Exhibition management includes everything involved in planning and executing successful exhibitions and trade shows. Some key components of exhibition management include:

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Coordinating Booths Or Exhibits

Exhibitions and trade shows usually include booths or exhibits featured in a prominent portion of the venue. A lot of planning goes into booth or exhibit management, such as:

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• Confirming organizations or exhibitors and sponsors who want to feature a booth or display. 
• Organizing the venue’s layout and booth placement based on available meeting rooms and space. 
• Helping exhibitors reserve booths and processing payments. 
• Coordinating signage, materials, and other display elements to ensure booths are clearly marked

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An event management system (EMS) that helps with exhibition management can assist in organizing information, facilitating communication with exhibitors, and automating logistics planning. 

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Attendee Engagement

It’s essential to keep attendees who register excited and engaged before, during, and after the event. Using an EMS with exhibition management features can help with this by:

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• Allowing you to create an event app or website with interesting information about each exhibitor who’s signed up. 
• Enabling you to upload on-demand content such as educational resources or bonus materials for pre- and post-event access.
• Creating fun activities like Q&As, polls, or networking opportunities that transform the event experience. 

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Each of these aspects gives attendees something to look forward to and creates lasting memories. 

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Marketing And Lead Management

When planning a trade show or exhibition, you need to promote it to both potential attendees and exhibitors. A strong exhibitor management solution should support you in creating and coordinating promotional materials that resonate with your target audience—while also helping you track and manage the new leads you generate along the way.

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EMS solutions like Eventscribe from Cadmium make this process easier with features that help with marketing material creation and lead activity tracking to manage promotions at each stage.

When reviewing exhibitor management solutions, you’ll likely want booth management software that can help with this key component of trade show and exhibition planning. Some key features to look for in booth management options are:

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• Organized display of booth spaces: The software should provide a complete and organized overview of each booth space you have available. That can include which booths are reserved and paid for, the date reserved, and the exhibitor’s name. 
• Adding sponsorship opportunities: Organizations planning an exhibition or trade show may want to add sponsorship opportunities that exhibitors can purchase. Sponsorships are a great way to gain extra funding for the event while providing options to feature sponsored exhibitors more prominently. 
• Secure payment processing: You want each exhibitor who signs up and pays to feel safe when entering credit card information and payment details. Ensure you choose secure software from a reputable company so all sensitive information is protected. 
• Data tracking: An EMS that offers exhibition management should help you track key data like booth sales revenue, leads generated, and how many booths are still available. That way, you know if you’re on track to hit your goals for the event and what you still have to work on to fill out a full group of exhibitors by the event date.  ‍
• Exhibitor task management: You may want to assign tasks to exhibitors who sign up, such as submitting booth materials for review or completing final payments by a specific date. Your software should make it easy to assign tasks and set deadlines to help exhibitors stay on track.

A leisure management software is designed to help coordinate appointment bookings, memberships, and facility services for sports, recreation, spas, and other leisure-focused businesses. 

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It can play a role in event management when leisure businesses coordinate schedules and reserve spaces in gyms or rooms for events. When looking at event management software options, you should ensure that the EMS will integrate with your other business software to maintain organization and a unified experience across platforms.

There are several aspects you must consider when choosing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) event management software. After all, the ERP event management project software company can make a big difference in your experience. Ensure the system is scalable, can support hybrid events, and serves as a centralized solution for all planning tasks. Some key qualities to look for are: 

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Positive Reviews And A History of Quality Service

Make sure you read company reviews before choosing an EMS. A company with a long history of positive reviews on Google or its website is a good sign of quality service and software. 

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Reliable Customer Support

Any software can have bugs or errors occasionally. That’s why it’s important to choose a provider with responsive, dedicated customer support. If something goes wrong right before your event, you’ll have peace of mind knowing help is just a call or message away.

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Designed For Your Industry

Many event management software options are tailored to specific industries. Some may work better for large corporations, whereas others are best for associations and nonprofits. You want software that’s best for your industry and organizational needs. 

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For example, an association that provides continuing education may need its software to help coordinate learning-based events or trade shows that help attendees enhance their professional knowledge and capabilities. Or a nonprofit may rely heavily on volunteers for exhibitions, requiring software that makes event staff onboarding easy. 

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Scalability

You should choose an EMS that can grow with your organization. Look for options that support events of any size and in multiple locations. That way, associations that expand nationally and globally can maintain an organized system, even when multiple events are coming up at similar times. 

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Can Host Multiple Event Types

Virtual and hybrid events are becoming more common, so you don’t want your EMS to limit your organization to one type of event. Instead, look for solutions that provide the necessary video, livestreaming, and audience engagement solutions necessary to create unique and memorable experiences no matter where your audience is attending from. 

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All-In-One System 

Avoid using separate platforms for exhibitor tasks and attendee registration. A unified EMS helps you save time, reduce friction, and maintain consistency throughout the event process.

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For example, if you opt for a standalone software for exhibitor management and another software that helps with attendee registration, your event planning process would start to get clunky and overly complex. 

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Instead, it’s best to opt for an EMS that provides all the planning and management capabilities you need, such as: 

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• Booth and exhibitor management
• Registration
• Sponsor management
• Attendee engagement
• Marketing tools
• Logistics planning
• Speaker management

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It also helps if your EMS integrates with other tools you use, such as an association management system (AMS) and audio and visual (AV) systems. 

Eventscribe from Cadmium is designed to meet the needs of association and nonprofit events. The platform is easy to use, scalable, and can host any size or type of event (virtual, hybrid, or in-person). 

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It even provides helpful features like automated logistics planning and communication that make managing events easier for associations and nonprofits with a limited staff. 

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How Eventscribe From Cadmium Helps With Exhibitor And Event Management

Our Eventscribe EMS at Cadmium offers a complete set of features to help with booth and exhibitor management. It includes:

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• An exhibitor portal for communication, task management, and content collection
• Secure and flexible payment processing
• An organized display of booth spaces and reservations
• Lead activity tracking
• Sponsorship add-on opportunities for exhibitors
• And more

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Additionally, Eventscribe is a well-rounded EMS for all your event planning needs. It can assist with registration, logistics, attendee engagement, speaker and presentation management, and many more aspects at each stage of the event planning process. Click here to learn more.