Informa and RX Hold Top Two Spots, Clarion Reclaims Third in GT Stax Top 20 Ranking of Exhibition Organizers

Welcome to the latest edition of Snöcap.

SPOTLIGHT: The exhibition industry is getting bigger, but the names at the top are changing too. Informa remains firmly in first place in GT Stax’s latest Top 20 ranking, with $3.7 billion in exhibition-organizing revenue, while RX holds second and Clarion has reclaimed third from Messe Frankfurt.

The more revealing story, though, may be what is happening beneath the leaderboard. The Top 20 generated $11.7bn in combined revenue in 2025, but much of that growth was concentrated among a handful of organizers. Private equity-backed companies are also taking up more space in the rankings, with six now represented compared with four just two years ago. And with nearly $6bn invested across the Top 20 in 2026, the shape of the exhibition industry continues to evolve. Read more down below.

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Informa and RX Hold Top Two Spots, Clarion Reclaims Third in GT Stax Top 20 Ranking of Exhibition Organizers

Informa and RX kept first and second place in the GT Stax Top 20 ranking of exhibition organizers by 2025 revenue, while Clarion returned to third by narrowly passing Messe Frankfurt.

Informa’s growth came mostly from its purchase of Ascential assets. RX’s revenue was little changed. Clarion’s move was driven by double-digit organic growth, mainly in its Superbrands portfolio.

GT Stax reported the following figures:

• Informa: $3.7 billion in exhibition-organizing revenue, up more than 30%, equal to 32% of Top 20 revenue, compared with 27.5% a year earlier.
• RX: $1.6bn.
• Top 20 combined: $11.7bn, up about 14% from $10.3bn in 2024 at constant exchange rates.
• Informa accounted for 65% of the $1.40bn increase. Excluding Informa, growth was below 7%.

Fifteen of the 20 organizers reported higher revenue. Messe München and Comexposium swapped fifth and sixth place, with Munich’s 28% growth tied to the triennial Bauma trade fair. GL events rose from 15th to 11th after 40% growth. Infopro Digital entered at 19th, replacing IFEMA, and Terrapinn held 20th.

On combined 2024 and 2025 revenue, a measure that reduces the effect of biennial event calendars, Messe Frankfurt returned to third with $1.4bn, ahead of Clarion’s $1.3bn.

Six private equity-owned organizers are now in the ranking: Clarion, Hyve, Emerald (now Forge), CloserStill, Infopro and Easyfairs. The count was five in 2024 and four in 2023.

• PE-owned organizers: 11.4% revenue growth in 2025.
• Institutionally owned organizers: 7.2% revenue growth in 2025.
• Institutional share of Top 20 revenue: 21% in 2025, down from 36% in 2015.

Private equity investment across Top 20 organizers has reached close to $6bn in 2026. Providence and Searchlight acquired CloserStill, Apollo acquired Emerald and Questex, which were combined as Forge, and Hellman & Friedman acquired Hyve. GT Stax said speculation surrounds possible developments at Comexposium, Easyfairs and Terrapinn over the next 12 to 18 months.

“Investor appetite for businesses in the face-to-face industry is high, and company valuations have risen in 2026,” GT Stax said in the report.

The report was written by Florent Jarry, a partner, and David Lindsay, a director, at GT Stax.

CEIR Predict 2026 Highlights Uneven Recovery, Geopolitical Risks and Need for Innovation

Speakers at CEIR Predict 2026 said the exhibition industry’s recovery is uneven, geopolitical shifts require earlier planning and organizers need to accept experimentation to grow, at the conference held Sept. 10-11 at MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland.

The International Association of Exhibitions & Events produced the outlook conference, which had 90 companies represented, according to the event website.

Tariq Khan, senior economist at Tourism Economics, an Oxford Economics company, presented the following figures:

• The industry reached 95.1% of 2019 performance levels in early 2026.
• Only 46% of individual events have fully recovered.
• Attendance is 7.1% below pre-pandemic levels, the largest gap.
• Oxford Economics projects about 2.1% growth in 2026 and a return to 2019 levels by 2028.

“There’s no single ‘exhibition economy,'” Tariq said. “Recovery is uneven, so organizers should use benchmarks as a starting point, then examine their own sector’s trends.”

