Events Glossary
Every term here is one we use on live jobs. Written by the team that runs the events, not lifted from a dictionary — so each entry says what the thing actually is, when it matters, and what usually goes wrong.
See our events work01 Event types
Events aimed at consumers rather than trade buyers — activations, launches, pop-ups.
A gathering with a controlled guest list — invitation, registration or membership only.
Open to anyone who turns up or buys a ticket. Different permits, different risk profile.
A small, tightly targeted gathering. Fewer people, sharper audience, higher cost per head.
A formal evening occasion with a specific dress code. The code drives the whole production.
A public display of work, product or collection. Floor plan and dwell time decide it.
An industry event where companies exhibit to buyers rather than to the public.
Multiple talks running at the same time. Room sizing and signage carry the whole format.
A company gathering its own customers — part roadmap, part retention, part community.
02 Event logistics
The window for bringing everything in and building it. Miss it and the show slips.
Striking and removing everything afterwards. Usually where overtime charges are won or lost.
Sound, screens, lighting and the crew behind them. The biggest single line on most budgets.
The amplification chain that gets a voice to the back of the room intelligibly.
Everything guests never see — crew rooms, storage, routes, comms. Plan it or it plans you.
03 Planning & reporting
Signing guests up in advance. It is how you forecast catering, print and floor load.
The minute-by-minute roadmap the whole crew runs from. Not the same as the guest programme.
What each attendee is handed on arrival. Print deadlines sit weeks before the event.
A fixed per-head venue package. Read what is excluded before comparing two quotes.
The internal event that sets the year. Strategy session first, celebration second.
The analysis after the fact — attendance, spend, what to change. Where the next brief comes from.
Why we wrote these
Two suppliers quote the same event and the numbers differ by half. Usually one of them included load-out and the other did not, or one read day delegate rate as all-inclusive and the other did not.
These entries exist so you can read a quote and know what is missing from it. If you would rather hand the whole thing over, that is what our events team does.
Related
Brand activations, launches and corporate events, end to end.
Trade show and exhibition stands, designed and built.
Load-in, crew, transport and fulfilment on the ground.
Planning something
Tell us the date, the audience and the budget. We will translate it into a plan and tell you what the quote should include.
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