The event-to-revenue glossary.

What is event lead capture?

Event lead capture is the collection of contact and context information from the people a company meets at trade shows, conferences, and events, so those conversations can be followed up and measured. It replaces paper forms and borrowed badge scanners with a system that records who was met, what was discussed, and what should happen next.

How Captello does it: Universal Lead Capture works at any event, any badge type, any registration system, and routes every lead to your CRM enriched and scored.

What is universal lead capture?

Universal lead capture is a single lead capture system that works across every event a company attends, regardless of the event's badge format or registration provider, instead of renting a different scanner from each show. It gives an event program one process and one data standard for the whole calendar.

What is lead retrieval?

Lead retrieval is the service exhibitors use to capture the contact details of attendees who visit their booth, historically rented per event from the show's registration provider. The term comes from the organizer's side of the industry, where shows license retrieval devices or apps to exhibitors.

How Captello does it: Captello gives organizers Premium Lead Capture to offer exhibitors enterprise lead capture natively, turning lead retrieval into a revenue line for the show.

What is badge scanning?

Badge scanning is capturing an attendee's registration record by reading the barcode, QR code, or NFC chip on their event badge. What a scan returns depends on what the organizer put behind the badge, which is why badge data usually needs enrichment before it is usable by sales.

What is an AI badge scanner?

An AI badge scanner uses machine vision to read any badge format, including badges with no barcode at all, plus business cards and handwriting, rather than depending on one show's scanning hardware. It removes the dependency on per-event rental devices.

How Captello does it: IntelliScan reads badges, business cards, and handwritten notes at any event.

What is business card transcription?

Business card transcription converts a photographed business card into structured contact fields automatically, so a card handed over at a booth becomes a routable CRM record instead of a photo in someone's camera roll.

What is lead enrichment?

Lead enrichment fills in what a badge scan or form does not provide, such as title, company size, industry, and contact details, by matching the captured record against external data sources. Enrichment quality is measured by match rate and by how many sources the system can draw from.

How Captello does it: Captello enriches across 125 data sources at up to 95% match rate, in real time at the point of capture.

What is match rate?

Match rate is the percentage of captured leads that an enrichment system successfully matches to a fuller record. A higher match rate means fewer half-empty records reaching sales and less manual research after the event.

What is lead scoring?

Lead scoring assigns a value to each captured lead based on attributes and behavior, such as title, company fit, session attendance, and booth engagement, so sales works the best leads first. At events, scoring is what separates a badge scan from a qualified conversation.

What is lead qualification?

Lead qualification is determining whether a captured contact is a real potential buyer, usually through qualifying questions asked at the point of capture and firmographic checks afterward. Qualification at the booth is what makes event follow-up fast and relevant.

What is lead routing?

Lead routing automatically sends each captured lead to the right owner, territory, and sequence the moment it is captured, instead of waiting for a post-event list upload. Routing speed is a large part of speed to lead.

What is speed to lead?

Speed to lead is the time between capturing a lead and the first meaningful follow-up. Conversion rates fall sharply as that gap grows, which is why event teams push capture, enrichment, and routing to happen in real time rather than after the show.

What is offline lead capture?

Offline lead capture keeps collecting and storing leads when the venue has no reliable connectivity, then syncs when a connection returns. Exhibit halls are notorious for weak signal, so offline capability is a practical requirement, not a nice extra.

What is kiosk mode?

Kiosk mode turns a tablet or screen into a self-service capture station at a booth or session, letting attendees enter their own details or scan themselves in without a staff member driving the device.

What are qualifying questions?

Qualifying questions are the short, structured prompts booth staff answer while talking to a visitor, such as budget, timeline, and use case, captured alongside the contact record. They turn a scan into context sales can act on.

What is a CRM integration for events?

A CRM integration for events moves captured, enriched leads directly into the company's CRM and marketing automation with correct field mapping, ownership, and campaign attribution, so event data lands where revenue is managed rather than in a spreadsheet.

How Captello does it: Captello connects to 9,000+ systems, so event data flows into the CRM and tools a team already runs.

What is event meeting management?

Event meeting management is scheduling, running, and tracking the meetings a company holds at an event, from pre-booked executive meetings to walk-ups at the booth. Done well, it covers the whole arc: booking before the show, running the calendar on site, and following through after.

