Glossary

Advanced Registration - Allows attendees for an event to register prior to the start of the event.

Across the Board - All inclusive; everything included.

Air Wall - Removable panels in a conference or meeting room that turn a large room into smaller rooms.

Amadeus - One of the major Computerized Reservation Systems (CRS) or Global Distribution Systems (GDS).

APEX (Accepted Practices Exchange) - Message of the Convention Industry Council that brings together the development and implementation of industry-wide accepted practices to create and enhance efficiencies throughout the meetings, conventions and exhibitions industry.

APEX Fare - Special advanced purchase, lower rate airline fare.

Appointed Entity - Airline ticket sales outlet, such as a travel agency or discount office, that has been accredited by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). 

Apollo - One of the five major Computerized Reservation Systems (CRS) or Global Distribution Systems (GDS).

Area Agreement - A union contract covering companies and unions that bargain on an area-wide basis.

Arrival Manifest - An itemized list of all dates and times of arrival of group members; via airlines, trains, etc.

Arrival Time - Time guests plan to arrive at a facility, so preparations will be ready and made.

ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) - The most common format for text files for computers the Internet, assigns numbers to alphabetic, numeric and certain other characters.

Attendee - A person registered for or participating in an event. Includes, personnel, exhibitors, media, speakers, and guests.

Attrition - The difference between the actual number of attendees (or rooms, or meals) and the number in the original estimation for the contract.

Attrition Rate - Rate at which an event decreases in size because of the number of attendees who do not show up to the event. Divide the number of actual attendees the number of attendees registered for an event to find the attrition rate.

Attrition Clause - Contract wording that defines fees that the organizer may be required to pay in the event that it does not fulfill minimum commitments in the contract.

Backdrop - Drapes, curtain, or fabric at the back of a stage, table, or booth.

Balance Sheet - A statement of financial status. Subtract expenses from income.

Bandwidth - The amount of information that can be transmitted via a telephone line, ISDN, or Ethernet connection The higher the bandwidth, the faster images and sound will load.

Banner Ad - A clickable link for an ad on a Web site which goes to the advertiser’s Web site.

Bitmap - A kind of graphic image.

Boarding Pass - Usually a printed permit or pass to board a plane, or other form of transportation.

Booking Policy - Guidelines by which a venue prioritizes reservations.

Breakout Sessions - Small group sessions, held during the main event, formed to focus on specific subjects relevant to the gathering.

Bumping - Removing a confirmed passenger from a passenger list to make room for a traveler with higher priority.

Business Intelligence - Gathering, analyzing and presenting business information in order to make more informed decisions that directly affect the company’s bottom line.

C level - An executive in a company; one of the higher ranks in the HR world.

Casualty - Refers to “no shows” or last minute cancellations.

Change Order - Official form to alert all parties of changes in functions.

CIC (Convention Industry Council) - Founded in 1949 by four organizations to facilitate the exchange of information within the meetings, conventions, and exhibitions industry.

Click Thru Rate - Used to measure the success of online marketing campaigns. Divide the total number of clicks an online ad receives by the total number of impressions.

CMM (Certified Meeting Manager) - A program to select, educate, and certify management-level meeting and event professionals.

CMP (Certified Meeting Planner) - An individual who has passed the certification process and has the knowledge and background to manage all aspects of an event. CMP is the industry’s highest level of professionalism.

Communication Center - Area in a venue for telephone, fax, Internet, or teleconferencing facilities.

Concurrent Sessions - Multiple sessions scheduled at the same time or offered simultaneously.

Consortium - A loosely knit group of independently owned and managed companies of similar ilk with a joint marketing and distribution process.

Convention Visitors Bureau (CVB) - Serve as a resource or an official point of contact for convention and event planners, tour operators and visitors, encouraging visits to local historic, cultural and recreational sites.

Cookie - A file sent to a Web browser by a Web server that is used to track Internet sites visited.

Corporate Booking Tool - Program with an interface designed to meet the reservation needs of businesses and corporations.

Corporate Rate - Special rate made available to business travelers. These rates will vary by corporation, depending on the negotiated agreement.

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) - A language used to describe the presentation of a document written in a markup language; used to define colors, fonts and layout and other aspects of a presentation.

Dashboards - An overview of current live links for websites.

Detail Drawing - Diagram of construction, plan views, elevations, floor ports, drains, etc.

DMC Consortium (Destination Management Companies Consortium) - International organization which form communities to share collective efforts for education, ethics and industry monitoring.

Drayage - Delivery of exhibit materials from the dock to an assigned exhibit space, removing empty crates, returning crates at the end of the event for shipping back, and taking materials back to dock for carrier loading.

Drayage Charge - The cost associated with transporting exhibit materials within the confines of the exhibit hall, based on weight, usually 100-pound units.

DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) - Brings high bandwidth by way of phone lines.

EAC (Exhibitor Appointed Contractor) - Any company other than the designated official show contractor providing a service to an exhibitor.

Embedded Media - Animation, audio, video, or other media that is displayed within a Web page.

Emergency Action Plan (EAP) - Guideline of how to respond in an emergency situation i.e. as medical emergencies, fire and bomb threats.

eRFP (Express Request for Proposal) - Web based tool for that compiles vendor information electronically. Improves reporting and allows event planners to compare vendor information efficiently.

Event Specification Guide - Official term for the document used by an event organizer to convey information to appropriate venues and suppliers regarding all requirements for an event.

Exhibition Occupancy - Total square feet of space used for exhibits multiplied by the number of exhibit days divided by the total exhibit space in the building multiplied by 365, and calculated as a percentage.

Familiarization Trip - Offered to potential buyers of a venue, a program designed to acquaint potential buyers with specific destinations or services.

Firewall - Collection of security measures designed to prevent unauthorized electronic access to a networked computer system.