Nancy Drapeau, vice president of research at CEIR, said 95% of exhibitors and attendees confirm face-to-face events deliver value that other channels do not match. She urged organizers to use digital tools that extend in-person experiences.

Michele Iversen, principal and head of geopolitical and regulatory risk at The Chertoff Group, said organizers should track capital, content and people. Proposed FCC changes could affect exhibitor technology, she said, and visa delays for some travelers now exceed a year.

Bennie F. Johnson, CEO of the American Marketing Association, opened his session by asking, “Why leave home?” Bennie said audience data may now be worth more than exhibition space.

A panel moderated by Howard Givner discussed innovation. Lauren Parr proposed giving every event an “expiration date” to force reevaluation. Kara Dickerson said future competitors may be small, AI-native operators.

IMEX America 2026 to Spotlight Human-Centered Design, Wellness and New Education Tracks

IMEX America 2026 will center on human-centered design, expand its wellness programming and add three education tracks, IMEX head of program Tahira Endean told BizBash.

The show runs Oct. 13-15 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, and more than 17,000 event professionals are expected to attend. It will include the following:

• More than 200 education sessions
• More than 300 speakers

Tahira said the “Design Matters” theme responds to the rise of artificial intelligence in sales and events. “How are we creating more humanizing sales, events, all of those things in the face of all this AI slop (in many cases)? How do we design beyond that?” she said.

The three new education tracks are Designing for Human Needs, Design for Spectacle and Design Matters. Designing for Human Needs covers accessibility and inclusion. Design for Spectacle looks at how Las Vegas attractions, including the A’s, the Golden Knights, F1, AREA15 and the Sphere, build repeatable experiences for groups. Design Matters treats design as a tool for brand differentiation.

IMEX also is adding block sessions that group several talks on one topic, such as sales and marketing, accessibility or sustainability. Tahira said the format offers “a concentrated time where people can either dip in and out for a 20-25 minute session, or they can come and get a lot of different perspectives and leave with their head exploding with really great new ideas.”

The Inspiration Hub, where education sessions take place, will move off the show floor to an area off the Bayside Foyer. The hosted buyer lounge, previously in that space, will move upstairs.

Featured sessions include:

• Rebecca DeLuca of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and Lori Nelson-Kraft of Formula 1 on involving the Las Vegas community in the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, Wednesday at 2:05 p.m.
• Keynote speaker Caitlin Krause on how AI, immersive media and digital habits are changing human connection, Monday at 1:15 p.m.
• A panel with Zena Phillips of Hilton, Tracy Stuckrath of Thrive! Meetings & Events, Monique Rochard of Cordis and Jen Veralle of the Mindful Drinking Movement on shifting food and beverage expectations, Wednesday at 10 a.m.

Wellness programming will include the return of the Resilience Room, a quiet space for attendees to pause and recharge. Circadian Cove, introduced in 2025 with Olympian Meeting and Dr. Jess Garza of Legacy Mindset, will expand as Circadian Cove Rx with Carbon World Health. Dr. Nestor Rodriguez, an emergency medicine physician, will guide the program. “They worked with, and will have on site, an emergency room physician,” Tahira said. “So if event planners have questions about what we’re doing at events to take care of ourselves, there are some really great resources there. They’ve really amped up the programming.”

IMEX also will hold a Catalyst Lab during Smart Monday, a set of facilitated discussions on challenges facing the industry, including AI and talent acquisition. Attendees can sign up for specific times. “We really want to hear from as many people in the industry as possible,” Tahira said.

Messe München Collaborates With UnternehmerTUM to Expand Global Opportunities for Startups

Messe München and UnternehmerTUM have agreed to a strategic partnership to help start-ups reach international markets, customers, industry partners and investors, the organizations said.

The agreement, announced Sept. 29, combines the trade fair organizer’s global network with UnternehmerTUM’s European start-up ecosystem.

“Innovation emerges where industry, science, investors and start-ups combine. Together with UnternehmerTUM, we showcase start-ups’ pioneering technologies, open doors to international markets and customers, and connect them directly with established key players and fresh capital. With our approximately 150 trade fairs and events worldwide, we offer the innovation community a global stage,” Messe München CEOs Reinhard Pfeiffer and Stefan Rummel said in a joint statement.

