What Do Others Spend on Tradeshows?

Comparing Total Spending for Tradeshows
Using a Cross Industry Benchmark for Cost per Square Foot

Clients ask us, “How does our spending compare with that of other companies for our tradeshow marketing efforts?” Specifically they want benchmark data for total spending on a typical tradeshow appearance. That includes all activity except staff cost and travel expense (items typically not reflected in the tradeshow budget.)

There are plenty of references found for “spending per square foot” as a comparative index. However, the numbers we see most frequently cited significantly underestimate total spending. Some references we found indicated average total spending (on a cross industry basis) to be around $60 per square foot, including space rental. An often cited number for a "new builds" is ~$150/ sq. ft. Many of you exhibit managers are shaking your heads wondering how can this be true?!

An index of any sort that spans a large number of companies and industries can at best be a rough guideline, but our curiosity was piqued and we decided to run a “cost per square foot” average, based upon actual results from numerous events in our database. These events were managed by companies in several different market segments in the U.S. and elsewhere. The “cost per square foot” index we found may be a useful way to at least ball park how much money you might need to allocate for an upcoming event or get an idea of how your exhibiting cost compares to the spending of others.

The following table provides some real numbers taken from shows that are represented in the sample.

So How Much Do Others Spend?

Based upon these shows plus many more, we estimate the average Cost/ Sq. Ft. benchmark at approx. $150 - $190/ sq. ft.

Cost is defined as all expenses for a tradeshow type event, except employee (staff) cost. Staff cost is time, travel, food and lodging and other expenses they cover from a different budget. The CPSF index includes all activities and tangibles generally found in an actual event budget, including off-floor activities and expenses such as a customer dinner or event.

As a cross reference, I asked our friend Skip Cox at Exhibit Surveys to perform a similar query against their database. Skip found the average spending per square foot, on a cross industry basis, among hundreds more shows, was similar to our estimate, at approximately $170 per square foot.

We do not present these numbers as scientific. They do however reflect actual spending to size ratios from hundreds of real exhibit programs.

Background Variables You Should Consider

The average exhibit size reflected in this data is around 400 – 500 square feet, a medium exhibit size. In the table above you will note that some programs were defined as large, where exhibit sizes average 1,000 square feet or more. Some large programs can be managed at a lower cost per square foot compared to smaller ones due to economies of scale. Other factors you should consider when reviewing this data are 1) the average reflects excellent, good, fair and poor cost management by a number of different companies, 2) the cost for space rental varies widely by show and industry, 3) the degree of off-floor or off-site activities included in the total cost numbers varies by industry and company type, and 4) these averages reflect some programs with a number of international events where cost is almost always 20 – 50% higher. (The data represents results from 2007 and 2008 shows.)

Use this information as a general idea of what others are spending.  Developing and tracking your own cost indices will provide completely reliable data about your own program and help you make fact based decisions in the future.

Please call or message me with questions.  Constellation Communication Corp.  http://constellationcc.com/  +1.770.391.0015