| Glossary Home | |
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| O/A | Open Account. |
| O/N | Order Notify. |
| OAG ™ | Official Airline Guide. Published in geographically oriented editions, it provides information relative to airline schedules as well as airports, types of equipment, connecting times, etc. |
| Objective | Formalized statement of outcomes to be anticipated as a result of the educational process. |
| O'Brien | Sautéed with onions and green peppers (e.g. Corn O'Brien). |
| Observer | Delegate to an assembly who observes and reports but does not participate officially in its activities. |
| Obstructed View | View of stage, from audience seating, which is blocked. |
| Occupancy Rate | 1) In hotel/motel industry, the percentage of total number of available sleeping rooms actually occupied. Derived by dividing the total number of rooms occupied during a given time period (night, week, year) by the total number of rooms available for occupancy during that same period. 2) Measurement of building use, usually expressed as an annual percentage rate comparing potential facility capacity to actual usage. See EXHIBITION OCCUPANCY.
See Also Exhibition Occupancy |
| Ocean Bill of Lading | A bill of lading (B/L) indicating that the exporter consigns a shipment to an international carrier for transportation to a specified international market. Unlike an inland B/L, the ocean B/L also serves as a collection document. If it is a "Straight B/L," the foreign buyer can obtain the shipment from the carrier by simply showing proof of identity. If a "Negotiable B/L" is used, the buyer must first pay for the goods, post a bond, or meet other conditions agreeable to the seller. See AIR WAYBILL. See Also INLAND BILL OF LADING, THROUGH BILL OF LADING.
See Also Air Waybill , Inland Bill of Lading , Through Bill of Lading |
| Octave | Doubling or halving of frequency. The numerical interval, for example, between 440 Hz and 880 Hz or 220 Hz is an octave. |
| Oeuf | Egg. |
| Off Camera | Performance or action not seen on camera, such as a narration. |
| Off Premise Catering | Foods usually prepared in a central kitchen and transported for service to an off-site location. |
| Off-Airport Location | Site of a car rental operation service ay an airport but not located on airport premises. Travelers are shuttled from the airport to the car rental site. |
| Offer | A promise, proposal or other expression of willingness to make and carry out a contract under proposed terms with another party which has the ability to accept it upon receiving it. Space and rent proposal from a facility. It may be in the form of a contract or license agreement. |
| Office Suite | Similar to a hospitality suite, but geared more exclusively toward typical office communications services (i.e. phone, fax, computer, copier). |
| Official Airline | Airline contracted by the sponsor of an event to provide special deals or amenities to attendees. |
| Official Airline Guide | OAG™. Published monthly in several geographic editions, providing information on airline schedules as well as airports, types of equipment, connecting times, etc. |
| Official Banquet | Formally seated evening dinner which is normally included in the registration fee and at which speeches are made. |
| Official Carrier | Airline company designated airline of choice for an event in exchange for special rates or services. |
| Official Contractor | Organization appointed by show management to provide services such as set-up and tear-down of exhibit booths and to oversee labor, drayage and loading dock procedures. Also known as GENERAL SERVICE CONTRACTOR.
See Also General Service Contractor |
| Official Language | Language in which an organization states that it will conduct all of its business. |
| Official Opening | Ceremony, ribbon cutting, etc. to proclaim event officially opened. |
| Official Reception | Reception for conference participants hosted by local or governmental authorities or other officials. |
| Official Supplier/ Contractor | A supplier appointed by the event organizer to be the preferred provider of a given service. See GENERAL SERVICE CONTRACTOR.
See Also General Service Contractor |
| Off-Line | 1) Non-route airline ticketing service. 2) Computer application performed while not connected to a computer network. |
| Off-Line Connection | Connection through a particular city with a change of aircraft and continuing on same airline. See INTERLINE CONNECTION.
See Also Interline Connection |
| Off-Season | See LOW SEASON.
See Also Low Season |
| Offset | 1) A photographic printing process. 2) Transfer of freshly printed wet image onto back of another sheet of paper. |
| Offshore Meeting | An event taking place outside of the country of the originating body. |
| Off-Site | A term that describes any function or activity that occurs away from the primary event facility. Examples of its use include “Off-Site Food & Beverage,” “Off-Site Venue,” etc. See OFF PREMISE CATERING. Compare With ON-SITE.
