This Week in Trade Shows: Oct. 23-29

Filtering all of the trade show news stories from last week down to my top 5. Why? I need intelligence to do my job, so each morning and throughout the day I sift through business, political, global and trade show news and share it on my Twitter feed. Each week, I reflect on those news stories, looking for trends, and I share what I learn with you here. Hope you find it useful!

5. One of the largest architectural and commercial lighting trade shows and conferences in North America is shifting its show cycle from an annual to a biennial basis. LightFair will transition to a biennial show schedule beginning with its 2023 event, planned for May 21-25 at the Javits Center in New York City. Owned by the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) , LightFair is produced and managed by ANDMORE . The new schedule will allow attendees to see the newest products during odd-numbered years on a frequency that aligns with every other year manufacturing cycles, according to IMC. LightFair 2022 drew 10,000+ people from 63 countries — an increase of 110% over the previous year. Read the full release.

4. Trade event will open to the public in 2023. The Big Gear Show Show, an exclusive hardgoods-only event created in 2020, is adding a B2C component to the B2B show in 2023. The 2023 show will be held June 8-11 in Denver and will include two days for industry buyers and media and two days for a consumer festival. The Big Gear Show Director Kenji Haroutunian said: “Our ethos has always been to embrace both retailers and consumers, and we feel like now is the time to bring our industry to where the people are.” Read more coverage by Outside.

3. Top 100 trade show brings show management in-house. After 12 years with Informa Markets , The American Institute of Architects (AIA) assumed management of the @AIA Conference on Architecture trade show. On Oct. 21, AIA took over operations of the conference, as well as exhibit and sponsorship sales. The next AIA show will be held June 7-10, 2023 at Moscone Center in San Francisco. AIA’s first in-person Conference on Architecture in three years took place June 22-26, 2022 in Chicago. The event drew nearly 12,000 attendees and 444 exhibitors that filled 123,000 square feet at McCormick Place in Chicago. AIA CEO Lakisha Ann Woods, CAE , said: "We thank Informa for its management of the show the last 12 years and for supporting AIA's strategic vision of the conference, which starts with having complete control of our largest event of the year." Read the full release.

2. Three trade show launches announced, one new launch opens this week: Pack Expo Southeast in Atlanta in 2025, Money 20/20 Asia in Bangkok in 2024, Lift in San Francisco in 2023 and ReLuxury in Geneva in 2022.

·      PMMI: The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies announced it is launching Pack Expo Southeast, which will debut in the spring of 2025 at the Georgia World Congress Center Authority in Atlanta. The new trade show will be held March 10-12 2025. Space sales will open and fall 2023 and will maintain a separate priority from other PACK EXPO events.

·     At Money20/20 in Las Vegas, Ascential – Part of the Informa Group announced it will expand its global portfolio to Asia. Money 20/20 Asia will debut April 23-25, 2024 in Bangkok. Ascential also produces Money 20/20 Europe in June in Amsterdam.

 ·       Lift Events & Experiences , producer of cannabis conferences and trade shows in Canada, is expanding to the U.S. market. Lift’s premiere U.S. event will be held Aug. 2-4, 2023 at Moscone Center in San Francisco. Organizers said “they’re honored to host in a city renowned as the epicenter of the U.S. cannabis reform movement. Notably, Moscone Center makes possible something unique: the ability for brands to showcase products on the floor for attendees to see touch and smell.” Read the full release.

·     Former Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH) CEO Fabienne Lupo is launching a show for pre-owned luxury goods called ReLuxury. FHH produces Watches and Wonders in Geneva. The inaugural ReLuxury exhibition is set to take place Nov. 4-7 at Geneva's Hotel President, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Geneva . Read more.

1.   Post-show results indicate strong rebound for Q3 #exhibitions: Five October trade shows report growth, two more exceed expectations

Back after four years, PACK EXPO 2022 drew 44,000 plus attendees, surpassing the 2018 event. Held Oct. 23-26, the trade show featured 2200 exhibitors covering 1.2+ million net square feet at McCormick Place in Chicago. Read the full release.

Equip Exposition , a landscape, outdoor living and equipment trade show, set a new record welcoming 25,000 plus attendees and exhibitors. Held October 18-21, the show featured 1000 exhibits in 675,000 square feet at the Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville. Read the full release.

Attendance and exhibitors were up over last year at the 2022 National Association of Sporting Goods Wholesalers Expo, held Oct. 26-28 at the Kansas City Convention Center . Read my post-show recap.

Impressions Expo, produced by Emerald , drew 2,500+ professionals and 100 brands from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2 to the Fort Worth Convention Center Arena in Texas. “This represents a 60% plus increased over 2021, reflecting even higher attendance than in the year before the pandemic." Read more.

The trade show floor grew 25%+ at Medtrade East, which ran October 24-26 at the Georgia World Congress center in Atlanta. “This year’s show, a swan song of sorts because it will be moving to Dallas next year, featured an exhibit hall that increased in size about 27% compared to 2021.” Read more.

The K - The World's No. I Trade Fair for Plastics and Rubber , an 8-day German show for the plastics and rubber industry, attracted 3,037 exhibitors and 176,000 trade visitors from 156 nations. “With 42% of visitors coming from overseas, the reach of K is as high as usual among the international trade audience.” Context: “That compares to 224,116 from 168 countries at the last K, held in 2019, just prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.” As #tradeshows in Germany continue to emerge from pandemic shutdowns, K 2022 attendance slipped 21%, exceeds expectations, according to Plastics News. The next K Dusseldorf will be held October 8-15, 2025.

A total of around 3,200 exhibitors from 60 countries (2019: 3,684 exhibitors from 63 countries) and 495,000+ visitors from 200+ countries (2019: 627,603 visitors from 200+ countries) came to Munich for bauma , a trade fair for construction machinery, building material machines, mining machines, construction vehicles and construction equipment, held October 24-30. The proportion of international visitors was around 50%. Read the full release.

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