ReefStock® Terms & Conditions

Assignment of Space

Reef Builders, Inc.  [ReefStock®] shall assign the display space to the exhibitor for the period of ReefStock®. Such assignment is to be made upon receipt of this application and payment. Location assignments will be on a first-come first-served basis dependent upon receipt of deposit. Reef Builders® shall have the final determination on booth assignment. Each exhibitor shall note preferences for booth location as instructed on the application. While every attempt will be made to provide exhibitors with one of these top choices, there is no guarantee that final location will be one of preference.

Reef Builders® reserves the right to modify the floor plan as necessary to preserve a compact and attractive exhibit area. Such modification may include the expansion and addition of more exhibition space and booths. Booth sizes will not be reduced, and will maintain standard 10’×10′ sizing. Exhibits shall be constructed and arranged so that they do not obstruct the general view or hide the exhibits of others. Exposed, unfinished sides of exhibit backgrounds must be draped to present an attractive appearance. Inspection of all exhibits will be made during the setup phase to inform the exhibitor of any noted deviation from the rules. If the exhibitor is not available, the decorator, with the approval of the exhibits manager, will provide the necessary draping and submit additional charges to the exhibitor.

Payment Requirements

To reserve a standard booth, payment of a non-refundable 50% deposit will be required. The penalty for non-payment may include forfeiture of any assigned exhibition space. Upon the occurrence of such forfeiture, should desired or alternative booths no longer be available, exhibitor will be placed on a waiting list in the case that any booths become available at a later date. All payments to Reef Builders® for exhibitor booth space are non-refundable.

Installation of Exhibits:

Set up for ReefStock Chattanooga will be allowed starting on September 1st, 2023. All work must be completed prior to 10:30pm March 1st, 2024. Set up will continue the following morning September 2nd, 2023, starting at 7:00am. All exhibits must be set up by 9:00am on September 2nd. No exhibit may be erected after the event opens to Reef Stock attendees. It is the responsibility of the exhibitor to see that all materials are delivered to the exhibit hall by the specified deadline.

Booth Power:

Each booth is provided power feed according to their booth option. Should additional power be required, exhibitor shall contract with and pay Trade Show Electrical facility management directly. Additional booth power options will be available as outlined in Exhibitor Manual.

Labor Contractors:

To Be Announced.

Dismantling of Exhibits:

No packing or dismantling of booths will be allowed until the official closing of the exhibit at 4:00 pm on September 3rd, 2023. ALL exhibitors MUST be dismantled and packed up by 10:00 pm on September 3rd, 2023. If an exhibitor fails to remove their exhibit, removal will be arranged by Reef Builders® at the expense of the exhibitor.

Use of Display Space

Exhibitors are allowed to distribute literature, run demonstrations, and sell products in their assigned exhibit spaces. Activities may not encroach on neighboring booths or the main event.

Observance of Laws

Exhibitor shall abide by and observe all laws, rules and regulations, and ordinances.

Indemnity & Limitation of Liability

Neither Reef Builders®, any co-sponsor, display space provider, nor any of their officers, agents, employees, facilities, other representatives, or assignees shall be liable for, and exhibitor hereby releases them from, any claims, suits, demands, and/or actions for damage, loss, harm, or injury to the person, property, or business of the sponsor or any of its visitors, officers, agents, employees, or other representatives, resulting from theft, fire, earthquake, water, structural failure, unavailability of the facility, accident or any other reason in connection with the display at the conference. The Exhibitor shall indemnify, defend, and protect Reef Builders® and hold Reef Builders®, any co-sponsor, and space provider harmless from any and all claims, demands, suits, liability, damages, losses, costs, attorney’s fees, and expenses which might result or arise from Exhibitor’s participation in the conference or any actions of its officers, agents, employees, or other representatives. Under no circumstance will Reef Builders®, any co-sponsor, or the exhibit space provider be liable for lost profits or other incidental or consequential damages for any of their acts or omissions whatsoever whether or not appraised of the possibility or likelihood of such damages or lost profits. In no event shall Reef Builders®’s liability under any circumstance, exceed the amount actually paid to it by the Exhibitor for display space. Reef Builders® makes no representations or warranties regarding the number of persons who will attend the conference. All implied warranties, including, without limitation, warranties of scope of service, or fitness for a particular purpose, are expressly disclaimed.

Cancellation & Termination

If for any reason beyond its reasonable control, including fire, strike, earthquake, damage, construction or renovation to the display site, government regulation, public catastrophe, act of God, or any similar reason, Reef Builders® shall determine that the conference or any part may not be held. Reef Builders® may cancel the conference, including the booth space, table-top displays or any part thereof. In that event, Reef Builders® shall determine and refund to the exhibitor its proportionate share of the balance of the aggregate display fees received which remains after deducting all expenses incurred by Reef Builders®. Should the event be rescheduled, all payments will be applied to the new date and venue chosen.

