NASHVILLE — The 2026 North American Trailer Dealers Association (NATDA) Trailer Show™ was the event’s largest edition ever and broke records in attendance, dealer participation and engagement.
It took place Sept. 1-3 at Music City Center and welcomed more than 4,700 industry professionals and more than 800 dealerships. The sold-out show floor featured more than 325,000 square feet of exhibit space and extended into the venue’s lobby and surrounding streets.
Total registration increased by more than 10% compared to 2025, dealership attendance grew by 4.4% and 6.5% more dealership companies visited the show. Also, its attendee verification rate was at one of its highest levels ever.
Driving Growth
Andria Gibbon, CEM, NATDA’s Executive Director, explained that the event’s “small but mighty” team, Trifecta Collective’s support, and community feedback have helped the show continue to expand.
“We want to give our members what they need and want,” Gibbon said. “Listening to our councils and committees becomes really important. It’s a two-way dialogue and we get their opinion on education classes and changes that we want to make to the show, because they’re the ones who can really tell us whether something will sink or swim. … There is a lot of dialogue around what is working and what is not in the industry and it’s great to have that feedback come directly to us to shape our future plans.”
Related. TSE Reveals 2026 Gold 100 Grand Award Finalists and Women to Watch
NATDA has leaned into social media marketing more than ever before.
The show has its own social media platform as well and frequently hosts webinars and other connection opportunities, driving stakeholder engagement year-round.
“The 365-day engagement creates a strong sense of community and connection with everyone, from the attendees to the exhibitors to the sponsors,” Rachel Grundner, CEM, NATDA’s Director of Sales, said. “Our event ends up being a family reunion of people that have been engaging in networking throughout the year.”
Last year, NATDA changed the way it books exhibitors, starting the communication process earlier, making it more efficient and encouraging a sense of urgency.
This led to the show having an extensive exhibitor wait list for the first time in 2026. Plus, before even beginning, it was close to a 60% renewal rate for 2027.
“First and foremost, I think the reputation we’ve created at NATDA has been profound for the trailer industry,” Grundner said. “We also have an incredible staff that builds strong relationships within the industry. Because we’re so relationship-based, that trust was there.”
Enhancing Education
The show’s 2026 edition offered two additional education tracks, bringing its total to six, and almost every class was full.
According to Gibbon, current events in the U.S., such as tariffs, helped inspire this engagement.
“The overall sentiment among attending dealers was very positive,” Gibbon said. “It was excitement. It was wanting to learn. It was, ‘How do we do this better? How do we collaborate more?’ There was more discussion amongst dealers as opposed to, ‘No, this is my world and I don’t want to listen to what you’re doing over there.’ It was more about learning from one another.”
This was the first NATDA Trailer Show where the association offered its NATDA Trailer Service Professional Certification exam, and the program drove technician attendance.
As dealers are trying to supercharge revenue, more are expanding into the service space, making this certification attractive to those attendees as well.
Also, this was the first show to take place after NATDA’s collaboration agreement with the National Association of Trailer Manufacturers (NATM), and NATM introduced their own education track.
Continued Expansion
After successfully expanding into the Music City Center’s lobby a few years ago, the show’s 2027 edition will put booths in the venue’s ballroom to create a new Service Hub.
“It’s going to have a certain set of exhibitors and a tailored audience,” Gibbon said. “It’s also going to have its own hours … and we’ll have some of our networking events in that space as well to boost foot traffic. We have to approach those things strategically and make sure that we’re giving those areas a purpose for people to visit so that they are successful. We’re hoping that after year one, it becomes a destination at the show and people are going to organically go up to that floor for those types of exhibits.”
In 2027, the NATDA Trailer Show will celebrate the association’s 20th year anniversary and in 2028, it will recognize 20 years of the event itself.
The show’s 2025 edition is an honoree at the 2026 Gold 100 Awards & Summit, and up for the Best Exhibitor ROI of 2025 Grand Award.
Also, Gibbon and Grundner will participate in a special article for TSE’s Young Professionals Corner about their post-show process. To get that, sign up for TSE’s free Young Professionals Newsletter.
