All you need to know about trade show terms

Your first exhibitor manual can read like it's written in code. Shell scheme, space only, bump-in, fascia, freight forwarder: the words come up in every manual and nobody stops to explain them. This page does, in plain English, with examples from Australian show and venue manuals.

The terms are grouped by where you'll meet them, from booking the space to paying the final invoice. Every show sets its own rules, so treat the examples as a guide and check your own manual. For print and artwork words, such as bleed, SEG and dye sublimation, see our display and print glossary.

Stand types

• Shell scheme. A ready-built stand supplied through the organiser. At Sydney Build 2025, held at ICC Sydney, the package covered walls on every side not facing an aisle, lights, power, carpet and a name board, and a furniture package came too unless you opted out.
• Space only. Bare floor and nothing else. Sydney Build's manual describes it as "a marked-out area on the hall floor on which your stand must be built", with no walling, lighting or flooring included, so you bring in a stand builder.
• Open side. A side of your stand facing an aisle. The more open sides you have, the more people can walk in, and the fewer walls you can build.
• Corner stand. Open on two sides. One Perth conference manual (2024) says corner stands "will automatically have two open sides, unless requested otherwise".
• Peninsula or half island. Open on three sides, with a neighbour on the fourth. Manuals use different names for this layout, so check your floor plan. Sydney Build 2025 calls a 6 x 3 m stand like this a "half island": under its 30% rule (below), you could build only 1 m of wall on each 3 m end and 2 m on the 6 m side.
• Island. Open on all four sides, with aisles all round. With no neighbour behind you, the usual back wall rule may not apply: National Education Summit Melbourne 2026 requires a back wall on all space only stands "with the exception of island stands".

For how the three main build options compare, see shell scheme vs modular vs custom stands.

Stand parts

• Fascia (name board). The sign along the top of each open side of a shell scheme, carrying your company name. Its size, character limit and what you can fix to it are set out in our guide to shell scheme panel sizes.
• Wall panels. The infill panels between the shell scheme's aluminium posts. At Sydney Build 2025 they were 990 mm wide ("The panels are not exactly 1m wide!"), which matters when you're ordering graphics.
• Rigging. Anything hung from the hall ceiling, such as a fabric sign over the stand. At ICC Sydney, the venue installs all primary (top point) rigging in the exhibition halls; secondary rigging attached to it can be arranged by the venue or an authorised rigging provider. Shows set their own limits too: at Sydney Build 2025, only space only stands over 36 m² could rig.
• The 30% rule. A limit on how much solid wall you can build facing an aisle. Sydney Build 2025's version: "The total wall length along a stand's boundary with an aisle cannot exceed 30% of the length of that boundary."

Build and logistics terms

• Bump-in and bump-out. Setting up before the show opens, and packing down after it closes. Venue manuals often say move in and move out: the Adelaide Convention Centre's 2026/27 handbook writes "move in (build) and move out (breakdown)". Shell scheme and space only stands can get different times, and at Sydney Build 2025 shell scheme stands weren't ready until the day after space only builders started.
• Hiring period. The hours the organiser has the hall. At ICC Sydney, it runs from 7 am on the first move-in day to 11.59 pm on the last move-out day, unless the hiring agreement says otherwise.
• Late working. Building past the published hours. At Sydney Build 2025, contractors needing to work well beyond 10 pm had to ask the organisers first.
• Freight forwarder. The show's nominated logistics company: you send your goods to it, and it delivers them to the venue. Some events make it compulsory: for a 2026 conference at MCEC, "MCEC will NOT accept deliveries that are not directed through the Freight Forwarder".
• Delivery label. The label set for the event, with your stand number on it. For a 2026 conference at MCEC, the MCEC delivery label "MUST BE USED on all goods delivered to the Freight Forwarder".
• Loading dock and dock booking. Where vehicles unload. At ICC Sydney, self-delivery vehicles must be pre-booked. At Sydney Build 2025, "All vehicles must be removed from site immediately after unloading."
• Official contractor. The organiser's appointed stand contractor, which builds the shell scheme and supplies furniture and signs. At some venues it takes power orders too: at Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, electrical and lighting orders can be placed through the official display contractor. At ICC Sydney, only the organiser's official general contractor and its agents may bring forklifts or mechanical lifting equipment.
• Induction. A venue safety briefing that contractors, and at some shows exhibitors too, must complete before they can work in the hall. The Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre lets you do it online before you arrive.
• Test and tag. Electrical safety testing of every lead and appliance before it's used on the stand. At Sydney Build 2025, the show's official testing company was on site checking compliance.

Documents and forms

• Exhibitor manual. The organiser's rule book and order guide for the show, with deadlines, forms and contacts. Venues publish their own manuals as well, and both apply.
• Online exhibitor kit. The official contractor's portal for ordering furniture, signs and graphics, and for confirming your fascia name.
• Stand plans or custom stand permit. Drawings of a space only or custom stand, approved before you build. For a 2026 conference at MCEC, custom builds needed approval from the organiser and MCEC at least 30 days before the conference.
• Stand activity form. A form telling the organiser what will happen on your stand. Sydney Build 2025 made it compulsory for all exhibitors.
• Certificate of currency. Proof your public liability insurance is current. The organiser or venue sets the amount: Sydney Build 2025 asked exhibitors for at least $10 million per incident, and the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre asks contractors for $20 million.
• Exhibitor passes. Badges for your stand team, registered through the organiser. The people building your stand have their own entry rules: at Sydney Build 2025, contractors had to be inducted with ICC Sydney before they could enter the halls.
• SWMS and risk assessment. Safety documents for the stand build. The law requires a safe work method statement (SWMS) before any high risk construction work starts, such as work where someone could fall more than 2 m, and the risks of all other work must still be managed. Organisers and venues can ask for either document even where the law doesn't. At Sydney Build 2025, exhibitors using their own contractors were told to make sure the contractor could supply "a risk assessment and or a safe working method statement (SWMS) for the build of the stands".

Costs you'll see on invoices

• Late order surcharges. Sydney Build 2025's manual warns that orders submitted after the deadlines "may be surcharged".
• Test and tag fees. If you bring untagged equipment, the show's testing company can tag it on site for a fee ($55 for the first five appliances at Sydney Build 2025).
• Damage and dilapidation charges. For fixing into the building, paint spills or carpet tape left behind. Sydney Build 2025 warned that "punitive damage charges will apply" for bolting into the venue floor.
• Rigging fees. At Sydney Build 2025, all rigging was at the exhibitor's cost, and the organiser could add an application fee.
• External supply charge. A fee that can apply when you bring in food or drink from outside. For a 2026 conference at MCEC, external food or drink needed prior approval, and "an external supply charge may apply".
• Waste and disposal. At Sydney Build 2025, a stand couldn't be left behind for disposal without prior permission and a quote from ICC Sydney, so plan to take everything with you.

How we help

Most of these terms land on your desk at once, a few weeks before the show. Our installation and pack-down crew deals with the organiser for you, installs the stand and comes back for the pack-down, and our exhibitions and events page sets out what suits a shell scheme and what suits a bigger space. For the venue rules behind many of these terms, see our comparison of Australian convention centre stand rules.

New to exhibiting? Send us your exhibitor manual or call 1300 240 250. We'll help you work out what it's asking for.