Exhibitor how-to guide
Everything your team needs runs from one portal
Aviation Connect gives your exhibiting team AI-matched buyer meetings, a badge scanner and live booth analytics — in the browser, with nothing to install. This guide walks through each of them. Read it end to end before the show, then keep it on your phone for the three days.
Getting into the Sponsor Portal
Aviation Connect opens on the Attendee Portal for everyone — your team included. Your meeting credits, badge scanner and booth analytics live in the Sponsor Portal, one click away.
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1
Set up your Sponsor Portal account
Your account set-up email goes out on 21 September from onboarding@hub.terrapinn.com, subject “Set up your sponsor portal account”. Follow it to create your account before you do anything else.
Can't see it? Search that address in your inbox and check your spam folder. If it still isn't there, email megan.crowe@terrapinn.com.
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2
Open your personal link
Your link is tied to your registration, so every person on the team needs their own. It won't work for a colleague.
- Lost it
- Message the Aviation Festival WhatsApp with “Send my personal link to Aviation Connect”, or check your inbox for the access email.
- Still stuck
- Email megan.crowe@terrapinn.com and we'll re-send it.
Register the whole team. Each team member needs to be registered via their own staff link to access the Sponsor Portal and be a member of the team. Anyone not registered won't see the option at all.
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3
You'll land in the Attendee Portal
This is expected, not a fault. You'll see Home, Matches, Agenda, Explore and My Badge — the attendee tools. The sponsor tools are on the other view.
On desktop — look to the bottom left, under Switch Portal.
On mobile — tap the menu (☰) at the top right to find Switch Portal.
Either way, a tick marks the view you’re in.
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4
Switch to the Sponsor Portal
On desktop — click Sponsor Portal in the bottom-left panel.
On mobile — tap Sponsor Portal in the menu.
Either way, the tick moves across and the sponsor tools replace the attendee ones.
Switch back the same way whenever you want your own agenda, matches or badge — you keep full attendee access as well.
✓ You're in
Your Sponsor Portal home
The navigation swaps to four tools and the home page becomes your booth's dashboard. The header now reads Sponsor Portal next to the event logo — that's how you know you're on the right view.
- A
Meeting Credits
Your company's balance, always in view — here, 9 of 10 meetings remaining. It's the same number in both portals.
- B
Pending Meetings
Buyers waiting on your answer. Accepting these costs nothing. View All opens the full list.
- C
Booth Analytics
Today at a glance: Scans Today, Meetings, Total Leads. View Full Analytics for the detail.
- D
Your four tools
Home, Scanner, Analytics, Meetings. That's the whole Sponsor Portal — sections 2 to 4 of this guide cover the last three.
Your meeting count and your credit spend won't match — that's correct. Meetings that came in as requests from buyers are free, so the number in Meetings can run well ahead of the credits you've used. Only the requests you sent and got accepted come off the balance.
How meeting credits actually work
Four rules. The first one surprises most exhibitors.-
Free
Accepting costs you nothing
A credit is only deducted when a meeting you requested is accepted. Meetings other people request with you are free — so accept every good one. There's no limit on those.
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1 credit
Requesting is what costs
Send a meeting request, and if the buyer accepts, one credit comes off the balance. Requests that are never accepted don't cost anything.
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Shared
One pot per company, first come first served
The balance belongs to your company, not to you. There's no per-person allocation — everyone at the booth draws from the same number, in the order they book.
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Expires
Unused credits don't carry over
Whatever is left at the end of the show is gone. If you run out before then, contact the team to buy more.
Because the pot is shared and first come first served, one colleague working through their matches on day one can spend the whole allocation before the rest of the team logs in. Decide as a team who sends requests, or split the balance between you on paper.
If something doesn't look right
- No Sponsor Portal option
- You're most likely not registered as part of the exhibiting team. Contact us and we'll add you.
- The portal won't load
- Refresh the browser, or close the tab and reopen your link.
- Your colleague can't get in
- They need their own link — yours won't work for them. Same two routes as step 1.
- Nothing to install
- Aviation Connect is a web app rather than something to download from an app store.
Your meetings, and where to be
You never pick a slot. Once a meeting is accepted, Aviation Connect finds the time and books the table for you — this page is where you find out where to be.
A request goes one way or the other
Either you send a meeting request to a recommended buyer, or a buyer sends one to you. Both sit as Pending until the other side answers.
Somebody accepts
Accepting a request sent to you is free. A request you sent costs one credit the moment it's accepted.
Unsure? Leave it pending. Don't decline — a pending request can still be accepted later, a declined one is gone.
The platform books it for you
Aviation Connect picks a slot inside Aviation Connect Hours and assigns a table. No slot-picking, no email back-and-forth — the meeting simply appears.
What each meeting tells you
Everything you need to walk to the right table at the right time, with the right name in your head.
- A
Day 1, 2, 3
One tab per show day — Tue 13, Wed 14, Thu 15 October. Check each one; your meetings are spread across all three.
- B
The time
Your start time, to the minute. They land on odd-looking times like 10:55 because meetings run back to back in 15-minute blocks.
- C
The table number
Already assigned. Tables are numbered in the Aviation Connect Zone — find yours and sit down.
- D
Your company, and the count
The header shows the whole booth's meetings, not just yours, with the total top right. Same shared logic as the credit pot.
- E
Who you're meeting
Name, job title and company. Worth thirty seconds of reading before you sit down.
