Learn how to set up and manage exhibitors effectively in Swapcard!
This step-by-step guide covers adding exhibitors, managing team members, customizing exhibitor profiles, setting permissions, and optimizing engagement. Discover expert tips on using custom fields, handling exhibitor roles, and ensuring a seamless event experience. Whether importing via Excel or adjusting settings manually, this video will help you maximize exhibitor success. Watch now and take your event to the next level! š
Introduction
Adding exhibitors to your event enhances its value by showcasing a variety of companies, products, and services. Swapcard provides multiple methods to efficiently import exhibitors, whether you're setting up for the first time or managing exhibitors from previous events within the same community. This guide will walk you through the different ways to import and add exhibitors to your event, and how to control their access to the Exhibitor Center.
Why adding Exhibitors is essential
Exhibitors play a crucial role in the success of your event by providing attendees with access to products, services, and business opportunities. By streamlining the process of importing exhibitors, Swapcard helps you maximize efficiency and ensure a professional, organized exhibitor experience.
Methods to add Exhibitors to your event
To import and add Exhibitors to your Event, log in to the Studio and go to Content ā”ļø Exhibitors.
There, you will find a button Create Exhibitors on the right-hand side of the page. Once clicked, three options, which are detailed below, will be offered to you.
Here are the three methods to add exhibitors to your event:
1. Importing Exhibitors via an Excel file
If it's the first Event that you organize within this Community and you have more than ten Exhibitors, then this is most probably the best option for you.
Click on Import via an Excel file.
Download the Excel template that will be used to enter all your Exhibitors' data. If you already have Exhibitors listed in the Studio, this data will be pre-filled in the Excel template.
Fill it out based on the instructions found on the template; also, please do not alter it to avoid importation errors.
Make sure to re-download the Excel file listed in step 2 for each new bulk modification that you may make to your Exhibitors.
2.Importing from another Event within the same Community
If you have already organized one or more Events with that Community this is definitely the option you want to select, as you will be able to re-use Exhibitors that have been already created for past Events. Lazy wins!
In the Studio, open the corresponding Event ā the one where the Exhibitors' data and content you want to retrieve is stored.
Under Content ā”ļø Exhibitors click on Export to download the desired data as an Excel file that will be stored in your Downloads folder or Desktop.
Clean the Excel file and only keep the data and content you want to link to your new Event
Open your new Event' Studio, go to Contentā”ļøExhibitors, click on Create Exhibitors and choose Import from another event of the Community from the list.
At the bottom of the popup window, upload the Excel file that you exported and cleaned from the previous Event
3.Adding Exhibitors "Manually"
If you have very few Exhibitors, or if you have one late-joiner that you want to quickly and easily add in, this option is the best for you.
Click on Create manually
Type in the name of the Exhibitor Booth and hit Create.
Afterwards, you can add all or some of the content and branding for this Exhibitor and/or leave it to the Exhibitor's responsibility.
How to define the order of Exhibitors?
From the "Exhibitors" tab, you can define the order of appearance of the different types of exhibitors.
For instance, you can order them by order of importance to highlight one or another category of exhibitors/sponsors.
ā
To do so, make sure you add a type to each exhibitor in the parameters of the "Exhibitors" tab.
On the right side of each type is located a pictogram with little arrows. Keep clicking on it and slide it to choose the order of appearance.
Control access to the Exhibitor Center and rename it
Once your exhibitors are added, you decide when their members can enter the Exhibitor Center and what it is called in your event app.
Turn Exhibitor Center access on or off per group
In the Studio, go to Event Builder ā”ļø Groups & Permissions.
Open the side panel of a group that contains at least one exhibitor.
Use the Exhibitor Center Access toggle to allow or block access for the exhibitor members of this group, then save.
Access is on by default for all existing and new exhibitor groups, so nothing changes until you turn it off. Changes apply the next time exhibitors load a page, whatever the event status. When access is off, the Exhibitor Center side of the web switch can't be clicked and shows a "not accessible" message, and the Exhibitor Center entry is removed from the Me tab.
š” Keep the Exhibitor Center open before you publish the event so exhibitors can complete their profiles, then close it after the event. You can also grant access by tier, for example only to your Gold or Diamond exhibitor groups.
Rename the Exhibitor Center
In the Studio, open the settings of your branded app and go to the Advanced section.
In the Desktop Navigation labels block, fill in the Event label and the Exhibitor Center label for each platform language (25 characters maximum).
Your labels appear in the web navigation switch and in the Me tab. If a field is left empty, the default label (Event or Exhibitor Center) is used.
Help exhibitors complete their profile
Exhibitor members see a progress bar in the Exhibitor Center sidebar, just below their logo and company name. It shows how complete their company profile is as a percentage and updates as soon as they fill in a field, without reloading the page. No setup is needed: it is on automatically for every exhibitor.
The Complete profile button below the bar opens a side panel listing the fields that are still empty. When the profile reaches 100%, the bar is full and the button disappears.
These fields count towards the percentage, only if the exhibitor is allowed to edit them:
Logo and company name
Description and website URL
Header image or header video (either one completes this field)
Advertising image
Custom fields marked as editable by the exhibitor in Studio
Organizer-only fields are excluded, so exhibitors are only measured on what they can control.
š” Adding a new editable custom field changes the total, so exhibitors' percentage can go down. Set up your editable fields before asking exhibitors to complete their profiles. To choose what exhibitors can edit, see Empower exhibitors to manage their profiles and leads.
How to remove exhibitors from your event
In Content ā”ļø Exhibitors, select the exhibitors you want to remove, click Delete, then click Delete again to confirm.
ā ļø Deleting exhibitors can't be undone in the Studio. Their booth locations, ads and session links in this event are deleted, team members who were only linked to them through this event are removed, and their meetings are canceled or declined. Swapcard doesn't record which organizer deleted them, so only give Studio access to people you trust.
The exhibitors stay in your Community. To bring one back, add it to your event again, for example with Import from another event of the Community: its Community-level details come back, but you need to set up its booth locations, ads, session links and team members again. If you need help, contact our support team.
Swapcard makes adding exhibitors to your event simple and efficient through its flexible importing options. Whether you're using bulk imports, reusing data from previous events, or manually adding exhibitors, these methods ensure a smooth setup process. Managing your exhibitors effectively enhances their visibility and creates a professional and engaging experience for all event attendees.
For additional details on managing exhibitors, see the articles linked below.