ShowCalc: Transparent True-Cost Calculator for Trade Show Exhibitors

What a trade show booth actually costs, broken down (most estimates you find online are useless)

yeah, this is pretty much what ive seen too. people focus on the booth price and forget about drayage, shipping and labor, which can add a lot to the final cost. definitely worth getting the full show cost upfront instead of just the build qoute

I owned a 20k person consumer convention before Covid. The amount of people that we would see that would get upset when they got the quotes for things like power or extra tables were insane. Most people also don’t realize how many hands are in the cookie jar at these things. The promoter isn’t the one making the big bucks. They just shaky get the basic booth fees. The promoter usually sets the booth prices and they keep that. Most booths come with a basic package or 1 table, 2 chairs and pipe and drape. That is usually paid for and covered by the promoter. The promoter usually has a limited list of approved decorators that they can use. The decorators usually have to be but authorized by the venue to be in there. If you want to add more tables/chairs or things like hand signs, you usually have to pay the decorator / company that sets the booths up. You can also usually rent things like TVs or other props for your booth from the decorator. They also collect the drayage fees. If you want to add power it’s stupid expensive because the decorator has to split this fee with the venue. If you want Internet you used to have to pay the venue directly for that. This isn’t taking into account if you go above and beyond and have someone build or rent you rent you a custom booth.  Like I said we used to have a lot of vendors get upset at us for the adding fees. A lot of them never seemed to understand that the promoters aren’t the ones keeping all the fees and costs associated with the booth.