A calendar hold is not a meeting we can bill. A name on an exhibitor list is not one either. Exhibit Meetings charges the $300 meeting fee only when a booking is qualified, and “qualified” is a checklist, not a mood.
This note is the public version of that checklist, so you can read the standard before you ask us to work a show.
The situation the fee is for
You already have a booth. Other companies that could matter to you — a distributor, a supplier, a brand that belongs next to yours — have booths too. The hall is large, the published list is long, and your team is working the stand.
We research companies on that list, write a specific reason for each one we keep, and ask both sides whether they want to talk. The base fee of $1,000 covers that work for one show even if nothing is booked. The meeting fee is separate, and it applies only when the booking meets every condition below.
Five conditions, all of them
A billable meeting has to clear all five. Missing one means it is not a qualified booking.
The other company is exhibiting at the same show. Same week in the same building is the point. A useful firm that is not on the floor is a different kind of introduction, and it is not this service.
The company matches the criteria you agreed, and it is not someone you told us to leave alone. That includes competitors, current customers, and any other name you put on the exclusion list. “They are also at the show” is not a match.
The person in the meeting is relevant to the discussion. A general inbox that accepted a time, with nobody who can talk about distribution or supply, does not clear this. The role has to fit the reason we wrote.
We provide a specific written reason the connection fits your goals. The reason names the commercial logic. If we cannot write that paragraph, the company never reaches the email.
Both sides explicitly agree to meet, with a specific time and a location, or a video link, confirmed in writing. Both sides. A note from us that we hope to find a time is not agreement. A yes from one company and silence from the other is not agreement.
What people sometimes treat as booked
Sending a calendar invitation alone does not count. The invitation is how a confirmed time is held. It is not a substitute for the agreement and the written reason.
Two employees from your company in the same conversation do not create two charges. It is one meeting.
Moving that same meeting to a different hour, or from video to a booth, does not create another fee. Rescheduling is still the original booking.
A company we researched, emailed, and then dropped because they said no is not a booking. A company that never replied, after one reminder, is not a booking. Research and outreach sit inside the base fee. We do not charge per email or per name approached.
What the brief contains
When a meeting does qualify, your team gets a one-page brief it can read in a couple of minutes. The brief names the company, the person, the reason we matched you, and one question worth asking first. You also get the time and the place, whether that place is a booth number or a video link.
Here is the shape, using an example. An oven exhibitor wants dough-equipment brands, regional distributors, and not other oven companies or its current dealer. One name that survives that filter is Corbel Dough Systems, booth N-118. The reason is that buyers looking at ovens often need the equipment upstream of the oven. The person to ask for is a head of product or a sales lead. The first question is whether they specify that equipment themselves or already have an oven partner. Both sides then agree, in writing, to Tuesday at 10:40 at booth N-118.
An example of the arithmetic
Suppose five meetings clear the checklist. Three are at the booth during the show and two are on video before it. At the standard rate the total is $1,000 plus five times $300, which is $2,500, before any meeting credit that might later apply.
That figure is the price of five qualified bookings, about $500 per meeting. It is an example rather than a forecast; how many meetings a show produces depends on the show and your targets. And if our research finds fewer than 10 strong-fit exhibitors for your goals, we refund the base fee.
The ceiling still governs
Qualified does not mean unlimited. Before work starts we agree a spending ceiling. A $4,000 ceiling covers the base fee and up to ten $300 bookings. As pending requests approach that limit, we manage them. Booking more than the ceiling allows takes your approval. The boundary is the campaign you agreed: dates, availability, criteria, and the ceiling.
If the meeting later falls apart
Qualification is about the booking, not about who walks in. If either side does not show up, the booking remains billable. If you cancel, it remains billable. If the other company cancels beforehand, we try to reschedule or replace it, and if we cannot, we credit the meeting fee. If we ourselves booked outside the criteria or set the wrong time, we correct it or credit the fee.
We do not guarantee replies, acceptances, a meeting count, attendance, or sales. The fee is for a qualified booking. The written agreement for your show is where invoice timing and the handling of any credit get fixed. This note does not invent either one.
How to use this before you write
If you can already say which show, what a useful meeting is, and who is off limits, the checklist above is the standard we will apply. If you are not sure yet, send us the show anyway and we will help you figure out who is worth meeting. Email alex@exhibitormeetings.com or book a 15-minute call. We reply within one business day, and we will say so if the show is not a fit.
