A working dictionary for the booth-construction industry — from drayage and hanging banners to GLB exports and sales pipelines. Every term is defined in plain language for exhibitors, stand builders, designers, and AI search engines. Use the alphabet jumps or the category sections below to navigate, and follow the See also links to explore related concepts. New entries are added as the industry evolves.
A walkway between rows of booths on a trade-show floor, defined by the show organizer in the official floor plan. Aisle width affects visitor flow, line-of-sight to a booth, and which booth corners count as "open." Premium booths typically sit on wide main aisles or at aisle intersections.
See also: Booth Specifications, Trade Show General Contractor
A company that designs, fabricates, transports, installs, and dismantles exhibition stands for clients. Booth builders manage everything from 3D concept and structural engineering to on-site assembly and post-show storage. They are also called stand builders, exhibit houses, or exhibition contractors.
See also: Custom Booth, Modular Booth, Booth Builder CRM
A specialized customer-relationship platform built for the workflows of exhibition stand builders — leads from trade-show directories, booth-spec proposals, render approvals, multi-show project pipelines, and per-event invoicing. Unlike generic CRMs, it understands square-meters, electrical loads, hanging banners, and drayage. Exphora is a booth builder CRM.
See also: Booth Proposal, Pipeline (Sales), Signal Explorer
A 3D tool used to lay out, visualize, and iterate on a trade-show stand before manufacturing. A modern booth designer supports drag-and-drop modules, parametric sizing, PBR materials, and export to formats like GLB or OBJ for client review. Exphora ships a free browser-based Booth Designer.
See also: Stand Designer, Parametric Design, GLB
The technical parameters that define a stand: size in m² or sqft, stand type, open faces, height, floor type, electrical (outlets, amperage, voltage), water, lighting, AV, furniture, meeting rooms, storage, and hanging banners. Specs are the single source of truth for proposals, contracts, and on-site builds. Exphora tracks 30+ booth-spec fields per project.
See also: Booth Proposal, Custom Booth, Hanging Banner
A stand designed and fabricated from scratch for a single exhibitor, usually using wood, metal, and bespoke graphics. Custom booths offer the highest design freedom and brand impact but cost more and take longer to build than modular systems. They are typically used for headline shows and large island spaces.
See also: Modular Booth, Modular vs Custom, Booth Builder
The handling of freight from the loading dock to the booth space and back, typically charged per hundredweight (CWT) by the show's general contractor. Drayage covers unloading, transport across the show floor, empty-crate storage, and reloading after the show. It is one of the largest hidden costs of exhibiting.
See also: Trade Show General Contractor, Trade Show Exhibitor
A suspended sign or structure hung from the venue ceiling above a booth, used to make the stand visible from across the hall. Hanging banners come in shapes such as square, circle, triangle, and custom rigs, and require approval, rigging fees, and minimum booth size from the organizer. They are usually limited to island booths.
See also: Booth Specifications, Trade Show General Contractor
A stand that combines reusable modular elements with custom-built features such as bespoke counters, branded walls, or unique ceiling structures. Hybrid booths balance the cost-efficiency of modular systems with the design impact of custom builds. They are common when exhibitors attend many shows but still need a flagship look.
See also: Modular Booth, Custom Booth, Modular vs Custom
A stand built from a system of reusable, pre-engineered components — frames, panels, lightboxes, and connectors — that can be reconfigured for different shows. Modular booths ship in compact cases, install quickly, and lower long-term cost per show. Common systems include Octanorm, Beematrix, Aluvision, and BeMatrix.
See also: Portable Booth, Hybrid Booth, Modular vs Custom
The core build-strategy decision for any exhibitor: reusable modular systems (lower cost, faster install, repeatable) versus fully custom fabrication (higher impact, full design freedom, single-use). Many builders offer hybrid solutions to bridge the two. The choice depends on budget, show frequency, brand goals, and shipping logistics.
See also: Modular Booth, Custom Booth, Hybrid Booth
A lightweight, easy-to-transport stand — typically pop-up displays, fabric tension structures, or banner stands — that one or two people can set up without tools. Portable booths fit in carry cases and are ideal for small (3×3 m or 10×10 ft) inline spaces and roadshows. They trade design depth for speed and shipping savings.
See also: Modular Booth, Booth Specifications
European term for a booth designer — the person or software that produces the 3D layout of a trade-show stand. "Stand" is the dominant word in the UK, EU, and Middle East, while "booth" is more common in the US. Exphora's Booth Designer / Stand Designer is the same tool.
See also: Booth Designer, Parametric Design
A scheduled industry event where companies exhibit products and services to buyers, partners, and press, usually at a convention center or fairground. Trade shows can be B2B (e.g., CES, Hannover Messe) or consumer-facing. They are the primary commercial channel for booth builders, signal exhibitors, and event marketers.
