A lead is a visitor who agreed to be contacted and whom the exhibitor chose to follow up, which makes it a different number from a scan. Sociana keeps three counts apart: raw scans (every time a stall’s QR reader read a visitor), consented leads (visitors whose details the exhibitor may keep and use) and qualified leads (consented leads the exhibitor has marked as worth pursuing, with a note). Mix them up and a stall that “had 400 leads” may have had forty conversations.
Exhibitors judge a show by what lands in their CRM on Monday. This post sets out the definitions we use, how the My Stall dashboard supports them, and what a trustworthy post-show export looks like.
Why is “number of leads” such a slippery metric?
Walk any Indian trade fair and you will hear three kinds of lead claims. Organisers say “we scanned thirty thousand badges”. Exhibitors say “we got two hundred leads”. Sales teams say “five of them were real”. All three may be honest. They are measuring different things.
The India exhibition sector is large and organised. The Indian Exhibition Industry Association, for example, lists more than 400 organisers, venues, service providers and trade bodies. The more stalls compete for attention, the more the definition of a lead decides whether a show is judged fairly.
The three counts, defined
| Count | Definition | Denominator |
|---|---|---|
| Raw scans | Every successful scan of a visitor’s QR at a stall, including repeats | Not a rate; a count of events |
| Unique visitors | Distinct visitors scanned at least once | Visitors in the show or at the stall |
| Consented leads | Visitors whose contact details the exhibitor may keep, captured with the visitor’s agreement | Unique visitors scanned |
| Qualified leads | Consented leads the exhibitor marked as qualified, with a note | Consented leads |
Sociana reports qualified leads on these definitions and keeps raw scans separate from consented and qualified leads.
How does Sociana capture them?
On the Bengaluru Wedding Fraternity Meet Up 4.0 app, exhibitors who staff a stall see My Stall on Home. The dashboard opens with Scan summary tiles for Stall scans, Unique visitors, Leads captured and Unique leads. The lead is captured by scanning the QR that the visitor opens from their own Profile, so the visitor has to present their code. Staff can add a note at the point of scanning. A Scan Log lists who visited and who became a lead. Stall Chats collects visitor messages. Members lets the stall lead add team members by email or mobile and promote a manager.
That detail about the visitor presenting their own QR is the heart of consent. The visitor chooses to be scanned. Nobody’s badge is read from across a table.
The visitor side is separate: delegates search and bookmark stalls, scan a stall to record a visit, leave a 1 to 5 rating with a comment, and chat with the stall team. A visitor-side scan is the visit; an exhibitor-side scan is the lead. Keep them distinct in your reports.
What makes a lead “qualified”?
Only the exhibitor can say, and the useful thing is to make the criteria explicit before the show. A simple rubric an exhibitor team can agree in a ten-minute huddle:
- Fit. The visitor’s business category matches what the stall sells. At BWF each person chose up to two of 17 business categories at first login, which makes fit easier to see.
- Need. The visitor stated a need, timeframe or budget range in conversation.
- Next step. There is something to do: a call, a quote, a sample, a meeting.
- Note. The note says what was said, in words another colleague can act on.
If all four hold, mark it qualified. If only the first holds, it is a consented lead, not a qualified one. The note field is where quality lives, so train staff to fill it in during the conversation, not after a long day.
What should a good post-show export look like?
Leads should leave the platform quickly and cleanly. Sociana provides leads, notes and a scan log, with export through Sheets or webhooks. Sociana does not offer native Salesforce or HubSpot sync, lead scoring or an interactive floor plan. A useful export includes:
- Visitor name and the contact details they consented to share.
- Business category, city and designation where the profile holds them.
- Scan time and the staff member who scanned.
- The note, and a qualified flag.
- A consent record: that the visitor presented their code at that stall.
Agree the export timing with exhibitors in advance. A list that arrives two weeks after the show has lost most of its value. Our research plan includes the time between show close and first export as a measure, and we will report it when we have enough shows.
How should organisers report on lead quality?
An organiser who wants to be believed should publish the funnel, not a single big number. For each show, report:
- Visitors present, from accepted attendance at entry.
- Unique visitors scanned at any stall.
- Consented leads per stall, as a median and range.
- Share of consented leads with a note.
- Qualified leads per stall, from exhibitors who opted to share.
The median matters more than the total. A few busy stalls can inflate the average. We recommend showing the distribution so quieter stalls can see where they stand and whether a problem is the stall, the location or the show.
What do exhibitors want from a platform?
From the BWF documentation, the lesson is that giving each stall its own scan log turns a crowded floor into a lead list the exhibitor owns. Exhibitors want four things: speed at the booth, ownership of the list, proof of visitor interest and a way to follow up. Visitors want to control what they share and to remember who they met, which is why a visitor’s own notes, favourites and meeting schedule sit on their Profile.
Rules can also award points to the visitor, the stall and the staff member for each scan, once per pair. Use that carefully. Points can make visitors scan every stall to win, which inflates raw scans and dilutes lead quality. If you run a game across the floor, report scans and leads separately so the game does not contaminate the lead metric.
Mistakes to avoid
- Counting scans as leads. The most common error, and the one that most flatters a show.
- Hiding the denominator. “300 leads” from how many visitors, at how many stalls?
- Skipping the note. A name and a number is a contact, not a qualified lead.
- Late exports. A list that arrives after the exhibitor has moved on is wasted.
- Gamifying the wrong number. Reward conversations, not scan counts.
Frequently asked questions
Does Sociana score leads automatically? No. The exhibitor qualifies leads by adding notes and marking them. There is no automatic lead scoring.
Can leads go straight into a CRM? Leads export through Sheets or webhooks. There is no native Salesforce or HubSpot connector.
Who owns the lead list? The exhibitor owns the leads their team captured, subject to the consent the visitor gave and your show’s terms. Agree this in writing with exhibitors before the show.
Can I see a stall dashboard? Read the My Stall feature page and the BWF case study, then ask us for a walkthrough.