Every Monday my husband and I work from home, he works downstairs in the dining room and I’m upstairs in the office-cum-guestroom-cum-laundry room.
We work in completely different industries and I sometimes overhear him whilst he’s on the phone talking to colleagues, speaking in his industry language using specific abbreviations and acronyms that mean absolutely nothing to me.
This got me thinking about the event industry jargon and acronyms I use on a daily basis and if I’m guilty of bamboozling new clients with language that they simply don’t understand – that really can’t be good for business!
Hence forth, I promise not to use this jargon with industry newbies and although this list may seem obvious to some of the event profs that read this blog others may not have the foggiest. So, let’s begin;
DDR – Day Delegate Rate or Daily Delegate Rate. This is a per person rate for, usually, an 8 hour period to include the use of the main meeting room and includes refreshments such as Tea and Coffee upon arrival, mid-morning and mid-afternoon along with lunch. Lots of hotels and venues also include Wi-Fi, snacks during the breaks and basic AV in this package.
AV – I can’t believe I just did that in the paragraph above! AV is Audio Visual equipment. This includes everything from Projectors, Screens, TV Screens, Laptops, Speakers, PA Systems, microphones including hand held microphones and lapel microphones, whiteboards and flipcharts.
Keys – This is quite an old fashioned term but I’ve heard it used a few times in the last year or so, maybe it’s making a comeback? Keys refers to the number of bedrooms a hotel has – a hotelier might say ‘this hotel has 149 keys’ they mean they have 149 bedrooms.
Provisional Hold / Hold – If someone asks you if you want to ‘hold the space’ or ‘provisionally hold the space’ they are asking if you would like the meeting room(s) or bedrooms, or both, depending on your event blocked off in the diary. This means that if another client comes through the hotel knows they cannot offer the space without checking with you first. Provisionally holding space does not mean that you are obliged to confirm the event at this particular venue or hotel.
Option – if you are the first client to have enquired about an event space and are provisionally holding it you have that space on a ‘first option’. If another client comes through wanting the space they will be offered a ‘second option’ which means that if you don’t go ahead with your booking then the hotel/venue has something waiting in the wings. The hotel/venue will contact you and let you know that another client has shown interest in the space.
Break Out / Syndicate Room – this is an additional room used for smaller group discussions, specific meetings or training sessions during a larger event. The main meeting room might hold a ‘kick off session’ and ‘closing remarks from a key note speaker’ but during the day the group may be broken up into smaller groups – if so breakout and syndicate rooms will be required.
BEO – this comes up on contracts and can freak people out – it stands for Banquet Event Order, no one is referring to the Anglo-Saxon God Beowa or Beryllium Oxide. It’s just the name given to the event contract, this document will outline all the details of your event including timings and F&B……I did it again!
F&B – Food and Beverage.
Get in touch and let us know if there are any other terms out there that have confused you in the past.
TTFN (ta ta for now)
CdB