See also: Trade Show Calendar, Trade Show Exhibitor, Trade Show General Contractor
A directory of upcoming exhibitions organized by industry, country, date, and venue, used to plan booth-builder pipelines, exhibitor outreach, and travel. Shared calendars also expose deadlines for booth-space booking, drayage, and rigging orders. Exphora includes a built-in trade-show calendar with thousands of global events.
See also: Trade Show, Signal Explorer
A company that rents booth space at a trade show to display its products, generate leads, and meet buyers. Exhibitors are the primary clients of booth builders and the targets of signal-based outbound CRM workflows. Tracking which companies exhibit at which shows is a core lead-generation strategy.
See also: Trade Show, Signal Explorer, Booth Builder
The official services partner appointed by the show organizer to manage the venue floor — booth packages, electrical, rigging, drayage, cleaning, and security. Often called the GC or "official contractor." Exhibitors and outside booth builders order shared services and pay floor fees through them.
See also: Drayage, Hanging Banner, Trade Show
The process of saving a 3D booth model in a format that other software — production CAD, rendering tools, AR viewers, or client review apps — can open. Common export formats include GLB, OBJ, DAE/Collada, STL, FBX, and DWG. Exphora's Booth Designer exports to GLB, OBJ, and DAE for downstream pipelines.
See also: GLB, OBJ, DAE / Collada, STL
An XML-based 3D interchange format (.dae) developed under the Collada specification, used to move scenes between modeling tools. DAE preserves geometry, materials, lights, and animations and is supported by Blender, SketchUp, Unity, and most exhibition-render pipelines. It is a common alternative when GLB or OBJ are not accepted.
See also: CAD Export, OBJ, GLB
The binary form of glTF — a single self-contained file (.glb) packaging geometry, PBR materials, textures, and animations. GLB is the modern standard for web 3D, AR (iOS Quick Look, Android Scene Viewer), and real-time clients. Exphora exports booths to GLB so clients can view them in any browser.
See also: OBJ, PBR Materials, CAD Export
A widely supported, plain-text 3D format (.obj) that stores vertices, faces, UVs, and normals, paired with a .mtl file for basic materials. OBJ is universal but lacks PBR materials, animation, and a single-file packaging — those are reasons GLB is preferred for modern exhibitor previews. It remains a safe fallback for legacy CAD.
See also: GLB, DAE / Collada, CAD Export
A modeling approach where geometry is driven by parameters and rules — for example, a counter whose height, length, and panel count update automatically when you change one value. Parametric booth design lets builders re-fit a stand to any space size in seconds. Exphora's Booth Designer uses parametric modules for walls, counters, and meeting rooms.
See also: Booth Designer, Modular Booth, PBR Materials
Physically-Based Rendering materials describe a surface using base color, metallic, roughness, normal, and emissive maps so it reacts realistically to light. PBR is the standard in real-time engines and modern booth visualization, producing consistent results across viewers, AR, and renders. GLB embeds PBR materials natively.
See also: GLB, Parametric Design, Booth Designer
A simple 3D format (.stl) that represents geometry as a mesh of triangles, originally created for stereolithography and now standard for 3D printing. STL has no color, materials, or units, so it is rarely used for full booth presentations — but it is useful for prototyping props, signage, or printed parts.
See also: CAD Export, OBJ, GLB
A structured offer sent to a prospective exhibitor, bundling 3D renders, booth specifications, materials, build schedule, and pricing. A modern booth proposal is interactive — the client can view, approve, or request revisions through a branded portal link. Exphora generates proposals from 30+ spec fields and AI-assisted descriptions.
See also: Quote / Quotation, Booth Specifications, Pipeline (Sales)
A visual representation of every active deal across stages — typically new, qualified, proposal sent, negotiation, won, lost. Booth-builder pipelines often use Kanban boards with one card per opportunity and per show. Tracking pipeline value and stage age forecasts revenue and surfaces stalled projects.
See also: Booth Proposal, Booth Builder CRM, Signal Explorer
A formal, itemized price offer for a booth project, listing each line — design, fabrication, graphics, AV, furniture, transport, install, dismantle — with quantity, unit price, taxes, and totals. Quotes can be standalone or embedded inside a booth proposal. They convert to invoices once the client signs.
See also: Booth Proposal, Pipeline (Sales)
Exphora's global database of trade-show exhibitors — searchable by show, country, industry, and booth size. Signal Explorer turns "who is exhibiting at X?" into a first-class lead source: filter, shortlist, and convert exhibitors into CRM contacts and opportunities. It pairs with the Trade Show Calendar to plan outbound months ahead.
See also: Trade Show Exhibitor, Trade Show Calendar, Booth Builder CRM
Includes the free 3D Booth Designer plus the industry tools referenced in this glossary — Signal Explorer, Trade Show Calendar, booth-spec proposals, and the booth-builder pipeline.