How Captello does it: Meeting Management runs native to the same system as lead capture, so attribution starts at the first badge scan, not at the meeting request.

What is conflict-free scheduling?

Conflict-free scheduling books event meetings against real availability of people, rooms, and time slots so no attendee, executive, or space is double-booked. At enterprise scale, a single show can involve hundreds of interlocking meetings.

How Captello does it: Bosch Rexroth ran 94 conflict-free meetings on Captello at a single event.

What are pre-booked meetings?

Pre-booked meetings are scheduled with target accounts before the event starts, usually through outbound campaigns with booking links tied to the on-site calendar. Programs that walk in with a booked calendar consistently outperform ones that rely on booth traffic.

What is show rate?

Show rate is the percentage of scheduled event meetings that take place. It is a leading indicator of event pipeline, and it improves with confirmations, reminders, and easy on-site rebooking.

What is meeting-to-pipeline attribution?

Meeting-to-pipeline attribution connects each event meeting to the opportunities and pipeline it influenced, so the value of a meeting program can be stated in revenue terms rather than meeting counts.

What is an event activation?

An event activation is a designed interactive experience, such as a game, challenge, or branded moment, that draws attendees into engaging with a company at an event. In a revenue-run program, an activation is a capture and qualification mechanism, not just a crowd-pleaser.

How Captello does it: Captello runs 60+ interactive activations where every player becomes a scored, qualified lead.

What is event gamification?

Event gamification applies game mechanics, points, competition, and rewards, to event experiences to increase participation and dwell time. Its business value depends on what happens to the engagement data: scored and routed, it produces pipeline; unscored, it produces a crowd.

What is engagement scoring?

Engagement scoring measures how deeply an attendee interacted, across games played, sessions attended, booths visited, and content viewed, and folds that into the lead's overall score. It converts activity into a signal sales can prioritize on.

What is a digital scavenger hunt?

A digital scavenger hunt sends attendees through a series of locations or tasks around an event, checking in at each stop through their phone. Organizers and exhibitors use hunts to drive traffic to specific booths and sessions while capturing participation data.

What are digital rewards?

Digital rewards are instant incentives, most often digital gift cards, delivered to attendees for participating in activations, completing surveys, or booking meetings. Instant fulfillment matters because the reward lands while the attendee is still at the booth.

How Captello does it: Captello delivers rewards from over 250 gift card brands, instantly.

What is a leaderboard activation?

A leaderboard activation displays live rankings of participants or exhibitors during an event, using visible competition to drive repeat engagement. On the organizer side, exhibitor leaderboards make floor participation visible show-wide.

What are smart surveys?

Smart surveys collect structured feedback at the point of experience, at a booth, after a session, or in the event app, and attach the responses to the attendee's record, so feedback becomes qualification data rather than an anonymous rating.

What is event revenue intelligence?

Event revenue intelligence is the discipline of attributing revenue outcomes to specific event interactions, connecting every captured lead, meeting, and activation to the pipeline it produced. It answers what an event generated in dollars, per interaction, rather than estimating what it was probably worth.

How Captello does it: Captello is the only event-to-revenue intelligence platform. At EXHIBITORLIVE it attributed $6.6M in influenced pipeline and $659,500 in forecasted revenue.

What is event intelligence?

Event intelligence usually refers to pre-event data about which events to attend, who will be there, and what competitors are doing, used to plan an event calendar and spend. It is planning intelligence, distinct from event revenue intelligence, which proves what an event produced after the fact. A complete program needs the second, not just the first.

What is pipeline attribution?

Pipeline attribution links sales pipeline to the specific marketing and event touches that created or influenced it. For events, real attribution requires the capture, meeting, and engagement data to live in one system, because attribution can only start where the data starts.

What is influenced pipeline?

Influenced pipeline is the value of open opportunities that an event or campaign touched at some point in their path, even if it did not create them. It is a standard measure of event contribution alongside sourced pipeline.

What is event-sourced pipeline?

Event-sourced pipeline is the value of opportunities that began at an event, where the event interaction was the first touch. Together with influenced pipeline, it describes what an event added to the revenue picture.

What is forecasted revenue from events?

Forecasted revenue from events is the expected revenue value of event-generated pipeline, weighted by stage and probability. It is the number finance trusts, because it is grounded in real opportunities rather than a multiplier applied to lead counts.

