Exhibitions Overview

The Exhibitions subsystem provides functionality to manage association expositions, from small tabletop shows to large shows with thousands of exhibitors.

In addition to annual conferences, associations might have an Exhibit show. Typically, exhibitors that have exhibited in the past get special treatment on their booth assignment for an exhibit show. Exhibitors will go look at the booth layout of the show and see where they want to be in terms of how close they will be to the door or restrooms. Exhibitors want to have their booth in a high traffic area. Therefore, those booths are the most requested. Booth requests are typically submitted by an exhibitor with their contract. Most associations work on a first come, first serve policy, so exhibitors that want the best space will get their contracts in early. However, booth assignment is also based on priority points. Associations award points for things like each year an exhibitor attends the show and the size of the booth. Associations will take registrations for the show up until a certain date. When that date has past, only then do they assign exhibitors to booths. Associations will sort exhibitors by their registration date and points. Then, they look at booth requests and assign booths appropriately.

You can manage the following using this the Exhibitions subsystem:

· Setting up complex pricing

· Setting up exhibitor registrations including predefining booth inventory

· Defining booths that can be shared

· Defining booth reduction and cancellation fees

· Maintaining booth requests until booths are assigned

· Defining associated fees, badges, and sponsorships

· Defining hotel room blocks for exhibitors

If your organization is having an exhibition, you need to create the facility before anyone can register for the exhibition. This task only needs to be performed once.

If your organization does not need to assign a facility to an exhibition, skip this step. If this is a face-to-face exhibition and can be registered for on the Web, include the facility information.

The Facility Setup screen is used to create an inventory of convention centers, hotels, and rooms. This screen represents a central facilities application in which internal and external conference rooms are defined by name, size, and configuration. This screen also assists in tracking meeting expenses, such as the cost of a hotel or room rentals.

Setting up a facility includes defining the following:

· Facility Information

· Conference Room Information

For more information, please see Creating a Facility.