MIAMI — The 2022 Trade Show Executive (TSE) Fastest 50 class marked the trade show industry’s strong comeback from the pandemic, with honored trade shows breaking TSE Fastest 50 records for net square footage growth, number of exhibiting companies and total attendance.
The Trade Show Executive (TSE) Fastest 50 Grand Awards winners were announced at the TSE Fastest 50 Awards and Summit in Miami on May 2, the first time the event has been held since 2019. The Fastest 50 Grand Awards are metrics-based and recognize the show ranked No. 1 in growth across various metrics and the largest shows on the honoree list.
The award-winning shows and Grand Prix winners have enabled trade shows to resume safely, while providing the confidence the industry needed to deliver the exceptional return to live events it experienced in 2022 and continues to build on in 2023.
Charlie McCurdy, non-executive chairman of Informa Markets and strategic advisor to Informa PLC, Informa Markets, Ken McAvoy, president of South Florida Ventures and executive vice president of corporate development for Informa Markets, and Nancy Walsh, president of Informa Markets for North America, won the Industry Management Award. The Rock Star Award went to Lydia Janow, senior vice president of events at Aviation Week Network, for her excellence in trade show management.
“The trade show industry has seen a huge resurgence in interest in 2022, and it’s great to see so many shows breaking growth records,” said Rick Simon, chairman and CEO of TSE and president and CEO of United Service Companies. “The Fastest 50 Awards & Summit serves an important purpose, not only in recognizing the fastest-growing shows, but also in being a place where the industry’s top leaders come together to learn from each other and continue to move us forward.”
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World of Concrete took home two Grand Prix awards, the largest Fastest 50 show by NSF (629,539 NSF) and the fastest growing show by net square footage (363,239 NSF increase), while show producer Informa was awarded the top overall show organizer for 2022, with 20 shows on the list of winners. Informa’s Grand Prix recognizes the show organizer with the most Fastest 50 and Next 50 shows.
Another Informa-produced show also won two Grand Prix awards. Seatrade Cruise Global won the awards for fastest growing show in terms of exhibiting company growth percentage (280% growth) and fastest growing show in terms of blended growth percentage (201% growth).
Other winners included LightFair®, which won the award for fastest growing show by net square footage growth percentage (313.8% growth), and OFC won the award for fastest growing show by total attendance growth percentage (265% growth).
AAPEX, produced by WT Glasgow Inc., won two awards, Largest Top 50 Show in total attendance (126,071 attendees) and Fastest Growing Show in total attendees (29,006 attendees increase), while MHI’s MODEX won Fastest Growing Biennial Show in blended growth percentage (45.7% growth).
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IMEX America, which saw growth of 1,063 exhibiting companies, took to the main stage to receive its award for fastest growing show by number of exhibiting companies, as did SC22 for fastest growing show run by an association by percentage of mixed growth. (168.8% growth)The Grand Prize for Fastest Growing Biannual Show by Blended Percentage went to COTERIE New York (53.3% growth) and PharmSci360 won the award for Fastest Growing Medical Show by Blended Percentage (117.3% growth). Recognizing the longest-running show in the Fastest 50, the Longevity Award went to Public Works Expo.
“It was an honor to present this year’s Fastest 50 Grand Awards to our well-deserving honorees. These show organizers have been on the front lines of getting us safely out of the pandemic. Their work in 2022 will serve our industry well for many years to come,” said Gabrielle Weiss, TSE Vice President and Editor-in-Chief. “With this in mind, we wanted to recognize Charlie, Ken and Nancy’s leadership with another award. The pandemic has caused extreme disruption to our industry and these industry leaders and icons have led the lion’s share of our Fastest 50 shows. I am proud to recognize and know them.”
Contact Rick Simon at rsimon@unitedhq.com; Gabrielle Weiss at (312) 493-7753 or gweiss@tradeshowexecutive.com