Event insurance

Insurance is the unglamorous backbone of event risk: liability cover is usually contractual (venues won't let you in without it, and organizers should require certificates from every exhibitor and contractor), while cancellation cover is discretionary and quietly existential — an event that pays venue, marketing, and build costs months ahead of revenue is carrying a concentrated bet that doors open on time. Cancellation policies can cover named perils from venue fire to speaker no-shows, and premiums scale with the revenue at risk. For exhibitors, the practical layer is liability for their booth and cover for kit in transit and overnight in the hall, where general office policies often don't reach. The common mistake is assuming someone else's policy covers you: exhibitors assume the organizer's insurance protects their equipment (it doesn't), and organizers assume exhibitors carry liability without ever collecting certificates — until an injury at a booth turns into a claim against everyone. One honest nuance: cancellation policies exclude more than buyers expect, and exclusions expanded sharply after the pandemic — communicable disease cover is now rare or costly, and "fear of travel" losses generally aren't covered at all. Read the exclusions before you rely on the headline.