What is event ROI?

Event ROI compares what an event produced, in pipeline and revenue, to what it cost. The hard part is the numerator: without per-interaction attribution, event ROI is an estimate built on assumptions rather than a measurement.

How Captello does it: Captello measures the numerator: attributed pipeline and forecasted revenue, down to the individual lead and interaction.

What is program-level ROI?

Program-level ROI estimates the value of an event program as a whole, usually by correlating event spend with pipeline movement at the portfolio level. It is useful for budgeting but cannot say which booth conversation or meeting produced which deal, which is the question per-interaction attribution answers.

What is multi-touch attribution?

Multi-touch attribution distributes credit for a revenue outcome across all the touches that contributed, rather than giving it all to the first or last. Events are usually one of several touches on an enterprise deal, which is why influenced pipeline is measured alongside sourced.

What is cost per lead at events?

Cost per lead divides an event's cost by the number of qualified leads it produced. It is a useful efficiency check but says nothing about revenue, which is why revenue-run programs pair it with attributed pipeline per event.

What is cost per opportunity?

Cost per opportunity divides event cost by the number of sales opportunities the event created or influenced, a step closer to revenue than cost per lead and a common board-level metric for event programs.

What is buyer intent data at events?

Buyer intent data at events is the behavioral signal an attendee gives off, sessions attended, booths visited, questions asked, content taken, that indicates readiness to buy. Captured and scored, it tells sales who is in a buying motion right now.

What is an event dashboard?

An event dashboard displays event performance data, leads, meetings, engagement, pipeline, in one view. Dashboards report what happened; the newer bar is intelligence that answers questions and recommends actions, because most teams already have more dashboards than answers.

How Captello does it: Revelation attributes every signal to revenue, and CapChat answers questions about your event data in plain language.

What is event operations?

Event operations is the work of running the event itself: registration, check-in, ticketing, the attendee app, session tracking, and exhibitor services. It is the organizer's side of the event, distinct from the exhibitor's job of capturing and converting leads.

How Captello does it: Event Operations is Captello's parallel track for show organizers and corporate teams, running alongside the four core solutions on one platform.

What is a show organizer?

A show organizer is the company or team that produces a trade show or conference: selling booths and sponsorships, registering attendees, and running the floor. Organizers are also a revenue business, and exhibitor services like lead retrieval are part of how a show earns.

What is an exhibitor?

An exhibitor is a company that buys booth space at a trade show to meet buyers, generate leads, and build pipeline. Exhibitors are the show's customers, and their measurable success is what brings them back the next year.

What is an exhibitor portal?

An exhibitor portal is the organizer-provided workspace where exhibiting companies manage their presence at a show: staff, leads, services, and support. A good portal lets exhibitors run their own show and turns service requests into trackable, billable items.

What is event check-in?

Event check-in is the on-site process of confirming registrations and admitting attendees, through QR codes, badge printing, or app-based entry. Fast check-in is the first impression of an event and the first data point in the attendee's on-site record.

What is session tracking?

Session tracking records which sessions each attendee enters, usually by scanning at the door. It turns the agenda into behavioral data: what each attendee cared about enough to sit through, which feeds scoring and follow-up.

What is an attendee app?

An attendee app is the event's mobile experience: agenda, maps, networking, and notifications, branded to the show. Beyond convenience, it is a data surface, because everything an attendee does in it becomes signal.

What is appless networking?

Appless networking connects attendees to each other, matching, messaging, and meeting, without requiring anyone to download another app. It raises participation because the friction of an install disappears, and every connection made becomes data the show can act on.

How Captello does it: Captello's appless attendee networking gives organizers who-met-whom data no download-gated app collects.

What is attendee value?

Attendee value is what a specific attendee is worth to a show's exhibitors and sponsors, scored from title, sessions attended, booths visited, and engagement across the event. Shows that can prove attendee value sell sponsorships and booths on evidence instead of foot-traffic claims.

What is event registration?

Event registration is how attendees sign up and pay for an event, and where their record begins. In a connected event system, registration data flows through to check-in, sessions, and capture rather than living in a separate silo.

How Captello does it: Captello connects to 300+ registration systems, so the platform works with whatever a show or company already runs.

What is a corporate hosted event?

