The Secrets to Becoming a TSNN Top Trade Show

April 24, 2019

Arlene Shows

Arlene Shows (yes – that’s her real last name!) is the Marketing Director for TSNN & TSNN Awards and a passionate networker in the events industry.

The Secrets to Becoming a TSNN Top Trade Show

If you pulled back the curtain from the Trade Show News Network team over the last few months, you might reveal something like this: busy event bees crunching numbers of square footage, attendance, venue locations and all the secret ingredients that go into compiling our annual TSNN Top Trade Shows list.

But what is the recipe for culminating a place on TSNN’s prestigious list? After attending, reporting on or studying these amazing events, we’ve identified one key one ingredient: Each one on the list knows how to create buzz!

If you would enjoy celebrating some of the success, Google #TSNNTopShows (or head on over to Twitter) and see for yourself. Better yet, if you attended, exhibited, sponsored or hosted one of these winning shows, we want you to broadcast it with the hashtag above, and we will keep our eye out to share! Otherwise, a quick taste is below…

CES, held in January in Las Vegas, snagged the No. 1 spot on our list. The Consumer Technology Association’s show spanned nearly 2.8 million net square feet and drew 111,854 attendees to venues that included Las Vegas Convention Center, Sand Expo Convention Center and several others in the city.

The company with the second-highest number of shows on the list was Reed Exhibitions, with 10, followed by Clarion, with eight.

Once again, the city of Las Vegas topped the 2018 TSNN Top Trade Shows list with 48 shows held in the city. Orlando and Chicago tied for the No. 2 spot for cities with most shows on the list, with 21; followed by Atlanta, with 17; New York, with 13; San Diego, with 11; Anaheim, Boston and New Orleans, with 9 each; and Dallas rounded out the top 10 cities, with 8.

Here’s what some of the winning shows had to say…

“The TSNN Top Trade Shows list is an all-star collection of the biggest and best exhibitions of the previous year, and we are proud to again be recognized among North America’s trade show giants,” said Jim Pittas, president and CEO of PMMI. “This honor is a testament to PACK EXPO’s status as the premier resource for the latest innovations in packaging, an industry that is growing at a rapid pace.”

“Digital Signage Expo has been recognized as one of the 50 fastest-growing trade shows in North America a total of seven times in 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2017.”

"We want to thank Trade Show News Network for recognizing all three of the restaurant and foodservice shows we produce,” said Tom Loughran, vice president, Clarion UX Food & Beverage Group. “We work closely with our partnering associations in New York, California and Florida to create exciting special events, stimulating education programs and trade show floors with the latest products and services for our attendees, and appreciate the acknowledgement by being named among the top events in the U.S."

Shows bragged rightly so far and wide about landing on the list! Click here, here and here for a few examples. 

Shows who qualified for the 2018 TSNN Top Trade Shows list automatically will also be qualified as possibly being named one of the top fastest-growing shows in the U.S. and invited to an exciting weekend celebration at the 2019 TSNN Awards, Nov. 15-17 in Dallas. Winners will be announced in mid-May, so stay tuned!

The 2018 TSNN Top Trade Shows complete list can be found here.

Have FOMO (fear of missing out) yet? Well you should—here’s a video glimpse into the TSNN Awards celebration of success we had last year in Louisville (and yes, there was a disco ball spinning). Dallas, here we come!

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