GLOSSARY
Event registration glossary
The terms that come up when you choose registration software, sell tickets and run check-in, each defined in a sentence or two. Where it helps, a note says how BagEvent handles it.
A
- Access code
- An access code is a code that unlocks a ticket type hidden from the public ticket list, so only people who were given the code can buy or register for it — typically sponsor, speaker or partner places.
- In BagEvent: A hidden ticket type appears only after the attendee enters its access code.
- Registration →
- Approval workflow
- An approval workflow holds a registration as pending until the organizer reviews it and approves or declines it, instead of confirming it the moment the form is submitted.
- In BagEvent: Approval can be switched on per ticket type; the attendee sees a pending status and is emailed automatically once you decide.
- Registration →
- Attrition clause
- An attrition clause is the part of a venue or hotel contract that sets how far below the contracted room block or catering numbers the organizer may fall before paying a penalty.
B
- Badge on arrival
- Badge on arrival means printing each attendee's badge at the registration desk as they check in, rather than printing all badges in advance, so late registrations and name changes are handled on the spot.
- In BagEvent: The desktop check-in app prints the badge as it checks the person in, including when the venue network is down.
- Desktop check-in →
C
- Call for papers
- A call for papers (CFP), or call for speakers, is the open invitation a conference publishes for talk or abstract submissions, with a deadline, before the programme committee reviews and selects them.
- In BagEvent: Speakers submit through a branded portal, reviewers score what they are assigned, and accepting a proposal creates the speaker record and emails the speaker — and can schedule the session in the same step.
- Speaker Hub →
- Chargeback
- A chargeback is a card payment reversed by the cardholder's bank after the cardholder disputes it; the money is taken back from the seller, usually with a dispute fee, unless the seller wins the dispute with evidence.
- Check-in lane
- A check-in lane is one working position at a registration desk — a device, the staff who run it and the queue in front of it. Lane count is the main thing that decides how long the queue gets.
- In BagEvent: The check-in lane calculator sizes lanes from headcount and when check-in opens; one lane handles about 200 people an hour in a morning window.
- Check-in lane calculator →
D
- Data controller
- Under the GDPR, the data controller is the organisation that decides why and how personal data is processed. For attendee data collected through a registration form, that is normally the event organizer.
- GDPR for event organisers →
- Data processing agreement (DPA)
- A data processing agreement is the contract between a controller and a processor that sets out what personal data the processor handles, for what purpose, under which security measures, and with which sub-processors.
- Security →
- Data processor
- Under the GDPR, a data processor handles personal data on a controller's instructions and for the controller's purposes — for example, a registration platform acting for an event organizer.
- In BagEvent: BagEvent is the processor for attendee data collected through an event's form, and a data processing agreement is available to every organizer.
- Security →
E
- Early bird pricing
- Early bird pricing is a lower ticket price available until a set date or quantity, used to bring registrations forward and give the organizer earlier cash and a better read on numbers.
- In BagEvent: Each ticket can have up to three price tiers that switch automatically on the dates you choose.
- Conference ticket pricing →
G
- Group ticket
- A group ticket lets one buyer pay for several places in one order, often at a bulk rate, with the individual attendees' details filled in later.
- In BagEvent: Bulk pricing unlocks at a minimum quantity you set, and attendee names can follow after payment.
- Registration →
L
- Lead retrieval
- Lead retrieval is how exhibitors capture the details of visitors to their stand — usually by scanning the visitor's badge — so they leave the show with a list of contacts rather than a footfall count.
- In BagEvent: Stand staff scan badges in the app, even offline, and a stand only sees and exports the details each visitor agreed to share.
- Exhibitors →
M
- Merchant of record
- The merchant of record is the legal entity that sells to the buyer: its name appears on the card statement, it takes the payment, and it is generally responsible for refunds, disputes and the tax on the sale.
- In BagEvent: Payments run through the organizer's own Stripe or PayPal account, so the organizer is the merchant of record, not BagEvent.
- Who sells the ticket? →
- Multi-entity settlement
- Multi-entity settlement means ticket revenue from different events or currencies is paid to different legal entities, each into its own account, instead of every sale going through one company.
- In BagEvent: Business covers five legal entities and Enterprise is unlimited.
- Multi-entity settlement →
N
- No-show rate
- The no-show rate is the share of registered attendees who do not turn up. It is the complement of the show rate: a 70% show rate is a 30% no-show rate.
O
- Offline check-in
- Offline check-in is check-in that keeps working without an internet connection: the attendee list is downloaded to the device in advance, scans are recorded locally, and they sync when the connection returns.
- In BagEvent: Both the phone app and the desktop app keep scanning offline and queue check-ins until they reconnect.
- When the venue Wi-Fi fails →
P
- Payment processing fee
- A payment processing fee is what the card processor or payment provider charges for taking a payment, typically a percentage of the amount plus a fixed amount per transaction.
- Ticket fee calculator →
- PCO (professional conference organiser)
- A PCO, or professional conference organiser, is a company that plans and runs conferences on behalf of a client such as an association, a society or a corporate.
- Agencies & PCOs →
- Platform fee
- A platform fee is the cut a ticketing or registration platform takes from each ticket sold — a percentage, a fixed amount per ticket, or both — on top of the payment processing fee.
- In BagEvent: BagEvent charges 0% platform fee on every plan and is paid by subscription instead.
- What 0% platform fee means →
- Promo code
- A promo code, or discount code, is a code an attendee enters at checkout to reduce the price, usually limited by number of uses, expiry date or ticket type.
- In BagEvent: Codes can be a percentage or a fixed amount off, with usage limits and expiry dates.
- Registration →
R
- Room block
- A room block is a set of hotel rooms held for an event's attendees at an agreed rate until a cut-off date, after which unbooked rooms return to the hotel.
S
- Self-service kiosk
- A self-service check-in kiosk lets attendees check themselves in — usually by scanning their ticket or typing a code — and print their own badge without a staff member.
- In BagEvent: The desktop app has a kiosk mode that works offline and deliberately has no name search, so nobody can check in as someone else.
- Desktop check-in →
- Settlement currency
- The settlement currency is the currency the money arrives in when a payment provider pays out to the seller's bank account; it can differ from the currency the attendee was charged in.
- Payments →
- Show rate
- The show rate is the share of registered attendees who actually checked in. It is one of the core measures of whether an event turned registrations into attendance.
- In BagEvent: Show rate is calculated automatically from check-in data.
- Analytics →
T
- Track
- A track is a themed strand of sessions in a conference programme; parallel tracks run in different rooms at the same time.
- Multi-track agenda →
W
- Walk-in registration
- Walk-in registration is registering someone at the venue who did not sign up in advance, then checking them in and giving them a badge.
- In BagEvent: The desktop app registers, checks in and badges a walk-in in one action while online; offline, put up the self-registration QR code instead.
- Desktop check-in →
- Webhook
- A webhook is an HTTP request one system sends to another as soon as something happens — a registration, a payment, a check-in — so the receiving system does not have to keep asking for changes.
- In BagEvent: Signed webhooks cover fifteen event types on Business and Enterprise.
- API & webhooks →