Aviation Connect Hours
All meetings happen in the Aviation Connect Zone, and only inside these windows. Nothing gets booked outside them — so plan booth cover around these times.
| Show day | Meeting windows |
|---|---|
| Day 1Tue 13 Oct | 10:45 – 11:5014:50 – 15:55 |
| Day 2Wed 14 Oct | 11:30 – 12:3514:35 – 15:35 |
| Day 3Thu 15 Oct | 10:45 – 12:00 |
Two windows a day, then one on the last day. That's roughly four and a half hours of meeting time across the whole show — which is why unspent credits are worth chasing early rather than on Thursday morning.
How the meetings actually run
Speed-dating format. Be ready for it.-
15 min
Fifteen minutes, back to back
No overrun. The next pair needs your table. Open with what you do in one sentence and spend the rest listening.
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Arrive early
Get to the table before the slot starts
Finding table 27 in a busy zone eats minutes you don't have. Walk over during the previous session, not when your meeting begins.
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Free
Scan the person you just met
A meeting isn't a lead until it's captured. Scan their badge at the table — it costs nothing and puts them in your export with your notes attached.
If something doesn't look right
- A day tab looks empty
- Nothing is booked for that day yet. Check the other tabs — meetings spread across all three.
- You can't find your table
- Tables are numbered within the Aviation Connect Zone. Ask any member of the event team on the floor.
- A meeting shows a code, not a name
- The other side's profile hasn't finished syncing. It resolves on its own — the time and table are still correct.
- Two meetings look close together
- That's the format, not a clash. Slots run back to back in 15-minute blocks.
Scanning badges at your booth
Every attendee badge carries a QR code. Scanning it captures that person as a lead, with no form-filling and no typing. Scans are unlimited and don't touch your meeting credits.
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1
Open Scanner
In the Sponsor Portal, tap Scanner in the bottom bar. You'll get the Booth Scanner screen.
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2
Tap Start Scanning
The first time, your browser asks for camera permission. Allow it — without it the frame stays empty and nothing will scan.
Set this up before the doors open. Every person who'll scan needs their own login and their own camera permission, on their own phone — worth doing ahead of time rather than while a buyer is waiting.
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3
Line the badge up in the frame
Hold the attendee's QR code inside the frame — Position QR code within frame. It reads automatically; there's no shutter button to press.
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4
Add your notes there and then
A contact card appears for the person you've just scanned. Type what you talked about while it's fresh — those notes carry through to your lead export, so they're what your follow-up is built on.
A scan with no note is just a name. A scan with two lines of context is a qualified lead.
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5
Watch the counters
Scans Today and Total Leads sit under the frame and update as you go — a quick check that scans are registering, and a running total for the booth.
Two things that catch people out
Both are about the booth, not the software.-
No signal? Fine
Scanning works offline
Hall wi-fi drops. It doesn't matter — scans are captured on your phone and sync automatically the moment you're back online. Keep scanning; nothing is lost.
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Free
Scans are unlimited
Badge scanning has nothing to do with meeting credits. Scan every visitor to the booth — there's no balance to protect here.
If something doesn't look right
- The camera won't turn on
- Permission was declined. Re-enable camera access for the site in your browser settings, then reload the page.
- The frame is black
- Another app may be holding the camera. Close it, then reload the scanner.
- The code won't read
- Move back slightly and steady your hand. Badges in plastic wallets sometimes glare — tilt away from the lights.
- Counters aren't moving
- Likely offline. The scans are safe and will appear once you reconnect.
Reading your booth analytics
Three numbers at the top, two lists underneath, and an Export button that turns all of it into a CSV your CRM can read. This is where the booth stops being a hunch.
What's on the Analytics page
Open it from Analytics in the Sponsor Portal. Everything updates live while the show is running.
- A
Total Scans
Every badge your team has scanned, with today's count underneath.
- B
Unique Visitors
Distinct attendees. The gap between this and Total Scans is your repeat visitors — people who came back. That gap is usually your warmest list.
- C
Meetings Booked
Confirmed meetings, with pending underneath. Anything still pending is waiting on somebody's answer — chase those before the hours run out.
- D
Top Companies
The organisations showing up most across your scans and meetings. Treat it as your account list for follow-up.
- E
Recent Leads
Latest booth scans, newest first. A quick way to check the team's scanning is actually landing.
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1
Click Export, top right
It sits above the tiles on both desktop and mobile.
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2
Pick which file you want
Two downloads, both CSV, both open straight into Excel or your CRM:
- Meetings
- Who you met, when, and at which table.
- Booth scans
- Every lead your team scanned — including the notes typed at the booth.
An option greyed out? There's nothing to export in that category yet. It comes alive as soon as you have your first scan or booking.
Make the export part of the day
The leads are only worth what you do with them.-
Daily
Pull the CSVs at the end of each day
Don't wait until you're home. Exporting each evening gets leads to whoever is following up while the conversation is still fresh in the buyer's mind too.
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Free
Your booth notes come with it
Whatever your team typed on the contact card after each scan lands in the Booth scans file. That's the difference between a list of names and a list you can actually work.
If something doesn't look right
- Total Scans looks low
- Someone at the booth may be scanning while offline. The numbers catch up once their phone reconnects.
- An export option is greyed out
- There's no data in that category yet — it activates with your first scan or booked meeting.
- Unique Visitors is lower than Total Scans
- That's normal and good: it means people came back to the booth more than once.
- The CSV won't open properly
- Open Excel first, then use File → Open on the downloaded file rather than double-clicking it.
The lead up to the event
Four things to get done in the weeks before the event — registering your team and booking meetings especially. Each one is a support call you won’t have to make at the booth.
Everyone registered
Only registered members of the exhibiting team can reach the Sponsor Portal.
Agree who books
One shared credit pot, first come first served. Decide before anyone starts.
Scanner tested
Each phone needs its own login and its own camera permission. Test them.
Hours in the diary
Meetings only happen inside Aviation Connect Hours. Plan booth cover around them.