How much to charge for exhibitor booth space: published 2026 rate cards charge €390, about US$490 and £610 per square metre for space only at three named shows, and shell scheme stands cost 3% to 73% more depending on what the organiser builds. Set your own rate from your exhibition costs, sellable floor and expected sell-through, then add corner and shell premiums.
The short answer from LeadsNow AI: Organisers who publish their 2026 rates charge roughly €390 to £610 per square metre for raw space in their own currencies, then add a shell scheme premium, a corner charge and sometimes a registration fee. LeadsNow recommends working out the floor price from your own exhibition costs divided by the square metres you expect to sell, because a show priced from a competitor’s rate card can lose money even when the hall looks full.
Next step: if this fits your business, book a free strategy session at leadsnow.ai/strategy-session/ – a 2-minute fit check, then pick a time.
- Space only (raw space): €390 per sqm at GRAPAS Asia 2026, £610 per sqm + VAT at European Microwave Week 2026, US$45.50 per sq ft (about US$490 per sqm) at XPONENTIAL 2026.
- Shell scheme premium: £20 per sqm (3.3%) at European Microwave Week, €90 per sqm (23%) at GRAPAS Asia, US$3,300 on a 10 ft x 10 ft booth (73%) at XPONENTIAL.
- Corner charges: US$500 per open corner at XPONENTIAL, €450 for a corner stand at GRAPAS Asia, $250 per open corner at IAAPA Expo Middle East 2026 for 36 sqm and over (the FAQ does not name the currency).
- The asset on this page: the Floor-Yield Price formula, a worked example and a sell-through threshold table.
- Not on this page: how to sell the booths, covered in our guide to selling exhibitor booth space.
What do trade shows charge for exhibitor booth space in 2026?
Trade shows that publish 2026 rate cards charge €390, about US$490 and £610 per square metre for space only, and most price the shell, the corner and the extras separately. These are four named events across three currencies, not a market benchmark: we found no credible public dataset of booth prices across shows.
| Event (venue) | Space only | Shell scheme | Corner or position | Discounts and extras |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| XPONENTIAL 2026 (Detroit, USA) | US$45.50 per sq ft standard, US$39 member | 10 ft x 10 ft: US$7,850 vs US$4,550 raw | US$500 per open corner on linear booths | Same rate per sq ft from 100 to 3,000 sq ft; member rate 14% lower |
| European Microwave Week 2026 (ExCeL London, UK) | £610 per sqm + VAT, 12 sqm minimum | £630 per sqm + VAT, 9 sqm | Not stated in the leaflet | VAT on top |
| GRAPAS Asia 2026 (Bangkok, Thailand) | €390 per sqm, 15 sqm minimum | €480 per sqm; full-service package €575 | Corner €450, head €900, island €1,800 | €78 per sqm off over 100 sqm, €117 over 200 sqm; €495 registration fee |
| IAAPA Expo Middle East 2026 (Abu Dhabi, UAE) | Not on the FAQ page | Walls, fascia, power, lighting, carpet included | $250 per open corner, 36 sqm and over (currency not stated) | Smaller corners only if available |
Sources: XPONENTIAL 2026 exhibit space pricing, EuMW 2026 exhibition information, GRAPAS Asia 2026 stand booking form and IAAPA Expo Middle East exhibitor FAQs, all read 19 October 2026. The per-sqm figure for XPONENTIAL is our conversion: US$45.50 × 10.764 sq ft per sqm = US$489.76.
How it works
How to set an exhibitor booth price
Total the exhibition costs
Add hall hire, aisle carpet, utilities, security, visitor marketing and sales staff that stand sales must recover.
Estimate sellable floor
Measure the sqm left after aisles and features, then multiply by the sell-through you can realistically reach.
Set the Floor-Yield Price
Divide costs plus margin by the sqm you expect to sell. That is your space-only rate.
Add shell and position
Add the contractor’s shell price per sqm, a flat corner or island fee, and any registration fee.
