CHICAGO — ProMat, the biennial show produced by MHI, took place at Chicago’s McCormick Place March 17-20, bringing together the supply chain and manufacturing industry for four days of exhibits, keynotes and conference sessions.
By the Numbers: Solid Growth Rates
ProMat 2025 brought together more than 52,000 attendees and 1,160 exhibitors across the show’s 659,000 square feet of exhibits.
The 2025 numbers are all solid increases from 2023’s report of 50,924 attendees (final attendance for 2025 is still being verified), 1,051 exhibitors (10% increase) and 562,700 square feet of exhibits (17% increase).
“Seventeen percent of total registrations were international — representing 143 countries,” said Daniel McKinnon, Chief Exhibitions Officer at MHI. “We saw a 7% increase in international registrations over ProMat 2023. We also had U.S. Commerical Service delegations from 23 countries that visited ProMat 2025.”
A Successful Digital Marketing Program
For the show, MHI partnered with a leading digital group to provide a digital marketing program that encourages and helps exhibitors and speakers to promote their attendance at ProMat.
“They are provided with branded emails, digital and social assets to help them spread the work and influence their peers and business contact to attend ProMat,” McKinnon said. “This program has been very successful and saw a 20% increase in participation this year from exhibitors and speakers.”
Seamless Registration and Badging
With plenty of entrances at McCormick Place, the ProMat team decided on three registration areas to help make picking up badges and on-site registration as easy and fast as possible.
“The three registration areas (located in the South, North and East Buildings) were essential for ease in attendee registration and badge pick-up and in maintaining traffic flow between the three halls,” McKinnon said.
Related. Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority Will Reassume Management of McCormick Place
New at ProMat in 2025
This year also saw ProMat converge on McCormick Place’s Lakeside Hall to showcase transportation, warehousing, distribution and sustainability and risk management. The Lakeside Hall’s Lakeside Ballroom was also home to the MHI Industry Group Theatre.
The ProMat Pier was also located in the Lakeside Hall and served as a fun meeting place.
“The inspiration for the ProMat Pier was the great city of Chicago itself,” McKinnon said. “The Pier featured views of Lake Michigan and featured famous food and beverages from the Windy City. The Pier activation was a tremendous success and became a social gathering area at the show where attendees could connect with their peers in a fun, interactive environment.”
It was also the location of the St. Patrick’s Day celebration right on the show floor.
“ProMat 2025 offered several experiential areas available as sponsorships including The HUB Networking Area and the ProMat Pier, which hosted a St. Patrick’s Day celebration that featured a bagpiper band that marched from the McCormick Place South entrance through the Grand Concourse and to the ProMat Pier located in the East Building,” McKinnon said.
Future Dates
“ProMat itself is the biggest thrill and seeing supply chain solution providers and solution seekers coming together to move this vibrant industry forward,” McKinnon said. “After working on this event for well over two years, the excitement of seeing the industry arrive at McCormick Place to solution-source, network and learn is truly exciting. Additionally, the new ProMat Pier St. Patrick’s Day celebration including the bagpiper band march through McCormick Place to the ProMat Pier was a great moment.”
MHI’s next trade show is MODEX, taking place April 13-16, 2026, in Atlanta.
