Trade Shows are Making a Comeback

Just a year ago, a crowd of 5,000 people wandering an Orlando, Fla.-area exhibition hall would have been considered tiny in trade-show terms. This year, it was deemed a good start.

Masks, temperature checks, and Covid-19 tests were mandatory. Booths were spaced out, aisles had no carpets and floor markings reminding attendees to keep their distance were ubiquitous. Hand sanitizers were swag mainstays. “No hugs or handshakes this year,” an event website read.

Some of the biggest shows are planning to resume in person, with options for tuning in virtually. Mobile World Congress, which hosted more than 109,000 attendees in Barcelona in 2019, will return with a hybrid option in June after scrapping the event in 2020. CES, the world’s largest tech show, went virtual this year and expects to return with a hybrid option in Las Vegas in January 2022.

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