SANTA CLARA, Calif. — As 2026 kicked off, the team behind Informa Markets’ DesignCon, an event for chip, board and systems-design engineers, were hard at work preparing for the show, which was scheduled for Feb. 24-26 at the Santa Clara Convention Center.
Right as these organizers — and exhibitors and attendees from around the world — were about to travel to the event, however, a major blizzard hit the northeast U.S.
“You don’t realize how many of your teammates, speakers, attendees, exhibitors and more come from or through the east coast for a west coast event until your inbox and voicemail are blowing up with people who really want to be there but need travel help,” Suzanne Deffree, Vice President and Group Portfolio Leader, Manufacturing by Informa, said. “We leveraged our amazing housing team and their work with the event’s official hotel, contacts in geo and other tools to help folks shift travel plans or prepare back-ups in their place if the weather proved too much to overcome.”
Thanks to the team’s hard work, DesignCon 2026 saw record attendance, revenue, net square footage and exhibitor count.
This comes on the heels of the show’s 2025 edition being recognized in the Trade Show Executive (TSE) Fastest 50 Class of 2025 for its attendance growth.
We looked at DesignCon’s continued progress and impactful networking and sustainability initiatives.
Inside a Monumental Edition
“The full team invested their time and resources into ensuring the right message was received by the right people and at the right time throughout the year leading to the event,” Deffree explained. “This included efforts by our marketers around database management and use, A/B testing, and leveraging data and AI.”
DesignCon extended key partnerships and created new partner opportunities in 2026, which provided access to new customers outside of its existing reach. This was largely possible through relationships with industry experts who appreciate DesignCon’s community approach and want to improve its industries.
Related. TSE Reveals the Fastest 50 and Next 50 Classes of 2025
“DesignCon also benefited from Informa’s support for internal mobility,” Deffree shared. “While we had some key members of the team be promoted or retire last year, we were able to advance other Informa team members who were already familiar with the event.”
This year, the DesignCon team made a focused effort on more organized, area-of-interest (AOI)-focused networking.
“Based on the event’s attendee and exhibitor AOIs, as well as job titles, we leveraged AI to plan what topics fit with what format (speed, open, etc.) and when in DesignCon’s very busy schedule they would be best received,” Deffree said. “Feedback onsite was very positive.”
The DesignCon team also used AI to draft educational session summaries, plan communications, estimate onsite traffic around the venue and enhance success in more areas.
On top of continuing established procedures that have given it high scores by Informa’s sustainability measures, DesignCon honed in on singe-use plastics this year.
Small actions, like offering flatware instead of disposable cutlery, using paper badges instead of badges in plastic sleeves and removing plastic cups from the Informa staff gathering, added up to a greater impact.
“As a bonus, when we removed plastic cups from the staff gathering, each team member received an etched DesignCon 2026 glass with the show mascot Chiphead on it that they were able to take as a gift,” Deffree said. “The total cost was just a few cents more per person than using plastic and the team loved them.”
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Video Credit: CNTV