Fixed Expense - Expense incurred regardless of the number of attendees.

Flat Rate - Flat rate for which a hotel offers its available sleeping rooms to a predetermined group number.

FOB (Freight on Board) - Responsibility of the seller stops when the product is delivered to the transporting company at the point of origin. Buyer pays and arranges transportation.

Footer - A text formatting term for one or more lines of text that appear at the bottom of every page.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) - The process of uploading websites or other data.

Funnel Flight - Flight, with one flight number, which requires a change of planes at a certain stop.

Gateway - An e-commerce service that authorizes payments for e-businesses and online stores and retailers. It is the equivalent of a Point of Sale terminal located in most brick and mortar retail outlets.

Galileo - One of the major Computerized Reservation Systems (CRS) or Global Distribution Systems (GDS).

GDS (Global Distribution System) - Manages flight info for booked flights. May also contain information for hotel and car rentals.

General Liability Insurance - Insurance policy that provides protection against claims involving bodily injury and property damage to third parties.

GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) - Graphic image format of 8-bit-per-pixels that allows for universal usage and portability.

Green Meetings - A meeting in which methods are used to create an environmentally-sensitive meeting (for example, paperless presentations that are emailed instead of printed, water pitchers instead of bottles, use of washable plates instead of disposable, donation of surplus food to a food bank and more earth friendly practices).

HTML (HyperText Markup Language) - The language of the World Wide Web used to create Web pages, with hyperlinks and markup for text formatting (heading styles, bold, italic, numbered lists, insertion of images, etc.).

Hyperlink - A link in a document that leads to another place on the same page, to another page on the same web site, or to another web site.

Internet Merchant Account - Bank accounts that are specifically designed to accept and transfer credit card funds via the credit card processing network.

IP Address (Internet Protocol Address) - A number unique to a computer that allows a signal to find that computer on a network.

Java - Popular web language script allowing programmers to configure websites graphically and interactively.

JPG (Joint Photographic Experts Groups) - Graphic file format that is universally used for images and logos.

LAN (Local Area Network) - A computer network limited to the immediate area.

Lead Retrieval - Exhibitors receive a potential customer’s contact information in a standardized manner (a spreadsheet, for example).

Live Events - Events or meetings that are currently taking registrations, as opposed to ones that invitations haven’t been sent for yet.

Live Report Link - A link that can be sent that will give access to an updated version of a custom report.

Meeting Profile - Report giving statistics of previous events, use of all services, profile of attendees, etc.

MPI (Meeting Professionals International) - One of the largest worldwide organizations for meeting professionals worldwide.

NBTA (National Business Traveler Association) - One of the largest worldwide organizations for meeting and travel professionals.

PCI Compliance (Payment Card Industry Compliance) - Developed by the major credit card companies to help prevent credit card fraud, hacking and various other security threats. Every company processing, storing, or transmitting credit card numbers must be PCI compliant.

PDF - An Adobe file format that allows for easy viewing and printing over many operating systems.

PNR (Passenger Name Record) - A file that contains information about a passenger's travel plans, including flight itinerary, hotel booking segments, car rental booking segments, and related details.

RealTime Report - A report showing the most current information available.

Registration Software - Software that allows organizations to conduct registration for events, meetings, conferences, or other special events. Online software allows for registration worldwide, and is easy for both the organizer and the registrant to use.

Request for Proposal (RFP) - Form that specifies services a company needs from an outside contractor and requests a bid to perform such services.

ROI (Return on Investment) - The amount of money gained or lost by investing in a product or service.

Room Block - Number of rooms set aside for a certain event.

RSS Feed (Rich Site Summary) - Format for delivering ever changing web content (news, blogs, etc).

Rules - Intuitive way to set up Smart Form Technology (see Smart Form Technology). Example If yes for Golf Outing, Then show rental information questions.

SaaS (Software as a Service) - Allows users to purchase a software service that is developed and managed by an independent or third party, with no IT responsibilities for the purchaser.

Sabre - One of the major Computerized Reservation Systems (CRS) or Global Distribution Systems (GDS).

SmartForm Technology - Allows event planners to create forms that will morph based on attendee’s responses; prevents mistakes and provides better user experience for attendees (ex: golf club rental information will only appear if attendee chooses golf as an option).

SMERF - Acronym for a category of meeting market segments including Social, Military, Educational, Religious and Fraternal groups.

Soft Opening - When a business is open prior to the grand opening. All services or facilities may not be complete or available.

SQL (Structured Query Language) - A specialized programming language for sending queries to databases, used by database systems to retrieve and modify information.

SSL (Secure Socket Layers) - The use of secure protocol to transmit over the internet.

Strategic Meetings Management (SMM) - Applying enterprise solutions for the procurement of meetings services in order to drive savings, maximize efficiency, lessen risk, and enhance the overall value for meeting planners, attendees and C-levels.

T-1 Line - Transmitting data at speeds of up to 1.544 Mbps, operating at a much higher capacity than an ISDN line.

T-3 Line - Transmitting data at speeds of up to 44.184 Mbps, faster than a T-1 line, allowing performance at a greater speed.

Tare Weight - The weight of a container and/or packing materials deducted from the total weight to determine the weight of the contents or load.

Template - Standardized file type used by computer software as a pre-formatted example on which to base other files, especially documents, for website creation.

TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) - Common file type used for high-resolution graphics.

URL (Uniform Resource Locator) - Internet address for a web site. Starts with http://.

Webinar - Presentation conducted over the internet, either for educational purposes or as part of everyday business practices.

WorldSpan - One of the major Computerized Reservation Systems (CRS) or Global Distribution Systems (GDS).

WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) - Software that allows you to perform edits on a document that show you on-screen exactly what will print out.