How the portal works

The portal is a request and review system, not a live editor. Nothing you type appears publicly until OCHBS approves it.

That is deliberate. Your listing feeds the exhibitor directory, the floor plan, the printed program and badge production, so every change is checked before it reaches any of them.

There are four stages, and each one has to be cleared before the next.

1. Create your accountRegister with your name, work email and a password of at least 12 characters.You, takes a minute
2. Verify your emailClick the link we send you. It is valid for 24 hours.You, check spam
3. Claim your profileTell us which company or speaker record you represent. An administrator checks and approves it.You submit, OCHBS approves, a few business days
4. Edit and submitUpdate your details and add badge attendees. Each submission is reviewed before it goes live.You submit, OCHBS approves, a few business days

Creating your account

Where to register

Any of these get you to the same form:

• Go to the portal page and choose Create an account
• Go straight to ochbs.com/portal-registration
• Click Login in the site header, then the Register tab

What you need

After you submit

An email titled Verify your OCHBS portal account is sent straight away.

• Check spam and junk first. This is by far the most common problem.
• Corporate filters often quarantine it. On Outlook or Exchange, also check Other and Quarantine.
• The link is valid for 24 hours. If it has expired, the page will tell you so, and we can issue a new one.

When the link works you will see a confirmation on the page. If you click a link you have already used, the page will say the address is already verified. Either way, sign in with the Login button at the top of the site.

Signing in

Click Login in the site header on any page of ochbs.com. A window opens with Sign in and Register tabs.

Once you sign in you are taken straight to your dashboard.

Resetting your password

Choose Forgot password?, enter your email, and click Send reset link.

You will always see the same confirmation, whether or not that email has an account. That is deliberate: it stops the form being used to work out who is registered. It also means the message is not confirmation that your account exists. Check spam and junk for the reset email.

Reset requests are limited to five in 15 minutes. Request one and wait rather than clicking repeatedly, since asking again will not make the email arrive faster.

The 15 minute lockout

After eight failed sign-in attempts from the same internet connection, sign-in is blocked for 15 minutes.

• The limit applies to your whole office network, not to your account. A colleague's failed attempts count against yours.
• Waiting 15 minutes clears it automatically. There is nothing to reset and nobody to call.
• Do not keep retrying while locked out. Each attempt is counted.
• Password resets are counted separately and will not lock you out of signing in.

Claiming your profile

Everyone does this once. It is what connects your login to your company or speaker record.

The first time you sign in you will see one of two messages. Both are normal.

“One more step: choose your profile”

Your account works but is not linked to a record yet.

1. Choose Choose your profile, or use Assign Company Profile or Assign Your Speaker Profile in the left menu, or go to ochbs.com/portal-claim.
2. Pick your record from the dropdown. There are over 100 companies and more than 80 speaker profiles, listed alphabetically.
3. Under Requested role, type what you are: owner, representative or speaker.
4. Use the supporting note to help us approve you quickly. For example: I am Marketing Director at Acme Cannabis. Our booth contract was signed by Jane Doe, and my work email is on the acmecannabis.com domain.
5. Submit the claim for review.

If your company or your name is not in the dropdown, do not pick something close to it. Email support@ochbs.com with your company name, your role and your booth or session details, and we will create the record.

“Your request is with OCHBS”

Your claim is submitted and waiting for review. There is nothing more for you to do, and you will get an email when it is approved. If more than a few business days have passed, email support.

What happens after approval

An administrator verifies that you genuinely represent the record, then links your account. Next time you sign in, the full dashboard appears with your profile loaded and ready to edit.

For exhibitors and sponsors

Two things matter most: a complete company listing, and badge names submitted before the print deadline.

Company profile

This is what appears in the public exhibitor and sponsor directory, the floor plan listing and the mobile app. Fill in as much as you can. A complete listing draws meaningfully more booth traffic than a name and nothing else.

