It's 2026, and trade show season is in full swing. For most building product manufacturers, the debate around trade shows has changed. It’s no longer “are trade shows dead?”—a question that lingered after COVID. The question now is whether investments in trade shows are still worth it. The market has slowed. Budgets are tighter. Scrutiny is higher. And every major marketing line item now has to compete with digital channels that promise cleaner attribution and faster feedback loops. Trade shows haven’t been exempt from that pressure—but they have been reshaped by it.
The manufacturers still investing confidently aren’t doing so out of habit. They’re doing it because the channel continues to deliver—when it’s treated with the same rigor as the rest of the marketing mix. And the data backs that up.
In 2020, the U.S. exhibition industry didn’t decline—it came to a complete halt. According to the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR), 100% of exhibitions were cancelled in Q2 2020, creating a disruption that distorted perceptions for years to come.
Fast-forward to today and the recovery is unmistakable.
By Q4 2024, the CEIR Total Index—which tracks exhibit space, exhibitors, attendance and revenue—had rebounded to 95.6% of pre-pandemic levels, narrowing the year-over-year gap rapidly. Exhibitor participation is the most recovered metric, sitting just 0.1% below 2019, while attendance continues to rebound more selectively. By Q2 2025, 39.3% of events in the Index sample exceeded their pre-pandemic CEIR Total Index performance, up from 37.3% in Q3 2024.
That pattern holds at the industry level—but what does it look like in building product and adjacent shows?
At the International Builders’ Show (IBS) 2025, attendance exceeded 81,000 builders, remodelers, developers and other home building professionals, making it the largest IBS in 17 years, with more than 1,800 exhibiting companies and a show floor that expanded year over year. Similar or better attendance is expected when the show heads to Orlando, Florida in February 2026.
Co-located with IBS, Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS) welcomed 43,000+ visitors and nearly 700 exhibitors in 2025, reinforcing the 30% increase in exhibitors they achieved in 2024, within a broader Design & Construction Week audience of over 124,000 registered attendees.
In roofing and architecture, the recovery is even more clear.
Across categories, the pattern is consistent: exhibitors returned faster than overall attendance, while attendee quality improved even where totals remain slightly below 2019. That distinction matters. Trade shows only exist if manufacturers fund them—and manufacturers came back because the channel continued to deliver real value, even during the recovery.
Building products are physical, technical and specified and installed by humans. Trade shows remain one of the few environments where manufacturers can:
Digital marketing supports this work. And it's still an important part of the marketing mix. But it doesn’t replace the in-person experience that trade shows provide.
That’s why some manufacturers are increasingly treating trade shows as a high-intent conversion layer inside a broader marketing system—where digital channels create demand, trade shows concentrate engagement and post-show nurture converts interest into revenue.
When trade show participation underperforms, it’s rarely because the show itself failed. It’s more likely that:
The result is predictable: lots of activity, little clarity and a tough budget conversation afterward. When this happens, the issue usually isn’t a lack of ROI—it’s a lack of structure to capture, measure and communicate it.
Manufacturers that continue to invest confidently in trade shows approach them less like events and more like integrated growth initiatives.
The common thread is intent. When trade shows are planned, integrated and measured this way, the ROI conversation doesn’t need to be defensive—it becomes easier to demonstrate.
Trade shows can still earn their place in the marketing budget, but not by default. And not because “this is how we’ve always done it.”
The post-COVID reset and today’s softer market didn’t weaken the channel. They raised the bar. Trade shows now have to be planned intentionally, integrated with the rest of the marketing mix and held to the same performance standards as every other investment.
For building product manufacturers willing to do that work—align teams early, focus on the right audiences and measure what matters—trade shows remain one of the few channels that combine scale, in-person engagement, trust-building and real-world impact in a way few other investments can.
They also benefit from a quieter shift that’s hard to ignore: as work, buying and communication become more digital and more fragmented, people increasingly value moments that are physical, focused and human. Trade shows create rare space for real conversations, hands-on experience and uninterrupted attention—things digital channels struggle to replicate.
Trade shows haven’t disappeared or lost their role. They’ve become more accountable—and more valuable for marketers who understand both the business case and the human one.
This post is an updated version of Kyle’s article originally published on LinkedIn.
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