Booth Admin

Within the registration module is an optional component: the Trade Show/Exhibitor module. This feature is used in exhibitor registration forms for when you want to allow registrants (i.e., sponsors and exhibitors) to specify what table or booth they would like at the conference. There are a few simple steps involved in this process, and this article will show the entire workflow, including both registrant and administrator actions.

Assuming that the registration form is already set up, our  first step is to go to the Booth Admin page. Simply select Tools -> Registration -> Booth Admin. If you do not see the Booth Admin option, please contact the Conference Manager support team to gain access.

After selecting the Booth Admin option you will be taken to the Booth List view. If this is your first time navigating to this page the list will be empty. Otherwise, you will see a list of all the booths present in the CID. Each booth contains three pieces of information: the Booth Type, the Booth Description, and the Exhibitor/Sponsor assigned to it. All booths must have a Type and Description, and the Exhibitor/Sponsor information will be added as you go.

Next, we'll select the Booth Admin option from the top right of the screen. This will take us to the Booth Administration screen. From here we have a few general settings to configure, as well as the details of the booths themselves.

General/System Settings:
1) Do you wish to include booths in the registration? (Y/N) - This controls whether or not the registration form will have the option of booth selection. It is a good idea to leave this off until you have all of your booths configured.

2) Do you wish to show unpaid exhibitors in booth choices? (Y/N) - This controls whether exhibitors' booth selections will eligible for assignment by the administrator even if they're unpaid. Ideally, you would leave this set to No, to force exhibitors/sponsors to fully complete their registration and pay before assigning them a booth, but realistically there will often be exhibitors who don't pay until the last minute or even at the conference itself, so not allowing administrators to assign them booths could impede your planning. Use your best judgement here, but most CID's have this set to Yes.

3) Instructions - This is one of the html-sensitive text boxes that are ubiquitous in the system. Any text entered here will appear in the pop up window that exhibitors/sponsors see when selecting booths.

Once you have the general settings configured the next step is to start creating booths. Simply click on the Add Booth Type button at the bottom centre of the screen. This will add a new Type of booth. Many conferences offer multiple types of booths (e.g., an 8'x10' booth, a 3'x5' table top display, the option to purchase multiple booths), so we will need to add a new Booth Type for each option we want to provide exhibitors/sponsors with. You may only have 1 instance of each Booth Type, so make sure to get all of the appropriate booths within the corresponding type, Otherwise you will need to create another Booth Type (e.g., the option to purchase one 8'x10' booth or two 8'x10' booths would need to be different Booth Types even if the booths were all the same).

Now that we have a couple Booth Types we can start to populate the necessary information and create the booths themselves.

Booth Information:

1) Booth Type - This corresponds to the various ticket types set up in the registration form. If you have already set up the registration form, this data should be pre-populated. Simply select the Type/Ticket you desire.

2) Number of options - This allows you to set how many options exhibitors/sponsors may specify while completing their registration. This ranges from 0 (where the administrator sets all of the booth assignments, no choice for the exhibitor/sponsor) to 3 (where exhibitors/sponsors may list their top 3 preferences for booth selection).

To create the booths themselves, simply click on the Add Booth button located underneath the other options within each Booth Type. Remember, you need to create booths for each type. As you can see in the above screenshot we have 3 booths for the Member type (Booths A1-A3), and 3 booths for the Non-member type (Tables 1-3). To delete a booth select the Delete Booth button, located to the right of the Add Booth button. Please note that it is not possible to reorder booths; new booths are added to the bottom of the list, and the Delete Booth function affects the bottom booth in the list. Similarly, the Add Booth Type and Delete Booth Type buttons add new items to the bottom of the list and delete the bottom-most Type. The order in which the booths appear on this screen is the order in which they will appear to the exhibitors/sponsors as they go through the registration form, so it is important to get the order sorted appropriately. When you have all of your booths set up, click Save to confirm your changes.

We will leave the Full checkboxes and Exhibitor drop down lists alone for now as they are not currently relevant, but we will return to them after taking a look at what the exhibitors/sponsors will see when they go through the registration form.

When an exhibitor/sponsor goes through the registration form they will notice that there are now Select Booth buttons next to some of the ticket options. Remember, the Booth Types we set up in the Booth Admin screen correspond to ticket types in the registration form, so the buttons will appear next to the tickets/Types that we configured booths for. Clicking on the Select Booth button will cause a new pop-up window to appear. This window contains the instructions we previously created, a line of text indicating how many priority choices they can make for booths, and a drop down menu containing a list of all currently-available booths for that Type. The registrant simply indicates their choice, selects Save & Close (which dismisses the window), and then continues on to complete the rest of the form as per usual. When they get to the confirmation screen their booth selection will appear in the list of items. This is also included in the confirmation email that they receive upon completing the form.

Now that exhibitors/sponsors have started to specify their booth preferences it is time to return to the Booth Admin to confirm the booth assignments. Once again we navigate there by simply going Tools -> Registration -> Booth Admin, and then selecting the Booth Admin option from the top right of the screen.

We now turn our attention to the Full checkboxes and Exhibitor drop down menus. You'll notice that in the Non-member Booth Type that Table 1 now has a message in the Exhibitor field indicating that "This booth was selected by 1 user(s)". This corresponds to the table we requested while completing the registration form. When you click on the drop down menu you will see a list of all exhibitors/sponsors who have requested this particular booth, and the date they completed their registration. If you have allowed the exhibitors/sponsors to specify multiple choices, they will appear in the drop down lists of each of those choices. When you are ready to confirm a booth assignment, simply select the exhibitor/sponsor from the list. The screen will now refresh.

You will now see that the exhibitor has been assigned to that booth. Further, the Full checkbox next to it indicates that the booth has been taken, and no other exhibitors/sponsors will be able to select it while completing their registration form. If an exhibitor/sponsor was not assigned this booth then they will be removed from that list. However, their remaining choices will still be reflected in the other booths. The Full checkboxes may also be used to reserve booths, rather than having the system automatically check it when an exhibitor/sponsor is assigned. Only booths that do not have the Full checkbox marked will appear in the Select Booth screen of the registration form. When you have done all of your assignments, simply click Save at the bottom of the screen to lock down your changes. If we return to the Booth List screen, we will see that the changes have been updated here as well.

There you have it! You now have a booth assigned to an exhibitor/sponsor. As a quick recap, here are the steps you need to complete:

1. Prepare your registration form

2. Set up your Booth Types and booths

3. Have exhibitors/sponsors go through the registration form and indicate their booth preferences

4. Assign exhibitors/sponsors to the booth/s they have requested.