You can edit

• Company display name and trading name
• Short description for listings, and a full description for your profile page
• Primary logo and logo alt text
• Website, public email address and public phone number
• LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, X and YouTube
• City, state and country
• Industry category

Stored privately, never published

• Primary contact name, email and phone. This is who we call about logistics.

Only OCHBS can change these

Email support@ochbs.com if any of them looks wrong:

• Booth number, booth package and floor plan assignment
• Badge allocation
• Sponsor tier and sponsor deliverables
• Contract and payment status
• Featured or priority placement

Badge attendees

This is where you register the people from your company who need badges.

• Add up to six people per submission. The Add another attendee button stops at six.
• First and last name are required for everyone. Title, email and attendance relationship are optional.
• If you start a row you must finish both name fields. A half filled row blocks the whole submission.
• If you fill in the relationship, type exactly employee, guest or other. Anything else is recorded as "other".
• Leave unused rows completely blank. They are ignored.

The roster table below the form lists everyone already approved. People you have just submitted appear there once OCHBS approves them.

Tracking what you have submitted

Every submission, profile edits and attendee additions alike, appears in the Your request history table at the bottom of the page, with a request ID, what it covered, its status and when it last changed.

• Submitted, with OCHBS and awaiting review
• Approved, accepted and applied
• Draft, saved but not yet sent

Quote the request ID if you email support about a specific submission.

The rest of your dashboard

For speakers

Speakers get a smaller dashboard. If you signed in expecting the company sections and cannot see them, that is correct.

Claiming your speaker profile

Use Assign Your Speaker Profile in the left menu, or go to ochbs.com/portal-claim. Select your name from the speaker list and enter speaker as the requested role.

Speaker profiles are separate from company records. If you are speaking and exhibiting, submit both claims.

Speaker profile

This is what appears in the speaker directory, session listings, the printed program and the mobile app.

You can edit

• Your public name, plus first, last and display name
• Headshot
• Title or role, and your company or organisation
• Biography, with formatting
• Website, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and X
• Industry category

Stored privately, never published

• Administrative email and phone, so we can reach you about session logistics

Only OCHBS can change these

• Your session assignment, room, session time and call time
• Featured speaker status, speaker type and acceptance status
• Staff logistics notes

Your guest badge

Speakers may submit one additional guest badge.

• The guest's name is required. Title and email are optional.
• The relationship must be guest. Speakers cannot add staff through this form.
• Once your one guest is submitted, further attempts are refused.
• If you need more than one, email support@ochbs.com rather than resubmitting the form.

Your guest appears in the guest badge table once approved. Speakers also have access to venue information, the marketing toolkit, the mobile app section and the Columbus guide.

Troubleshooting sign-in

Work through these in order. Between them they cover essentially every problem we see.

Common questions

How long does approval take?

Claims and change requests are reviewed within a few business days. Longer than that, email support.

Why can I not edit our booth number, badge allocation or sponsor tier?

Those come from your contract and are managed by OCHBS. If one looks wrong, email support and we will correct it.

Can more than one person from our company have access?

Yes. Each person registers their own account and claims the same company. Do not share one login.

Someone has left our company and still has access.

Email support. We can unassign their account and transfer the company to whoever replaces them.

I submitted changes but the public directory has not updated.

Changes go live only after OCHBS approves them. Check the status in your request history.

Can I edit an attendee after submitting them?

Not in the portal. Email support with the correction, and do it before the print deadline, since badge names must be exact.

How many badges do we get?

Your allocation is set by your booth package or sponsorship level. Ask support if you are not sure what yours is. The attendee form takes up to six people per submission.

I am a speaker and need two guest badges.

The portal allows one. Email support to request more.

I represent two companies. Can I manage both?

Yes. Submit a claim for each. Once approved, a record selector appears at the top of your dashboard.

Is this the same as buying tickets?

No. Attendee tickets are sold separately at tickets.ochbs.com. The portal handles exhibitor, sponsor and speaker records and badge attendees.

Do I need the portal to apply to exhibit or speak?

No. Applications are separate: exhibit or sponsor and apply to speak. The portal is for managing your record once you have been accepted.

Quick reference