Confex

A confex runs a paid conference and an exhibition under one name, usually in one venue on the same days. Delegates pay for the sessions, visitors often come free for the show floor, and exhibitors pay for stands and bring their own staff, so one event has at least three audiences with different prices, questions and badges. Some add a hosted buyer programme, where qualified buyers get free places in return for meetings with exhibitors. The registration headache is keeping those audiences apart without running three systems.

Confex is UK and European trade-press vocabulary, and International Confex is also the name of a long-running UK trade show for the events industry. US organisers describe the same format as a conference with an expo, or an expo with an education programme. Access rules matter more here than anywhere: a free visitor badge should not open the paid conference rooms.

eventcloud runs a confex as one event with delegate, visitor and exhibitor passes in separate ticket groups, and session scanning at each conference session's door admits delegate passes and turns visitor passes away.