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Candy Adams,
CTSM, CME,
CEM, CMP, CMM,
is an independent exhibit-management
consultant, trainer, speaker, writer, and an Exhibitor conference
faculty member.
CandyAdams
@BoothMom.com
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 've been in the industry for almost 20 years, and I still hear trade show jargon that I don't understand. I've also had plenty of time to rack up a rather long list of linguistic pet peeves - such as the misuse of several industry terms and the overuse of acronyms.
If you're ever stumped and need to look up an industry term, you can go to EXHIBITOR's online glossary at www.ExhibitorOnline.com/glossary. But here's a quick-reference guide to some of the most confusing and misused trade show terms and acronyms.
 Let's Call the Whole Thing Off
There are plenty of terms and tricky phrases in the trade show industry, so let's start with several of the terms that are easily confused. Some have been used erroneously for so long that the correct meaning has been lost based on continued misuse.
 Drayage versus Material Handling: These terms are interchangeable. They're both used to mean the act of moving your equipment and exhibit properties between a dock and your booth space. The term drayage comes from the word "dray," a low, flat cart used to move heavy loads short distances. But since the days are long gone when horse-drawn drays unloaded ships and moved goods into warehouses, the term drayage is often replaced by the term material handling. Just don't tell the old-timer teamsters that - to them, it's still drayage.
Uniform Material-Handling Form versus Bill of Lading: For the longest time, I thought these forms were one and the same because they look a lot alike. They're definitely not. The uniform material-handling form that you receive from the general services contractor (GSC) after paying the balances on your on-site invoices is an agreement between the exhibitor and the GSC to handle the exhibitor's outbound freight - but just between the booth space and the designated shipping carrier's vehicle. Failure to turn it in will guarantee your freight is forced.
You may also have a bill of lading (aka B/L or BoL) provided by your carrier to turn in at the service desk with the uniform material-handling form. The B/L is the shipping document that establishes the terms between an exhibitor (shipper) and a transportation company (carrier) for the transport of goods between specified points for a specified charge. It serves as a contract of carriage, document of title, and receipt for goods shipped.
Your truck driver picking up your freight will accept your load and complete a bill of lading based on the order you placed with the carrier, and will compare it to what's loaded by the GSC based on your uniform material-handling form.
Sex Box versus Dog House: Technically these terms are interchangeable. A "sex box" is a power box with six outlets in it (aka six box). They're also called "dog houses," because they look like Snoopy's dog house with an outlet on all four walls and two on the roof.
Stretch Wrap versus Shrink Wrap: The stretchy plastic film - the stuff you wrap around a pallet to stabilize stacked cartons or freight packed on top of the pallet - is called stretch wrap, not shrink wrap. Shrink wrap is a plastic wrapper that shrinks when you heat it to the size and shape of whatever's inside.
 Random Jargon
The trade show world has a language all its own. Here are just a few of the terms and phrases you might hear on the show floor.
Strike the Exhibit: The first time I heard one of my setup laborers mention that he was going to "strike my exhibit," I pictured union members with picket signs. I couldn't imagine what I'd done to invoke a union work stoppage - everything seemed to be going smoothly. What he meant was that he and his team were going to dismantle my exhibit properties at the end of the show. That's when I found out that there are two distinctly different meanings of "striking" on the show floor: 1) dismantling an exhibit, or 2) holding a union-work stoppage.
Rigger: You want to hire the right labor to hang your corporate ID sign above your exhibit at your next show. So you hire a rigger, who will show up with shackles, cable, and a scissor lift, high-lift, or cherry picker, (different terms for a piece of equipment that will hoist laborers up in the air above your exhibit to tie your sign to the ceiling of the convention center). But not all riggers are up-in-the-air guys. In some cities, the term rigger also refers to union labor whose jurisdiction it is to remove large pieces of machinery from their pallets and place them within your booth space. So be specific about your needs when you request your next rigger.
Freight Recovery: If you have fallen victim to having your freight moved from the show site by someone other than your designated carrier, you've experienced forced freight. Shows designate a definite time when your exhibit properties have to be removed from your booth space, and if your carrier hasn't loaded your freight by this time, the GSC has the right to "force the floor" based on the show's material-handling agreements. The exhibitor has to pay large fees to retrieve the freight. Recently, however, at least one GSC has stopped using the terms "forced floor" or "forced freight" and is now referring to it as "freight recovery."
Dead Storage: There are two kinds of accessible storage: one that allows exhibitors to access stored items during the show, and one in which stored items are inaccessible, the latter of which is known as dead storage. Items such as empty boxes and cases that don't need to be accessed during the show are marked as "dead" and placed in storage.
 CTSIA (Confusing Trade Show Industry Acronyms)
From the GSC to the FHC (fire-hose cabinet), the exhibiting world is as acronym ridden as any other industry. Here's a key to some of the trickier ones.
CWT: Probably the most misunderstood abbreviation by exhibitors is CWT, which means "hundredweight." When laborers move our show freight from the truck to our booth, we are charged for material-handling services by units of 100 pounds, rounded up to the next hundred. The "C" in CWT represents the Roman numeral for 100, and WT stands for weight.
Dim Wt: The first time I saw this abbreviation on an air waybill (a Bill of Lading for airfreight shipments), I thought someone was insulting my intelligence. I called my freight agent in a huff and told him the carrier didn't have to be nasty just because I didn't yet understand freight. After he finished laughing, he informed me that airfreight is measured not in just pounds and not just by the freight's dimensions, but a combination of both, called dimensional weight (Dim Wt).
EAC: The acronym EAC can have more than one meaning. The most common meaning is exhibitor appointed contractor. But EAC is also often the acronym for a trade show's exhibitor advisory committee or exhibitor advisory council, whose members evaluate the show and the way it is managed, and make future recommendations. In the medical industry, many shows differentiate the exhibitor appointed contractors from the exhibitor advisory committees by calling the suppliers exhibitor designated contractors (EDC).
PRO Number: Your PRO number is the tracking number assigned by your carrier to your shipment. When I asked one of my carriers where this name, "PRO number," came from, he told me that the assignment of these numbers is done by a "progressive numbering system" that starts with two letters assigned to the carrier plus a number starting with 00001, then 00002, then 00003. Aha!e
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