
Heather Bannister, Angela Doyle, Gayle Doblo and Susan Liersch participated in group building exercises and worked with participants from other locations, overcoming language barriers along the way.
The groups drew inspiration from guest speakers Phillip Di Bella of Di Bella Coffee and Kristin Devitt from Babes in Business.
The team members learnt a lot about sales skills.
"The stall-holders were very polite and couldn't do enough for us and that ran through the whole trade fair," Heather said.
"We also saw what not to do, and the negative effects on aggressive sales techniques," Angela said.
The Rockhampton trade fair was buzzing with activity, with stalls selling everything from virtual books and CDs to fashions, toys and confectionary.
Facilitator Jan Page-Appleby said the members enjoyed the opportunity to practise their customer service skills and setting up the stands using their merchandising knowledge.
"Probably one of the most important things to come out of the trade fair was the networking opportunity and the chance to talk to people from other businesses about the program," she said.
Submitted By:Julie West
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