Track Exhibitor Booths, Fees, and Payments

Three weeks before a trade fair, two companies each believe they own booth B2, one exhibitor is "definitely coming" but has not paid a cent, and somebody has asked whether the cancellation deposit has to go back. The answers are in your inbox, in four different threads. Exhibitor Booth Tracker keeps one list of every exhibitor with a status, a booth, a fee and what they have paid, and works out the rest.

It does not invoice, take payment or hold a floor plan. It is the ledger of who has what and who owes what, with warnings where the list contradicts itself.

What each exhibitor record holds

Each record has the company, a booth label, a status, a fee, an amount paid so far, a contact, email and phone, "needs" such as power, wifi and furniture, and notes. The four statuses mean exactly this to the totals:

• Enquiry: interested, nothing agreed. Not counted in fees.
• Booked: agreed. The fee counts as expected and what they have paid counts as received.
• Paid: the same counting as booked, with the fee settled.
• Cancelled: out. Whatever they paid is shown separately as held for refunds, not as income.

"Paid so far" is a running total, not a log of payments. When a second instalment arrives, change the figure to the new total. A payment that covers the fee in full sets the status to Paid, a part payment on an enquiry moves it to Booked, and lowering the amount below the fee drops a Paid exhibitor back to Booked. The button Mark paid in full sets Paid so far to the fee in one press and needs a fee first.

A worked example: a trade fair with eight companies

Here is the list at the three-week mark, in dollars. Northwind Supplies, booth A1, paid in full: fee 900, paid 900. Contoso Labs, A2, booked: fee 900, paid 300. Fabrikam Studio, an enquiry with nothing yet. Harbor Foods, B1, a corner booth, booked: fee 1,400, paid 700. Blue Print Co, B2, booked: fee 900, paid nothing. Kite Media, booked with no booth: fee 900, paid 450. Orbit Labs, C1, cancelled after paying 300. Zenith Print, booked at "b2", fee 900, paid nothing.

The four cards show 6 booked or paid exhibitors, fees agreed 5,900.00, received 2,350.00 and to collect 3,550.00. Fabrikam's enquiry is not in any of those figures, and neither is Orbit Labs.

The warnings do the work you would otherwise do at midnight. "Booth B2 is given to Blue Print Co and Zenith Print", and the match ignores capital letters and extra spaces, which is why "b2" collided with "B2". "No booth yet: Kite Media" because a booked exhibitor without a booth is a promise you cannot keep. "300.00 is held for cancelled exhibitors. Check whether it is refundable." The summary you can copy sums it up as enquiries 1, booked 5, paid 1 and cancelled 1.

None of this needed a spreadsheet formula. Each line is a rule: a clash is two live exhibitors on one booth label, and cancelled exhibitors never block a booth.

Steps

1. Choose the project currency in your first tool and keep every fee in it. Exhibitors recorded in another currency are listed, but not added to the totals, and a note says how many.
2. Press Add exhibitor for each company. Enter a booth label that matches your floor plan, for example A1 or 14, so the two stay in line.
3. Set the status. Use Enquiry until there is a signed booking.
4. Enter the fee. As payments arrive, update Paid so far or press Mark paid in full.
5. Read the warnings after every batch of changes: booth clashes, booked exhibitors with no booth, refunds to check.
6. Filter by status or search by company, booth or contact when you answer an email. Booths sort numerically when the labels are numbers.
7. Press Copy summary for a status message to your team or Download CSV for a spreadsheet. You can import a CSV too, and Blank CSV gives the template.
8. Save the project, because the list is erased when the tab closes.

The CSV download counts as one usage. Exhibitor Booth Tracker is a Premium Application, with 2 trial uses a day before a day pass or plan applies; Copy summary is not metered.

Connecting the list to the money and the floor

The tracker holds fees but does not post them to your event finances. When money arrives, record it as income in Expense Tracker under Exhibitor fees (switch the category set to Event to see it), so the profit statement includes it. Keep the tracker for who owes what and the ledger for what was received.

For the physical layout, Booth Layout Planner draws the floor and can be matched to the same booth labels; the walk-through is in plan an exhibition booth floor layout. To give exhibitors a single link to the event, see one link per exhibitor on a trade show floor.

Common mistakes

Counting an enquiry as revenue. Typing "paid so far" as the instalment instead of the running total, which understates what was received. Mixing booth labels such as "Booth 12", "12" and "#12", so the clash check misses a double booking. Deleting a cancelled exhibitor instead of marking them Cancelled, which loses the refund warning. Forgetting that the tracker is a list, not a contract: keep the signed booking form with the record, and put its reference in the notes.

Summary

Keep one list, give every exhibitor a status, fee and running payment total, and let the warnings tell you which booth is double-booked, which booking has no booth and how much money you are holding for people who left. Open Exhibitor Booth Tracker with your current exhibitors, or press Try a sample to see three of them first. More tools are under event tools.

Open Exhibitor Booth Tracker→

Would a payment history per exhibitor, rather than a running total, help you chase balances? Tell us on the contact page.