Exhibitor Cancellation

All payments made to Reef Builders® under this application shall be deemed fully earned and non-refundable in consideration of expenses incurred by Reef Builders® in providing display space to others following lost or deferred opportunity.

Exhibitor Attire

All exhibitors are expected to dress in appropriate attire. Exhibitors should ensure that the attire of all staff they deploy at their booth [whether the exhibitor’s direct employees or their contractors] be considered appropriate in a professional environment.

General Conduct of Exhibitors

The following are prohibited:

Noise that interferes with other Exhibitors. Events, raffles and games may not intrude on neighboring booths.

Sales of raffle tickets are not permitted. You may offer free entries with a chance to win an item. Holding a live raffle, as in calling out numbers on the show floor, is not permitted. Should you need to perform a live raffle, please contact event management to arrange for an off-floor location. Reminder: raffle ticket sales [where money is exchanged] are not permitted.

Volatile, flammable, or explosive materials or any other substance prohibited by law or insurance carriers.

Subleasing of exhibit space.

Canvassing or exhibiting material outside the Exhibitor’s own space.

The use of billboard signs or other displays outside the Exhibitor’s own space.

Soliciting participation in surveys outside of Exhibitor’s own space or otherwise interfering with the free passage of registrants.

Solicitation of business or meetings in the interest of business by anyone other than representatives of exhibiting firms.

Publicizing and/or maintaining any extracurricular activities, inducements, displays, or demonstrations away from venue during exhibit hours.

The use of thumbtacks, scotch tape, nails, screws, bolts, or any tool or material that could mark the floor or walls. No signs or other articles are to be fastened to walls or electrical fixtures.

Activities that would impede the flow of traffic through the area.

The selling of foods or beverages other than those ordered through ReefStock® approved vendors.

Any image, item, or material that Reef Builders®, in its sole and exclusive discretion, deems offensive or inappropriate for any reason.

Standard of Livestock Care

The following requirements for live animals must be followed at all Reef Builders® [ReefStock®] events. The care and well being of all marine animals at ReefStock® events is of the utmost importance. ReefStock® reserve the right to inspect the holding systems and the care of all animals at any ReefStock® event. Exhibitors found not following the requirements below may be asked to leave the Reef Stock event without reimbursement, and may never receive an invitation to return to future ReefStock® events.

What is considered under livestock.

Any live vertebrate animal [phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata], including but not limited to bony [osteichthyan] and cartilaginous [chondrichthyan] fishes.

Any live invertebrate animal [not included in subphylum Vertebrata].

Artificial Marine Life Support System

Holding/display tank: the vessel containing livestock.

• The holding/display tank must be an aquarium, i.e., a vessel professionally designed with the original purpose of housing aquatic life.
• Considerations for the design of the display/holding systems, such as dimensions and volume, have to include characteristics of intended livestock, such as whether they are mobile [e.g., fishes, crustaceans, anemones], or sessile [e.g., corals].

Filtration:

• Filtration can be provided either in the display [air stones, hangon filters, canister filters, etc.], by means of a filtration tank [i.e., a sump], or through hybrid display systems that incorporate both display and filtration sections into one tank by means of dividers.
• Regardless of design, the holding/display system must incorporate some form of filtration that provides air/water gas exchange and water clarity while preserving life. At minimum:
  • Water circulation must be maintained for air/water gas exchange with either a water pump or air pump with stone [or both].
• Additional filtration methods are recommended, but not required. Such as,
  • Mechanical filtration, in the form of, for example, pleated [canister] filter, filter sock, filter wool, etc.
  • Protein skimmers
  • Carbon Filtration
  • UV sterilizers
  • Media reactors of various types.

Water Quality:

• Optimum water quality must be maintained at all times. In order to achieve this, the following parameters must be maintained within the specified boundaries listed below. These are hard boundaries and must be adhered to at all times, unless the exhibitor can show a valid biological requirement for parameters outside the listed ranges, e.g., requirements of temperate species.

These are case by case scenarios, and must be addressed prior to Reef Stock.

