You are at your largest trade show event for the year and the show organizers are working you to book your space for next year.  The show appears to be successful - and has been successful when you ran the numbers after you completed our post event review, but you just don't know.  You had a 10x20 booth space and it worked well within your marketing budget but you are getting a lot of pressure to step it up a notch - what you do you?  

The industry average to purchase show displays is $100-$150 per square foot for larger displays. For example, 20x20 displays would cost between $40,000 and $60,000.  Exhibit Rentals are about 35% of the hardware purchase cost.  So you need to decide from your post event review if your budget can handle the growth of your trade show space with all the additional costs - will you reap the benefits in the long run?

Your event budget allocation will vary, but according to EXHIBITOR Magazine, here’s how the average trade show budget breaks down:

• Space = 33%
• Trade Show Booths & Graphics (construction/refurbishment) = 18%*
• Travel & Expenses = 18%
• Show Services (electricity, cleaning, drayage, I&D) = 12%
• Shipping = 9%
• Promotion = 8%
• Miscellaneous = 2%

In addition, you can estimate your total event budget by multiplying the cost of your space by three. For example, the average floor space costs $21 per square foot. So, for a 20x20 floor space rental expect to pay around $8,400. The budget for that event would be $25,200.

*This figure is the display cost per show, not the total investment to purchase trade show displays and trade show graphics. When you purchase a display, you obviously plan to use it multiple times to get the most out of your investment. To determine the display cost per show, you’ll need to estimate how many years you will use the display and how many shows you will go to each year. The average lifetime of a display is five years. For graphics, the average lifetime is one year. Your display and graphic replacement needs may vary depending on how many shows you plan to attend. The more shows you go to, the sooner you may need to purchase new trade show booths.

Once you sit down and work the numbers - you can go back to the show organizers and give them your decision.