See Also Off Premise Catering , On-Site |
| Offstage | Not in view of the audience. |
| Oignon | French for onion. |
| Oil Cloth | Waterproof material used for signs, banners, table coverings, etc. |
| On Consumption | A term used in food and beverage that refers to the purchasing option based on the amount utilized by the group. The organization pays for the food and beverage based on the actual food and beverage served. |
| On-Airport Location | A car rental operation at an airport terminal. |
| On-Center | Refers to measurement of space from center of a solid object (such as a COLUMN) to another point. |
| On-Demand | 1) The opposite of real-time. 2) Audio and/or video programming available on a Web site after the completion of an event, providing this content so Web site visitors can listen or view at their discretion. 3) FAX system for sending out faxed material upon request. |
| One for Fifty | Often represented as 1/50. Facility complimentary room policy: one complimentary room night for every fifty room nights picked up and paid for. While 1/50 was once the standard, the complimentary policies vary per hotel and/or event. |
| One Shot | Exhibit or display fabricated for one use only. |
| One Ten/Sixty | Common term describing normally available current in North American Continent. The full expression is 110 volt/60 cycle. Many European and South American areas have 220 volt/50 cycle power only. |
| One-Sheet | A one-sheet piece of printed advertising. These are often produced and distributed to help promote a speaker’s product or services. |
| One-Stop-Shop | A single source provider of goods or services. |
| Online | 1) Connected to a computer network, such as the Internet. 2) Accessible via a computer or computer network. |
| On-Line Connection | 1) Change of planes on same airline. 2) Internet Service Provider or browser. |
| Online Registration | Registration made via the Web. |
| On-Site | A term that describes any function or activity that occurs at the primary event facility. An example of its use is “On-Site Food & Beverage,” which is food and beverage ordered through a headquarters hotel’s catering department. See OFF PREMISE CATERING. Compare With OFF-SITE.
See Also Off Premise Catering , Off-Site |
| On-Site Management | Details that the event manager must supervise at the site of the event. |
| On-Site Office | Organizations' temporary headquarters office that is set up on-site to handle business during the event. |
| On-Site Order | See FLOOR ORDER.
See Also Floor Order |
| On-Site Registration | Process of signing up for an event on the day of, or at the site of, the event. |
| Opaque Projector | Equipment designed to project the image of an opaque object, such as a sheet of paper. |
| Open | Rooms are available for sale or occupancy. |
| Open Bar | Private room bar set up where guests do not pay for drinks. See HOST BAR. See Also SPONSORED BAR.
See Also Host Bar , Sponsored Bar |
| Open End | 1) Unlimited number of winners. See INCENTIVE TRAVEL. 2) Roundtrip airline ticket with no return date. 3) No final amount or date established.
See Also Incentive Travel |
| Open Insurance Policy | A marine insurance policy that applies to all shipments made by an exporter over a period of time rather than to one shipment only. |
| Open Jaw | An itinerary with flights into one city and departure from another, e.g., travel from Dallas to Reno, return from Denver to Dallas. |
| Open Seating | 1) Guests can sit anywhere. 2) Extra banquet tables are placed, but not fully set; these can be prepared quickly if there are more guests than expected. |
| Open Shop | Company in which union membership is not a condition of employment. Usually, a company which has no union at all. |
| Open Space Session | Breakout facilitation where topics for conversation emerge from the group. People who want to lead a conversation post discussion topics during a morning news gathering. Then, participants split up and go to the topic area they want to discuss. Everyone is asked to go to the topic that they have the most passion and interest around. The underlying assumption is that whoever shows up to the topic are the right people to be there. No assignments are made. Each group is asked to take notes so that they can share back or publish their ideas. Some people may decide to be "butterflies" moving from group to group over the course of the conversation time. If no one shows up it means that there is no interest in that topic. People can make more of a difference and have a greater impact on things that they are passionate about. |
| Open Ticket | Ticket, valid for transportation between certain points, indicating no specific reservation. |
| Open Union | Union which maintains no prohibitive restrictions for membership. It may be a union which agrees to accept any qualified employee of the employer as a member of the union. |
| Open-Ended | Type of question format in which respondents are asked to communicate a response in their own words. |
| Opening Address | Formal speech given at the commencement of a meeting to welcome participants; usually given by an eminent person. See KEYNOTE.
See Also Keynote |
| Opening Ceremony | The formal general session at the beginning of a congress or convention. |
| Opening Hours | Hours during which an exhibition is open to the public or trade visitors. |
| Opening Session | Meeting or meetings of a predetermined period of time, which begin a congress or convention and in which the principal items on the agenda are usually introduced. Usually a general or plenary session. |
| Operations | Performing the practical work of operating a program. Usually involves the in-house control and handling of all phases of the services, both with suppliers and with clients. |
| Operations Manager | Individual in charge of performing the practical and detailed work of program. See OPERATIONS.
See Also Operations |
| Operator | A loose term that may mean Destination Management Company (DMC).
See Also DMC |
| Optical Sound | Sound that is recorded by photographic means on film. |
| Opt-In | An email marketing campaign that only sends messages to users who have requested (or opted-in) to receive specific types of information. Email conference reminders and newsletters are examples of opt-in email marketing campaigns based upon permission marketing. See PERMISSION MARKETING.
See Also Permission Marketing |
| Option | 1) Space which is reserved but not yet contracted for. The right of first refusal to confirm a tentative space reservation if there is demand from another group. See TENTATIVE HOLD. 2) Options - Activities other than those included in the formal agenda which are optional and often require the payment of an additional participation fee done at the guest's discretion.