• Temperature:
  • A target temperature of 70 – 80 °F [21 to 27 °C] is to be maintained.
  • ReefStock® cannot guarantee temperatures on the event floor, a heater must be present and enabled in the system.
• • Salinity:
  • A target salinity of 32 – 36 ppt/psu [1.0241 – 1.0271 specific gravity] is to be maintained.
  • ReefStock® understands that many captive bred marine vertebrates are aquacultured in marine systems that are maintained in 25 ppt/psu [1.0188 specific gravity]. As such, in interest of reducing the stress of the organisms ReefStock® suggests that these systems be maintained at 25 ppt/psu [1.0188 specific gravity] and only keep vertebrate organisms, and not invertebrates, in those systems.
• Dissolved oxygen:
  • Dissolved oxygen is to be maintained at >75% saturation for the given salinity and temperature of the system. This is equivalent to > 4.48 – 5.54 mg/L for the temperature and salinity ranges stated previously.
• pH : acidity or alkalinity
  •  A target pH of 7.6 – 8.4 is to be maintained.
• Nitrogenous Waste Products: NH 3 /NH 4 + , NO 2 – , and NO 3 – .
  • The nature of a trade show allows for little biological filtration capacity. This has been taken into consideration, but is not a pretext for substandard care of livestock.
  • Ammonia/Ammonium. Total Ammonia + Ammonium [NH 3 + NH 4 + ] concentrations are not allowed to exceed 2.5 mg/L [ppm] at any point, except if ammonia [NH 3 ] binders are used.
  • Furthermore, whether ammonia [NH 3] binders are used, or not, free ammonia is not allowed to exceed 0.4 mg/L [ppm] at any point
    • ReefStock® inspections will employ tests for free ammonia [NH 3 ], and would not give false positives if ammonia binders were used. ++
  • Nitrite [NO2 -] . Total nitrite concentrations are not allowed to exceed 1.0 mg/L [ppm] at any point
• Turbidity [Water clarity]: Water cloudiness or haziness caused by suspended particles [including bacterial blooms].
  • Target turbidity of less than 5 NTU [Nephelometric Turbidity Units] is to be maintained while livestock is present.
• Photoperiod. Booth and system lighting must be programmed to, or manually, shut off by 9:00 PM, and not come back on before 6:00 AM for a minimum of 9 hour dark period. Times are for the timezone of the Reef Stock location.

Standards Relevant to Livestock Sale

Static housing will not be allowed, until a customer has purchased livestock, and that livestock has been properly packed for transport and handed over to the customer.

• Static housing is defined as any vessel that is not equipped with a filtration system.
• Static housing will not be allowed for the purposes of displaying livestock, or holding specimens that have been “set aside” for a customer.
  • This includes the “pre-bagging” of livestock and floating the bags in a tank as a means of display and method of sale.
• Any reserved livestock, must remain in system equipped with the minimum life support systems described herein until picked up by the customer.

Adhering to the Standards

Regardless of any additional equipment the exhibitor chooses to employ beyond the necessary stated minimum above, it is the sole responsibility of the exhibitor to maintain the water quality parameters stated above.

It is the responsibility of the exhibitor to have in their possession the appropriate equipment to measure and maintain the required parameters.

•  Each exhibitor is required to have in their possession or immediate access to the following equipment and test kits.
  • thermometer
  • hydrometer or refractometer.
  • ammonia, nitrite, and pH test kits
• Testing should be done throughout the day to insure a safe environment for the livestock.
• If the exhibitor finds that parameters are getting close to exceeding the set bounds, the easiest way to correct problems with the majority of the listed parameters is to conduct water changes. It is advisable that the exhibitor is familiar with their system and biological load that they intend to have their system carry in order to anticipate how much water they may need for water changes. Water for a water change can be sourced by contacting any ReefStock® representative.
• Maintaining water clarity can sometimes be difficult, but cloudy [turbid] water will not be tolerated at ReefStock® . For this reason it is highly suggested that systems be equipped with systems that push the water through media such as hard carbons or diatomaceous sand.

Exhibitor agrees to observe and abide by the foregoing terms and conditions and by such additional terms, conditions, and rules made by Reef Builders® from time to time for the efficient and safe operation of the conference. The subject matter included in this agreement as part of this agreement represents the entire agreement between the exhibitor and Reef Builders®. Reef Builders® is not making any express warranties or other agreements except as set forth above. All implied warranties are disclaimed to the extent permitted under applicable law. Any amendment to this contract must be in writing signed by Reef Builders® . The rights of Reef Builders® under this agreement shall not be deemed waived except as specifically stated in writing and signed by an officer of Reef Builders®. If any term of this agreement shall be declared invalid or unenforceable, the remainder of the agreement shall continue in full force and effect. This agreement shall be binding upon the heirs, successors, and assigns of the Exhibitor subject to the terms of this agreement regarding assignment.

Questions?

All questions concerning exhibitor agreement, exhibitor participation, or exhibitor application can be directed to [email protected]

Suitcasing Policy Statement
(Protecting your investment in ReefStock)

Reef Builders® is making preparations for its upcoming ReefStock® show and working ensure that your company is enabled to have a successful show.

