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ESL Guide

Sports Event and Entertainment Management

  1. Amphitheatre: An open-air facility with a stage, usually with some permanent seating under cover, and some lawn seating area.
  2. Arena: An indoor facility with fixed and/or portable seats surrounding an open floor area, which can be set with different event configurations. May have a permanent stage or use portable staging when necessary.
  3. Backstage: Generally considered such areas as dressing rooms, prop storage, and similar sections of a theater restricted to cast members, stagehands, and other professionals.
  4. Batten: A pipe batten is a length of pipe to which a set of lines of the rigging system is hooked or tied.
  5. Consumer Shows: Consumer shows are events normally open to the public and for which an admission fee is charged. Almost without exception, such shows – home shows, boat shows, auto shows, etc. – are designed to attract a specific market segment.
  6. Convention and Visitors Bureau: Local or regional organizations whose responsibility is to solicit and service meetings and conventions of all types. In most cities, CVBs are also responsible for marketing the leisure travel industry and providing visitor services.
  7. Convention Center/Exhibition Hall: An indoor facility with a large open area to provide display space for large conventions exhibits and trade shows, supplemented by various sized meeting rooms.
  8. Event Coordinator: An individual from a public assembly facility staff who is the primary contact or liaison for the lessee of the facility. All requests or problems are channeled to the Event Coordinator who, in turn, refers them to the appropriate department or individual within the facility staff.
  9. Exhibit Booth: Space within a trade show or exhibition is normally divided into areas approximately ten feet wide by ten or eight feet in depth. These spaces are then leased to a company or individual for the duration of a trade show or exhibition.
  10. Exhibitor: An individual or firm that has leased a given amount of space in a trade show or exhibition from the sponsoring association or trade show producer.
  11. Green Room: The common waiting room in many theaters for performers when they are not on stage. It is a room also used by stars to receive guests or media personnel following a performance.
  12. Headquarters Hotel: A large hotel, usually in a downtown location, offering hundreds of sleeping rooms, meeting rooms, a ballroom and hospitality suites plus food and beverage service. Ideally, this property would have sufficient rooms to house the majority of delegates attending a convention.
  13. Lessee: The organization, individual or company that has leased a facility, or portion thereof, for a given event or function.
  14. Loading Dock: A backstage location referring to the level at which the counterweights are placed in the carriages. The term sometimes applies to the raised area directly outside the loading door of the stage.
  15. Orchestra Pit: A lowered or sunken area for musicians separating the stage from the main seating area of an auditorium. Some offer adjustable heights and almost all have direct under-stage connections to dressing rooms.
  16. Promoter: The individual (presenter or entrepreneur) who has contracted with an act, performer or event on a specific date or dates and has leased an audience support facility (public assembly facility) in which to present the attraction to the public. This individual is usually responsible for advertising and promoting the event.
  17. Proscenium Arch: The opening in the wall which separates the stage from the seating area.
  18. Rigging: The entire system of ropes, loft blocks, head blocks, pipe battens, or other mechanisms which control curtains, props, scenery, and other items.
  19. Show Decorator: A service contractor, who normally works under a contract or agreement with an association or show management company to set booths, drape walls, erect registration booths and perform similar tasks.
  20. Show Manager: An individual normally responsible for the show layout or floor plan and the selling of space for an exhibition or trade show.
  21. Stadium: A large facility, either open-aired or domed, with fixed seats or bleachers surrounding a “field area”.
  22. Stage Carpenter: A stagehand, but primarily charged with responsibilities which call for the construction and/or building skills.
  23. Stage Electrician: A stagehand, who is primarily responsible for the lighting and electrical requirements of a show.
  24. Stage House: The entire backstage area from the floor to the ceiling.
  25. Stage: The raised platform on which the performance in a theater or arena takes place.
  26. Stagehand: An individual who performs a broad variety of services and tasks behind the scenes ranging anywhere from raising and lowering of the curtains, to handling scenery and properties. In many instances stagehands are members of the International Alliance of Theater and Stage Employees (IATSE).
  27. Thrust Stage: A stage with seating on three sides.
  28. Trade Show: An exhibition which may, or may not, be conducted in conjunction with an annual or semi-annual convention or meeting of an association. Products displayed are usually those of specific interest to a particular industry or profession. Trade shows are usually closed to the public with admission being restricted to registered delegates, as opposed to a consumer show.