LAS VEGAS — Informa Markets’ Inside Self-Storage (ISS) World Expo — which took place April 22-25 at the Caesars Forum Conference Center — introduced an Exhibitor Theater this year.
Trade Show Executive (TSE) spoke with Dana Hicks, Group Director at Informa Markets, about creating the theater and how it benefited the show.
Inspirations
Attendees engage strongly with the event’s conference education, Q&As and roundtables. The ISS World Expo team decided to extend its educational resources onto the show floor with the Exhibitor Theater, allowing attendees to hear directly from companies.
“The theater was designed for exhibitors to have a dedicated space to showcase products and for attendees to easily discover the latest and greatest,” Hicks said. “We are giving exhibitors a fantastic platform to connect with attendees in an intimate and focused setting. It’s one thing to walk by a booth, but it’s completely different when you can sit down and really lean into understanding a company’s full suite of products. We’ve seen how the self-storage community thrives on education and direct interaction, so this theater creates a bridge between our traditional educational programming and the practical, hands-on show floor experience.”
Inner-Workings
Every day of the show, the theater hosted three 20-minute sessions during expo hours.
The theatre was located on the back right corner of the show floor, which Hicks shared helped drive foot traffic to the back of the expo hall and across the entire exhibition.
“Our team worked closely with our exhibitor community to provide insight on the format, so they were very involved and in the know from day one,” Hicks explained. “Exhibitors were able to register for these sessions and choose topics they wanted to present … [and] customize the content so that they could showcase their products and drive the presentations in a way that would be most beneficial to both their mission, and giving attendees the information they need to make product decisions.”
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A Successful Launch
According to Hicks, the theater received very positive feedback.
“Engagement from participants validated the importance of introducing new features like this that serve the industry’s evolving needs,” Hicks said. “All presenters appreciated the additional opportunity to directly connect with attendees. Often times, a fireside chat is a better way to communicate your product offerings and our exhibitors and attendees all gave really positive reviews of the format.”
The theater’s location did pose some hurdles, however.
“While the energy and buzz of the expo hall created an exciting atmosphere, it did present some acoustic challenges during the presentations, so we will be looking at the physical design of our show floor to ensure that these theatres are set up in the best possible way to allow for easy conversation,” Hicks shared.
Looking Ahead
“We are currently in the process of gathering feedback from both exhibitors and attendees through our post-show survey to ensure any decisions about next year’s format reflect the needs of our community,” Hicks said. “We’re looking at everything from location within the expo hall to the presentation format, all with the goal in mind to maximize the impact and value for everyone involved. We want to make sure these face-to-face interactions continue to deliver meaningful insights and connections for our attendees.”
The next ISS World Expo is scheduled for April 7-10, 2026, at the Caesars Forum Conference Center.
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