See Also Tentative Hold |
| Option Date | A prearranged date by which a hotel or facility will no longer hold tentative arrangements for a group. |
| Optional Tour | A TOUR or side trip offered at a designated date, time and price.
See Also Tour |
| OR | Owner’s Risk. |
| Oral Presentation | Contribution made verbally. |
| Oration | A formal and dignified public discourse. |
| Orator | Someone who speaks eloquently in public. |
| Order of Preference | A system which ranks dignitaries according to international protocol for purposes of seating, honors or ceremonies. |
| Organizer | The entity that produces the event. |
| Organizing Committee | A group of local people who carry out the strategies and policies established for the organization of an event held in their geographic area. See LOCAL HOST. See Also EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
See Also Local Host , Executive Committee |
| Organizing Secretariat | Staff providing secretarial services to the organizer. |
| Original Language | Initial language in which a document is drafted or a speech is delivered. |
| OS&D | Over, Short and Damage. |
| Oscillation | Moving back and forth in the same path. May also refer to electric voltages that move back and forth through a zero voltage reference. |
| Oscillator | Device that oscillates. Sound is the oscillation of air caused by a mechanical oscillation such as that from a moving piano string or drum head. An electronic oscillator is a device containing circuits designed to produce electrical oscillations that are maintained, usually at a constant amplitude, and may have other specific characteristics that suit them for use as circuit test signals. |
| Oscilloscope | Electronic test instrument which produces a visible image of electrical signals such as oscillations or waveforms on a viewing screen. |
| OSHA | Occupational Safety and Health Act. |
| OT | 1) Overtime. 2) On Truck or Railway. |
| OT Labor | Work performed on overtime, billed at either time-and-one-half or twice the published labor rates. |
| OTR | Over the Road. Freight that moves on the road, typically shipped directly to the convention center. |
| Out of Order | OOO. Room under renovation or requiring maintenance. |
| Out Take | Taped or filmed scenes not used in the final production. |
| Outbound Operator | A company that takes groups from a given city or country to another city or country. |
| Outbound Tour | Any tour that takes groups outside a given city or country to another city or country. Compare With INBOUND TOUR.
See Also Inbound Tour |
| Outlets | 1) Electrical outlets. 2) Restaurants, lounges or retail stores within a facility. |
| Out-Plant | Company’s travel reservations occur at company’s travel department staffed by company; ticketing occurs at travel agency. |
| Outside Exhibit | Booth/stand located outdoors. |
| Outside Line | Telephone line from in-house phone to the outside (off-property) phone, obtained through the in-house operator. |
| Outside Vendor | Supplier who is not directly associated with the facility. |
| Outsource | To subcontract a task or responsibility to a supplier to handle some aspect of an event. |
| Outsourcing | Hiring an outside firm or individual to perform the task instead of using in-house staff; to subcontract a task or responsibility to a third party. |
| Overage | Surplus, excess, or extra. |
| Overbooked | 1) A Hotel accepting sleeping room reservations for more hotel sleeping rooms than are available; guests overstay leaving less room inventory for new guests. 2) Oversold airline flights. |
| Overbooking | The practice of confirming more seats or rooms than are actually available. Suppliers state they must overbook to compensate for the high rate of no-show passengers. |
| Overflow | Attendees booked into other facilities after headquarters facilities are full. |
| Overhead | 1) The general continuing costs involved with running a business. 2) Sheet of clear acetate on which images are prepared for overhead projection. |
| Overhead Projector | Equipment which projects an image on a screen by passing light through a transparent slide or other transparency. |
| Overlay | 1) Clear acetate film used to separate different components of art work. 2) Tissue sheet over artwork on which corrections or alterations are indicated. 3) A panel mounted to another surface. 4) A second, smaller tablecloth used for decorative purposes at banquets. See DOUBLE CLOTH.
See Also Double Cloth |
| Overnight Service | Relates to airfreight service. Overnight does not necessarily mean 24-hour delivery as carriers deal in business days. For example, unless a Saturday or Sunday delivery is specifically requested, tendering an overnight shipment to a carrier on a Friday provides for a Monday delivery. In addition, a shipment might not move until the following day, depending on the time of day it is picked up or loaded. For example, an overnight shipment picked up from a show site at 10:00 pm on Tuesday may not be delivered until Thursday. |
| Overnight Stays | The total nights spent by an attendee at a housing facility during an event, and before and after the event. |
| Override | A commission over and above the normal base commission percentage. |
| Over-Set | Number of covers set over the guarantee. Paid for by the client only if actually consumed. |
| Oversold | Number of confirmed reservations exceeds number of seats on the aircraft. See OVERBOOKED.
See Also Overbooked |
| Overstay | A guest who stays at a housing facility (hotel, motel, etc.) one or more days longer than his or her scheduled departure date. Also Called STAY OVER, UNDER DEPART. Compare With UNDERSTAY.
See Also Under-Stay |
| Overtime | Time worked by an employee outside of, or in addition to, regular working time or beyond the standard forty-hour workweek. |
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