MAKE MORE SALES.
Pay-Per-Result pricing — We scale sales HARD aligned to your interests, better than anyone else.
FAQ
Exhibitor booth pricing questions organisers ask, answered from the 2026 rate cards and worked example on this page.
How much should I charge per square metre for exhibition space?
Work it out from your own costs: exhibition costs divided by one minus your margin, divided by the square metres you expect to sell. On $400,000 of costs, a 25% margin and 2,000 sqm sold, that is $266.67 per sqm space only.
What is the difference between space only and shell scheme pricing?
Space only is bare floor that the exhibitor builds on; shell scheme includes walls, a fascia, lighting and power, and sometimes furniture. At European Microwave Week 2026 the difference is £20 per sqm, at GRAPAS Asia 2026 it is €90 per sqm.
How much extra should a corner booth cost?
The organisers that publish it charge a flat fee rather than a percentage. XPONENTIAL 2026 charges US$500 per open corner on linear booths, as its 2026 exhibit pricing sheet shows, and GRAPAS Asia 2026 charges €450 for a corner stand.
Should I give a discount for large booths?
Some organisers do and some do not. GRAPAS Asia 2026 takes €78 per sqm off above 100 sqm and €117 above 200 sqm, while XPONENTIAL 2026 charges the same rate per square foot from 100 to 3,000 sq ft.
How do I convert a price per square foot to a price per square metre?
Multiply the price per square foot by 10.764, the number of square feet in a square metre. XPONENTIAL’s US$45.50 per sq ft is about US$489.76 per sqm.
Pay-Per-Result appointments
See if we’re a fit
We book qualified sales appointments for you and you pay on results, not retainers. Our booking page asks a few quick questions so you find out in two minutes whether that model suits your business.
- 50,769+ appointments booked without cold calling.
- Pay-Per-Result pricing — you pay for booked, qualified calls.
- Pick your own time on our live calendar, no phone tag.
The Floor-Yield Price: how to set your booth price per square metre
The Floor-Yield Price sets booth space at the cost of running the exhibition, plus your margin, divided by the square metres you realistically expect to sell. It starts from your own costs because a rate card copied from another show carries that show’s venue, audience and sell-through, not yours.
The formula: price per sqm = exhibition costs ÷ (1 − target margin) ÷ (sellable sqm × expected sell-through). Every input in the worked example below is a labelled assumption, because no public benchmark exists for exhibition cost or sell-through by show type. Replace each with your own figures.
- Hall hired: 5,000 sqm gross. Sellable after aisles, catering and feature areas: 50%, so 2,500 sqm (assumption).
- Exhibition costs to recover from stand sales: $400,000, covering hall hire, aisle carpet, utilities, security, visitor marketing and sales staff (assumption).
- Target margin on stand revenue: 25% (assumption). Revenue needed = $400,000 ÷ 0.75 = $533,333.
- Expected sell-through: 80%, so 2,500 × 0.80 = 2,000 sqm sold (assumption).
- Floor-Yield Price = $533,333 ÷ 2,000 = $266.67 per sqm space only, or $266.67 ÷ 10.764 = $24.77 per sq ft.
| Expected sell-through | Sqm sold (of 2,500) | Price per sqm needed | Price per sq ft | 9 sqm stand, space only |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 95% | 2,375 | $224.56 | $20.86 | $2,021 |
| 80% | 2,000 | $266.67 | $24.77 | $2,400 |
| 60% | 1,500 | $355.56 | $33.03 | $3,200 |
Rules of thumb (plain arithmetic from the worked example):
- If your sell-through falls from 80% to 60%, expect to need a 33% higher price per sqm to make the same margin ($355.56 against $266.67).
- If you price at the 95% row and sell only 80%, expect stand revenue of $449,120 (2,000 × $224.56) instead of $533,333, cutting the margin from $133,333 to $49,120.
Want this done for you? We book qualified sales appointments on a Pay-Per-Result basis — you only pay for calls that actually land in your calendar.