The organizations cited the following figures:

• UnternehmerTUM: more than 140 tech start-ups launched each year
• UnternehmerTUM: about 2 billion euros in venture capital raised annually by start-ups in its ecosystem
• Messe München: around 150 events worldwide and a potential reach of around 3 million visitors

“Innovations only have an impact once they successfully reach the market. The partnership with Messe München connects our innovation ecosystem with international industry platforms and creates new opportunities for start-ups and companies to grow globally. Together, we build a bridge between technological excellence and access to international markets,” said Helmut Schönenberger, CEO and co-founder of UnternehmerTUM GmbH, and Christian Mohr, managing director and chief commercial officer.

The partners have already run innovation formats at the automatica and World of Quantum trade fairs and plan to extend the collaboration to other Messe München events.

Speaker Collaboration Becomes a Growing Focus for Event Promotion

Event organizers should give speakers specific ideas to share instead of generic requests to promote an event, according to Ian Davis, vice president of marketing at Snöball.

Ian wrote that promotion often comes down to one request: “Share this with your audience.” He said speakers bring expertise, credibility and an audience that already follows them.

“Give speakers an idea worth discussing rather than an event worth attending,” Ian wrote.

He recommended asking for a claim, a question the speaker is working through or a preview of an argument, with the registration link as a secondary detail. He said requests should also match the speaker, since researchers, association board members and practitioners differ in audience and comfort with self-promotion.

On timing, Ian said most requests arrive after the agenda and marketing plan are set. Asking while sessions are still being developed lets speakers help shape what they promote.

He cited Edelman research:

• A 2025 study found that 53% of B2B decision-makers say a company’s brand name matters less when its content shows real expertise.
• The 2024 edition found that 90% of decision-makers became more receptive to future outreach from companies that consistently produced expert content.

“Remember that a speaker who feels used once is a speaker who’s harder to book twice,” Ian wrote.

After 66 Years in Chicago, The Inspired Home Show Is Moving to Atlanta

The Inspired Home Show, produced by the International Housewares Association, will move from McCormick Place in Chicago to AmericasMart in Atlanta in 2028 under an eight-year partnership with ANDMORE, a Blackstone portfolio company.

The show will be co-located with Winter Atlanta Market, AmericasMart’s gift and home show, on Jan. 11-16, 2028. The final Chicago edition is set for March 9-11, 2027.

“This isn’t a separate show tucked off to the side,” Amory Wooden, executive vice president and chief revenue officer at ANDMORE, told TSNN. “It’s woven directly into the fabric of our campus in the neighborhoods where it makes the most sense for buyers to cross-source.”

Amory said the footprint will be split evenly between permanent showrooms and trade show space, with an International Sourcing Pavilion, a renovated demo kitchen and an IHA Welcome Center. “Altogether, this grows AmericasMart’s dedicated housewares and tabletop footprint tenfold, creating the largest collection of this category anywhere in the country,” she said.

The deal follows the model ANDMORE set in 2023, when the International Casual Furnishings Association moved its Casual Market to AmericasMart. Amory cited three lessons from that partnership:

• Identity has to stay intact, with the show keeping its own name and branding.
• “Demand can move faster than any plan accounts for.” ANDMORE expanded Casual Market’s exhibit space by 50% before its first show.
• AmericasMart’s casual and outdoor footprint reached nearly 400,000 square feet within five months of launch.

The Inspired Home Show draws more than 10,000 retailers and industry professionals and more than 1,000 exhibitors each year, according to a press release.

“For buyers, it means fewer separate trips and more complete sourcing for housewares and tabletop, alongside AmericasMart’s existing 6,000-plus gift and home brands, all in one visit,” Amory said. “For exhibitors, it means trading the cost and downtime of rebuilding a temporary booth every show for a permanent showroom that sells for them every day the campus is open.”

Who is hiring?

Mattel | Head of Global Experiences

Corsair | Director, Global Events

Phillips 66 | Advisor, Corporate Events

Elastic | Sr. Manager, Strategic Events

Hyve Group | Multiple Positions