Exhibitor setup has two layers. Some settings belong to one event, while shared lists, such as exhibitor contact types and categories, apply across your whole Rhythm account. This article covers both, plus where you manage custom fields for exhibitors and exhibitor registrations.
What It Controls
- Exhibitor settings (one record per event): control the maximum length of an exhibitor’s Portal description, who can access exhibitor pages in the Portal, optional booth staff limits by contact type, and the checkout settings exhibitor purchases use unless a registration process overrides them.
- Exhibitor contact types (account-wide): define the booth staff types exhibitors can choose, such as Booth Staff or Exhibit Manager.
- Exhibitor categories (account-wide): group exhibitors with labels, such as industry, so attendees can browse the show floor more easily.
- Custom fields on exhibitors and exhibitor registrations, managed the same way as other custom fields in your account.
Rhythm creates the show floor’s exhibitor directory automatically and lists every exhibitor in it. There is no directory setup option here, unlike the searchable registrant directories you can set up separately for an event’s attendees.
Prerequisites
You need access to the event’s exhibitor setup to change exhibitor settings. You need account-wide setup permission to manage contact types and categories, because those lists apply to every event. Exhibitors is a paid feature, and your Rhythm account needs it enabled before exhibitor settings take effect for an event.
Tip
Seeing exhibitor-related settings elsewhere in your Rhythm account does not mean every event will show an Exhibitors menu. If one event has no Exhibitors area even though these account-wide settings are visible, check that Exhibitors is entitled and turned on for that event before you assume the event is misconfigured.
Where to Find It
- Exhibitor settings: Meetings & Shows › Events › (the event) › Setup › Exhibitors › Settings.
- Exhibitor contact types: Meetings & Shows › Setup › Exhibitors › Contact Types.
- Exhibitor categories: Meetings & Shows › Setup › Exhibitors › Exhibitor Categories. Assign a category from the exhibitor’s own record.
- Custom fields: use the same custom fields setup your account uses for other record types, then choose the exhibitor or exhibitor registration record type.
The Settings
| Setting | Options | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exhibitor Description Limit: | A character count of 10 or more | 400 | Sets the longest description an exhibitor can enter in the Portal. The Portal’s character counter enforces this limit, but it does not block a longer description saved another way |
| Only certain contact roles may perform exhibitor registration & management in the portal | Switch; a list of contact roles | Off | Limits which people from an exhibiting organization can use the event’s exhibitor pages in the Portal |
| Exhibitor Contact Restriction Rules | Switch; an ordered list of rules | Off | Limits how many contacts of a chosen type an exhibitor can list, based on the floor space it bought and the priority points its organization holds |
| Checkout settings | Your account’s standard checkout options | — | Applies to every exhibitor purchase at this event unless a registration process overrides it |
Each contact restriction rule includes a contact type, an optional square-footage range, an optional priority-point type and range, and a maximum number of contacts. A blank or zero range means there is no limit on that side. Rules run in the order shown, and when more than one rule matches the same contact type for an exhibitor, the last matching rule applies. You can edit a rule or move it up and down, but you cannot remove one from this page. To stop a rule from applying, switch the whole section off.
Warning
The Portal pages enforce the description limit and contact restriction rules when they use those settings. The exhibitor form in the Console and the service that stores exhibitor records do not enforce them, so staff editing an exhibitor directly in the Console can save a longer description or more contacts than these settings allow. There is also no separate control that lets a specific exhibitor’s Portal users add more contacts than a contact restriction rule allows. If an exhibitor needs more contacts than the self-service rule allows, add the extra contacts directly to the exhibitor’s record in the Console.
Contact Types and Categories
Exhibitor contact types and categories are account-wide lists, not event-specific lists. Create Exhibitor Contact Type and Create Exhibitor Category each require only a name, and Rhythm generates an identifier from that name. You can also mark a contact type as having administrative access, but nothing in the Console or Portal is confirmed to use that flag yet. Treat it as a label for now, not as a permission grant.
Warning
Exhibitor category is configurable here, but it is not available as an output field or filter in queries. If you mass-update exhibitor categories, provide the value using the array format bulk updates use for multi-value fields. Entering a single category value produces a validation error saying category_ids must be an array.
Dependencies and Precedence
- Contact restriction rules read a booth’s square footage from its booth type, so the booth type’s dimensions affect which rules apply.
- The Portal contact-role restriction depends on CRM contact roles already being set up and assigned to your contacts.
- Custom fields on exhibitor registrations are copied to the exhibitor at fulfillment when a field with the same name exists on both records. A registration field with no matching exhibitor field is still copied, but under an identifier that no exhibitor field definition owns.
- Exhibitor registration custom fields are a single account-wide list, not fields owned by one registration form. When you edit an exhibitor registration in the Console, you see every exhibitor registration custom field that has ever been created, including fields used only on earlier years’ forms, not just the fields the exhibitor filled in on the form they used.
Change Impact and How to Revert
- Lowering the description limit affects only what the Portal accepts going forward. It does not shorten descriptions that were already saved.
- Switching off contact restriction rules keeps the stored rules. When you switch the section back on, the same rules appear unchanged, so you do not lose anything by turning it off temporarily.
- Deleting a contact type or category that exhibitor records still reference is expected to be blocked.
Permissions
You need the permission your Rhythm account grants for the event’s exhibitor setup to change exhibitor settings. You need account-wide setup permission to manage contact types and categories.
Validation and Errors
Rhythm refuses to save exhibitor settings when the description limit is below 10. If you turn on the Portal role restriction without choosing a role, or turn on contact restriction rules without defining any rules, you must add at least one before you can save. Rhythm also refuses to save a contact type or category without a name. Deleting a contact type or category that exhibitor records still reference is expected to be blocked.