Registering and passes
How to register for a show, claim a pass someone shared with you, what the different kinds of pass allow, and what happens when you check in.
Registering
From the show's own website. The organiser sets the questions, so what you are asked varies between shows — it is their form, not a generic one.
If the show is ticketed you pay here, and the money goes to the organiser. If it is invitation-only you need an invitation first.
You are answering the organiser's questions, not ours
Good organisers ask only what they will act on — what you do, what you came to find. If a form is asking for a great deal more than that, that is a choice the organiser made.
Claiming a pass someone shared
Passes can be handed on with a claim link. It is public: no account, no sign-up wall between somebody giving you a pass and you holding it.
Your identity is captured at the moment you claim it, which is what lets a company buy a block of passes and hand them out internally while the organiser's attendance list stays a list of known people rather than a count of unnamed tickets.
Kinds of pass
Yours will normally be a visitor pass. Others exist, and the kind decides where and when it works:
| Pass | Covers |
|---|---|
| Visitor | Show hours |
| Exhibitor staff | Build-up, show hours, dismantle |
| Contractor | Build and dismantle days only |
| Organiser and crew | Everything |
| Sponsor | Show hours, usually with hospitality |
| Complimentary and VIP | Show hours, often with early entry |
At the door
Have the code ready
On your phone is fine. The entrance is the one queue every attendee stands in, so having it open helps everybody behind you.
It is scanned
Which both lets you in and records that you actually came.
You are in
No paperwork at the desk, unless you are registering as a walk-in.
If you did not register in advance
Where the organiser allows walk-ins, you can be registered and issued a pass at the door. It takes longer than arriving with one, and an invitation-only show will not do it.
Your privacy, concretely
Overview
Attending a show — how to get a pass, what you are asked for, what exhibitors can and cannot do with your details, and what happens at the door.
How a show progresses
The stages a trade show moves through from first draft to closing day, what changes for exhibitors and visitors at each one, and what has to be true before it can move on.