How much more should a shell scheme stand cost than space only?
A shell scheme stand should cost the space-only rate plus your contractor’s per-stand build price and a handling margin, which is why published shell premiums range from 3.3% to 73%. The premium follows what the organiser includes: walls and a fascia cost little per sqm; furniture, cleaning and set-up cost much more.
- European Microwave Week: £630 against £610 per sqm, a £20 premium for white walls, fascia, spotlights, one socket and carpet.
- GRAPAS Asia: €480 against €390, a €90 premium that also covers a reception desk, lockable cabinet, two chairs, a table and daily cleaning.
- XPONENTIAL: US$7,850 against US$4,550 for 10 ft x 10 ft, a US$3,300 premium that includes set-up and removal, a counter, a café table and four chairs.
The test for your own premium: get the shell contractor’s price per stand, divide by the stand size, and add it to your Floor-Yield Price. On a 9 sqm stand where the contractor charges $1,350 (an assumption), the shell adds $150 per sqm, so $266.67 + $150 = $416.67 per sqm, or $3,750 for the stand.
How to price corner, island and premium booth positions
Corner, head and island booth positions carry a premium over the inline rate, and the three organisers that publish one charge a flat fee, not a percentage. The premium pays for extra open aisle frontage. XPONENTIAL adds US$500 per open corner; GRAPAS Asia adds €450 for a corner, €900 for a head stand and €1,800 for an island; IAAPA Expo Middle East adds $250 per open corner from 36 sqm. GRAPAS Asia’s booking form does not label the unit for its corner, head and island charges, but its online price calculator adds each one once per stand, not per sqm.
A flat fee matters more on small stands. US$500 on XPONENTIAL’s US$4,550 raw 10 ft x 10 ft booth is 11%; the same US$500 on a 10 ft x 40 ft linear booth at US$18,200 is 2.7%. If your corners sell out first every year, the premium is too low; if they are the last stands left, it is too high or the corners are in a dead part of the hall.
If we can’t make you money, we don’t deserve yours.
Pay-Per-Result pricing — performance-based alignment.
Volume discounts, member rates and the fees on top of booth space
Booth pricing at published shows often includes a volume discount for large stands, a member rate for the host association and a fixed fee on every booking. Each changes the real price per sqm, so set them deliberately rather than by habit.
- Volume discount: GRAPAS Asia takes €78 per sqm off over 100 sqm (20% of the €390 space rate) and €117 over 200 sqm (30%). XPONENTIAL charges the same US$45.50 per sq ft from 100 to 3,000 sq ft.
- Member rate: XPONENTIAL’s US$39 member rate is 14.3% below the US$45.50 standard rate, and requires AUVSI membership at Industry level or higher.
- Fixed fees: GRAPAS Asia adds €495 for registration and municipality taxes and €1,000 per co-exhibitor.
- Payment and cancellation: GRAPAS Asia takes 25% on signing and 75% two months before the show, with cancellation charges rising from 25% to 120% of the booking value as the show approaches.
The terms protect the Floor-Yield Price as much as the rate does. A late cancellation leaves a hole you cannot resell, which pushes the real sell-through below the figure you priced on.
What an exhibitor booth price has to be worth to the exhibitor
An exhibitor booth price is only sustainable if the exhibitor can see more pipeline from the show than the stand, build, travel and staff cost them. The organiser’s costs set the floor; the exhibitor’s return sets the ceiling, and a price above the ceiling shows up as next year’s empty stands.
That is why booth price and rebooking are the same problem. Our guide to getting exhibitors to rebook models what each point of retention is worth, and how much to charge for event sponsorship prices the access a sponsor buys on top of floor space. Exhibitors judge the stand on the meetings it produces, so organisers who help them book meetings before the show often find the price easier to hold; our trade show lead generation guide covers that side. Selling the floor itself takes a named person working last year’s exhibitor list and a target list for weeks; organisers who want that pipeline run for them can see how lead generation for event organisers works.