A corporate hosted event is one a company runs itself, a user conference, executive summit, roadshow, or VIP experience, rather than a trade show it exhibits at. Hosting flips the job: the company is the organizer, and every stakeholder in the room, not just booth visitors, is a capturable relationship.

What is a sidecar event?

A sidecar event is a smaller experience run alongside a larger conference, such as a private dinner, VIP suite, or off-site session near a major trade show, targeting the same audience with a more controlled experience.

What is exhibitor engagement scoring?

Exhibitor engagement scoring measures how actively each exhibiting company participates in a show, from leads captured to activations run, often surfaced on leaderboards. It gives organizers evidence of exhibitor success, which is the strongest rebooking argument a show has.

What is an event platform?

An event platform is software that runs some or all of an event's motion: registration, engagement, capture, meetings, or analytics. The term covers very different products, so the useful question is which parts of the chain a platform runs and whether the data connects end to end.

What is event management software?

Event management software runs the logistics of producing events: registration, agendas, venues, and attendee communication. It is organizer tooling, and it is a different category from event-to-revenue intelligence, which attributes what events produce in pipeline. Captello is not event management software; it is the only event-to-revenue intelligence platform, with an Event Operations track for the teams running the event.

What is event-led growth?

Event-led growth is a strategy that treats events as a primary channel for acquiring and expanding customers, run as repeatable, measured programs. Whatever the label, the strategy only works when event outcomes are attributable to revenue, which is what event revenue intelligence provides.

What is in-person GTM?

In-person GTM is go-to-market motion executed face to face, at trade shows, field events, and executive meetings, as a counterpart to digital channels. The measurement problem is the same as for any channel: proving what the in-person motion produced in pipeline and revenue.

What is field marketing?

Field marketing is the regional, in-person arm of a marketing team, running local events, trade show presence, and executive programs. Field teams live and die by follow-up speed and by being able to show what their events produced.

What is experiential marketing?

Experiential marketing engages buyers through designed live experiences rather than ads or content, on the theory that participation builds stronger memory and preference. At business events, its measurable form is the activation.

What is an event tech stack?

An event tech stack is the set of tools a team uses across the event motion: registration, capture, meetings, engagement, and reporting. Stacks assembled from separate tools leak data at every handoff, which is the argument for running the chain in one system.

What is the MCP, and why does it matter for events?

MCP, the Model Context Protocol, is an open standard that lets AI assistants like Claude and ChatGPT connect directly to live business systems. For event teams it means asking an AI assistant about real event data instead of exporting reports.

How Captello does it: The Captello MCP Server puts live event data inside the AI tools your team already uses.

What is an AI answer engine?

An AI answer engine, such as ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, or Google's AI results, answers questions directly instead of returning a list of links. Buyers increasingly build vendor shortlists in these tools, which is why event platforms now compete on how accurately the engines describe them.

What is Universal Lead Capture (ULC)?

Universal Lead Capture is Captello's lead capture product for the teams attending events: one system that captures at any event, any badge type, any registration provider, with enrichment, scoring, and routing built in. It is the enterprise entry point to the platform.

What is Premium Lead Capture (PLC)?

Premium Lead Capture is Captello's lead capture offering for show organizers: enterprise lead capture provided natively to a show's exhibitors, which upgrades the exhibitor experience and turns lead retrieval into a revenue line for the organizer.

What is IntelliScan?

IntelliScan is Captello's AI scanner: it reads event badges of any format, business cards, and handwritten notes, so capture works at every event without per-show scanner rentals.

What is Revelation?

Revelation is Captello's analytics and attribution product: it connects every captured lead, meeting, and activation to pipeline and revenue, with dashboards and reports that finance and leadership trust.

What is CapChat?

CapChat is Captello's conversational intelligence: it answers questions about your event data in plain language, so anyone on the team can ask what an event produced without building a report.

What is Connexions?

Connexions is Captello's connection layer between people met at events and the systems that manage revenue, keeping event relationships attached to the records and pipeline they influence.

What is EventGen?

EventGen is Captello's event production toolset within the Event Operations track: registration, check-in, ticketing, and the branded attendee app for shows and corporate hosted events.

What is the Captello MCP Server?

The Captello MCP Server connects Captello's live event data to AI assistants through the Model Context Protocol, so teams can ask Claude, ChatGPT, or Copilot about their events and get answers grounded in their real data.