SANTA BARBARA, California — The prestigious 2022 Trade Show Executive Gold 100 Awards & Summit, celebrating the biggest and best trade shows of 2021, was electric last night as leading trade show professionals looked forward to meeting face-to-face to recognize each other’s achievements.
This year, the Gold 100 broke attendance and revenue records, with more than 200 industry professionals in attendance and a sold-out event at the Ritz-Carlton Bacara in Santa Barbara.
“We are extremely grateful to our sponsors and all of Trade Fair Manager “We extend a heartfelt thank you to the events community for participating in this year’s Gold 100 Awards & Summit,” said Gabrielle Weiss, Vice President and Editor-in-Chief. “Our goal was to bring our industry together, bring prescient content for this time to the TSE stage, share ideas for success as the business events industry rebounds, and of course, celebrate everyone’s hard work and successes in 2021. It was an incredible honor to recognize these leaders whose perseverance and determination helped make our comeback possible.”
And the winners are…
World of Concrete won the award for largest trade show of 2021, and also won the award for getting back to normal with The Utility Expo, which also won the award for largest trade show of 2021 and the fastest growing Gold 100 show by net square footage in 2021.
The Squeaky Clean Award went to ISSA Show North America and the DEI Leadership Award went to COUTURE. Informa Markets won the 2021 Best Trade Show Organizer award. With the 2020 Gold 100 event canceled, ICUEE, the International Construction and Utility Equipment Exhibition, was awarded the 2019 Largest Trade Show at this year’s celebration.
In addition to the announcement of the Grand Prix winners, the top 100 Gold Award winners were announced at the event. The top five trade shows ranked by NSF were Utility Expo, Green Industry & Equipment Expo, SEMA Show, PACK EXPO Las Vegas and Healthcare Packaging EXPO, as well as the NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition. The top 10 trade shows ranked by NSF combined for 6,854,291 NSFs.
Engaging networking and training sessions
This year’s Education Summit, which featured panels and presentations from trade show industry leaders, many of whom lead shows that have been honored with Gold 100 and Grand Awards, sparked important discussions needed to advance the trade show industry, as did the keynote presentation by esteemed University of California, Santa Barbara economics professor Dr. Peter Rupert. Provocative topics covered in this year’s panels included trade show growth strategies, show design, sustainability and rebranding. Weiss’ live Power Lunch interview with Tom Gattuso, SEMA’s vice president of events, also focused on the future as well as how Gattuso was able to grow the SEMA Show, which was ranked third on the NSF Gold 100 list.
Networking was a major part of this year’s TSE Gold 100, with a sold-out golf tournament sponsored by United Service Companies at Sandpiper Golf Club and a polo field experience at Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club sponsored by GES/onPeak. The opening day of networking concluded with the opening reception sponsored by LVCVA, where anticipation for the awards presentation was palpable.
Save the dates
The Fastest 50 Awards & Summit will take place at the Miami Beach Convention Center May 1-3, 2023, to celebrate the fastest growing trade shows of 2022. Entries for the Fastest 50 can be submitted at and the deadline for submissions is December 30, 2022.
The 2023 Gold 100 Awards and Summit will be held at the Fairmont Del Mar in San Diego from September 13-15. Nominations can be submitted to the following address to be considered for the next edition of the Gold 100.
Contact Gabrielle Weiss at (312) 493-7753 or gweiss@tradeshowexecutive.com