Show Management has mandated increased measures to protect exhibitors from suitcasing at the Show. This is the Show Management’s Suitcasing Policy, which will be posted using signage around the exhibit hall and included in the onsite guide for all attendees.

What is suitcasing?

Suitcasing is when a company registers as an attendee, when they should be registered as an exhibitor at the event and are actively trying to recruit business from attendees – by handing out flyers in hallways, leaving printed material on tables, etc. – without paying to be an exhibitor. Obviously, this is directly stealing revenue from the conference, as well as stealing from the official sponsors and exhibitors as well as being deceitful and confusing to the attendees. Reef Builders® desires to protect your investment in Reef Stock by preventing suitcasing.

Outboarding is when a company that should be a sponsor of an event instead decides to host their own competing event without the consent of the original event organizer. Outboarding steals from event organizers directly by costing them revenue from the potential sponsor, as well as revenue from any other sponsors of the outboarded event that might have otherwise been spent on official events. Outboarding also steals attention away from official sponsors and exhibitors of the official event, drawing attendees and media attention away from sponsors. Lastly, it is deceitful and harmful to attendees by confusing them into thinking they are supporting the official event when really they are not.

Outboarding and suitcasing are both very common at conferences and trade shows. Now that you know what they are, you can recall several times when you have either attended an outboarding event or been approached by a suitcaser. Most people don’t realize how harmful these things can be, but if you take either to the extreme of “what if everyone did that?” you can see how there would no longer be an event at all – and then everyone would lose.

Showcase Policy / No Suitcasing:

Please note that while all attendees are invited to the exhibit floor, any attendee who is observed to be soliciting business in the aisles or other public spaces, in another company’s booth, or in violation of any portion of the Exhibition Policy, will be asked to leave immediately. Additional penalties may be applied. Please report any violations you may observe to Show Management. Show Management recognizes that suitcasing may also take the form of commercial activity conducted from a hotel guest room or hospitality suite; a restaurant, club, or any other public place of assembly. For the purposes of this policy, suitcasing violations may occur at venues other than the exhibition floor and at other events. Show Management must be informed of any hospitality suites, and expressed consent must be received prior to the event.

What show management will do:

Show Management has created a Suitcasing Prevention Team that will be in place from the start of the Show to the conclusion of the Show. This team will respond to all complaints regarding suitcasing. The team will be trained on what to look for and the appropriate factors to determine if there is an issue.

Suitcasing Prevention Team will have the following responsibilities:

• Review complaints concerning suitcasing.
• Review each complaint off the Show floor and take appropriate action, including removal from the Show floor.
• Levy penalties for violations, up to and including, suspension from participation in future Shows.

What you can do:

If you have a pending dispute regarding suitcasing at the Show, then you should consider the
following:

• Prior to the Show: If you feel there is a reasonable risk of a problem involving suitcasing, notify Show Management prior to arrival.
• Onsite: If you suspect another company of suitcasing – report this to the Show Management office and someone from Show Management will come to your booth immediately.

Show Management Action:

Show Management will take one of the following actions:

Upon receipt of a complaint from an exhibitor, Show Management will review the complaint with the exhibitor. Show Management will confer with other members of the Reef Stock Suitcasing Prevention Team to investigate the complaint and determine what action may be taken, including meeting with the company that is accused of suitcasing.

This will include:

• Remove anyone found violating the suitcasing policy; or
• If deemed advisable, Show Management will attempt to bring the accuser and alleged violating party together in a meeting in the Show Management office in an attempt to resolve the matter; or
• Take no action if it is determined there is no action necessary.

If the Suitcasing Prevention Team determines that a complaint is valid but the violator will not attend such a meeting nor leave the Show floor, then that party/company will be prohibited from exhibiting or attending in the following two (2) Shows. Venue security may be contacted to assist if needed.

Potential or past exhibitors as attendees:

Many of our past or future sponsors and exhibitors may attend ReefStock® as an attendee from time to time. ReefStock® is as much a social experience as it is an opportunity for business. This policy is not intended to prevent such attendance, however, one must recognize that the appearance of suitcasing must be eliminated.

Owners/Employees of Companies at ReefStock® as Attendees must:

• Abide by this suitcasing policy
• Not distribute literature, products or other marketing materials (T-shirts etc)
• Not approach other attendees to solicit business
• Not denigrate or negatively critique current or past exhibitors at ReefStock®
• Observe attendee show floor hours

Attendees are prohibited from accessing the show floor during setup and teardown or during exhibit only hours without permission from show management.

This policy is not intended to interfere with the legitimate B2B activity that regularly occurs in sponsor and exhibitor booths.