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This Just In

Fastest 50 Class of 2018 Unveiled

HIL ANDERSON, SENIOR EDITOR

CHICAGO – The new Trade Show Executive (TSE) Fastest 50 list has now been unveiled and includes 90 exhibitions that posted the highest growth rates in three key metric categories last year.

See the full list of honorees here: www.tsefastest50.com/honorees.

Shows ranging from established mega-events to feisty start-ups were ranked by their growth rates in three different metrics. The top gainers will all be represented at the Trade Show Executive Fastest 50 Awards & Summit June 18-20, 2019 at Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City.

“The Fastest 50 Class of 2018 is another all-star roster of fascinating shows of all sizes and subject matter with one thing in common: they achieved great things last year and are on the fast track to even bigger and better things in the years to come,” said TSE Publisher and Editor Gabrielle Weiss. “Atlantic City is an historically important trade show city and a perfect place to showcase these groundbreaking shows and the entire industry will have plenty to cheer about this summer in Atlantic City.”

Registration is open and Information on the agenda for the Fastest 50 Awards & Summit will be available as it develops on the TSE event page https://www.tsefastest50.com.

The release of the Fastest 50 roster was accompanied by the unveiling of the Next 50, which gives a much-deserved nod to the runners up that also put up solid growth rates in the same three metrics and were hot on the heels of the Fastest 50 crowd.

Since shows can appear in more than one metric category, the number of events on the total Fastest 50 and Next 50 rosters varies from year to year. For this edition, there are 90 shows represented on the Fastest 50 and 107 on the Next 50.

Fastest 50 Exhibit Space Up 18.9%

The 90 shows in the Fastest 50 Class of 2018 totaled 14,499,394 nsf of exhibit space along with 50,738 exhibitors, and 1,412,120 attendees. That worked out to an average per show of 161,104 nsf of exhibit space, 564 exhibitors, and crowds of 15,690.

The Fastest 50 shows posted impressive double-digit growth percentages across the board. The Top 50 grew their exhibit space in 2018 by 18.9% Exhibitor numbers were up 14.5% over 2017, and attendance increased a hefty 25.8%.

The percentages of growth contributed to the growth of the overall exhibitions industry, which notched a 2.3% increase in exhibit space in 2018 along with a 1.0% uptick in exhibitors and a 0.1% nudge in attendance.

The shows ranged in size from the venerable CES, which grew to 2,784,167 nsf last year, to the cozier 16,250 nsf ASIA AMERICA Trade Show Miami.

Smaller shows again made up the majority of the Fastest 50 since their growth tends to produce larger percentage increases.  Of the 90, only 1.0% of the shows featured more than 1,000,000 nsf of exhibit space. The majority of the shows, 37.0%, fell in the 50,000 to 124,999 nsf range.

There were 17 shows that appeared on both the new Fastest 50 and the most recent Gold 100.

A total of 41 shows were ranked in more than one Fastest 50 metric category, and 19 made the team in all three metric categories.

Next Up

The Next 50 lineup’s adjusted growth rates were in the single digits while the Fastest 50 rates on average were all greater than 14.5%.

The Next 50 shows totaled 20,959,242 nsf thanks to 65,748 exhibitors, and crowds totaling 1,908,869. On a per-show average, the totals worked out to 195,881 nsf of exhibit space, 614 exhibitors, and 17,840 attendees.

The largest show of the Next 50’s Class of 2018 was CES while the smallest event was DHI conNextions, which occupied 15,700 nsf.

Reach Gabrielle Weiss at (312) 493-7753 or gweiss@tradeshowexecutive.com; Vice President of Events Marcia Williams at (214) 212-8286 or mwilliams@tradeshowexecutive.com, Diane Bjorklund at (630) 312-8915 or dbjorklund@tradeshowexecutive.com.

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