Exhibition Event
Kim H
HousingandregistrationNeeds.pptxHousing and Registration
Chapter 18
Budget Philosophies
| B-2-B Exhibitions | B-2-C Exhibitions | |
| Registration | Must registered to be qualified | Purchase general admission tickets in advance or on-site |
| Housing | Attendees are international, domestic, and regional | Attendees are regional and local |
Analyze the housing needs and booking habits of exhibitors.
Size of requested room block-Review size of block actual usage and the pattern of days.
Actualized room blocks-comparing number of rooms used against number blocked. Room blocks should be directly related to historical performance. Companies may request more rooms than needed and then cancel at a later date. Review this and limit their block to actual use in the future.
Type of housing accommodations-data could include proximity of hotels, types of rooms used, number of attendees in rooms, economy vs luxury properties.
Key Housing Terms
| Room Block |
| Housing Bureau |
| Pick-Up |
| Room Reservation |
| Single |
| Double |
| Double/Double |
| A hotel guest room with two double beds. |
| The number of sleeping rooms actually used by event attendees and exhibitors. |
| Sleeping room occupied by one person. The room may have one or more beds in it. |
| Organization that provides reservation services for a group and its attendees. |
| A hotel guest room that may be occupied by two persons. |
| An arrangement to have a sleeping room held for one's use. |
| Total number of sleeping rooms that are utilized and attributable to one event. |
Relationship between booth/stand space and room blocks.
Priority points system-Using this to determine room block allowed and at which hotel. May give them preference to be in headquarter hotel.
Link booth/stand space to rooms. An example is to allow a block of up to 5 rooms for every 100 square feet of booth space.
Headquarter hotel-An incentive to be in this location may be to place a 1 room for every 100 square feet of booth space. It could be a case of splitting hotel locations of a block and placing company reps. at different locations with senior staff staying at headquarter hotel.
Managing room blocks.
Some event have housing request go through a housing bureau. In order to GTD a room during the conference room request must be made by a deadline. In order to GTD that you will pay the preferred rate it needs to go through housing. This is one way to control room blocks at each hotel and direct request based on priority.
A simple way is to have exhibitors/attendees contact hotels directly with direction to mention your event. This will not give you as much control over the blocks but you will not be in the middle.
Exhibitors and Hotel agreements.
The local CVB can request room blocks from local hotels in advance of your site visits. This way if you cannot get a commitment for the number of rooms your event will need you can use that to determine your selection.
Make sure you have commitment from hotels before you start to commit to your exhibitors as you book sales space. You will need to keep track of rooms promised against actual rooms blocked.
B-2-B: Registration
In-House
Outsourcing
VS.
In house VS Outsourcing.
In house can be more cost effective. Will mean you need to have enough staff/sometimes this means taking office staff to the site. In house has a better understanding of you focus and may have a better knowledge of some of the people they will encounter.
Outsource you will not need to house or feed as they are local to the area. A good source of professional people with typing skills.
Registration technologies.
With smart pones and touch pads registrants can check themselves in and print their own registration. This may help to reduce registration staffing levels in the future.
As discussed in previous chapter name badges can use technology to track which booth each attendee visited. It make it easier for exhibitors to print up leads and for show staff to review traffic flow of their event.
B-2-B: Lead Retrieval
Why is my badge a different color than yours?
Badges can be color coded so security staff and food service can distinguish if people are in the right place. As exhibitors need to set up their booths and refresh their areas before the show opens they are usually given an extra hour on and off the floor. Security needs to know who these people are and a color coded badge helps.
Food service may have a lounge set up for exhibitors only, again the right colored badge allows them to know who belongs.
Sometimes events may have educators or visitors that get a different colored badge. This helps vendors identify if the potential person is a buyer or just someone visiting. It can help them to focus on potential leads.
Lead-retrieval for B 2 C can still be old school. As most events may not have badges for attendees each booth will need to find a way to collect potential leads by getting attendees to fill out a form, place an address card or fill out their information on a tablet or computer.
Some B 2 C vendors may have their web page or contact information on materials to hand out or to place inside of purchases. Having potential customers reaching out to them in the future.
Sometime go to a B 2 C event and walk the show floor and watch how vendors collect information.
