Trade Show ROI Calculator

Model the true all-in cost of any trade show against expected orders, new account acquisition and reorder pipeline. 18 global shows pre-loaded. Amortize reusables, model sample recovery, and compute the break-even order volume.

Free to useCalculator
Show & Team
Optional. Shows the city, season and official site; costs are always your own inputs.
All travel costs are multiplied by this number
Days exhibiting (not travel)
Setup and breakdown days
Booth & Venue
Venue materials handling fee
Booth Build & Reusables
Marketing
Featured placement, show app listing
Show publication, partner media
Pre-show + during show
Design + send cost
Pre-show outreach to targets
Photographer or videographer at show
Materials & Printed
Print run per show
Perishable: full cost per show
Samples: display (booth)
Shrink wrap removed, handled by buyers
Recover partial cost by selling handled samples at retail or discounted MSRP. Common at Shoppe Object, NY NOW and design-forward shows.
Used when selling display samples post-show
e.g. 70% = sell at a 30% discount
Some smaller brands keep samples and reuse them. Cost amortized across the number of shows.
Used when reusing display samples across shows
Samples: given to buyers
Always a full write-off
Travel & Accommodation
Round trip
Per room
Taxi, rideshare, airport: total trip
Per person per day
Show Offers
Applies to all orders written at show
0 = all orders get free shipping
What you absorb per qualifying order
Post-Show
Samples + postage to new contacts
Opportunity Cost
Days out of office x daily rate per person: the real cost of pulling your team off other revenue-generating work.
Revenue or output per person per day
Revenue assumptions
Per reordering account, per month of the attribution window
Used for the break-even order count and free shipping offer

Reusables: cost per show

ItemPer show
structure$400
shelving$100
signage$133.33
totes$200
tech$100
other$0

How the show is costed

  • Per show: booth and venue, marketing, consumed materials and post-show follow-up count in full.
  • Amortized: booth structure, shelving, durable signage, totes and tech are divided by the number of shows you expect to use them.
  • Samples: display samples can be partly recovered by selling them after the show or spread across shows you reuse them for. Samples given to buyers are always a full write-off.
  • Travel: airfare, hotel, ground, incidentals and per diem for show plus travel days, times the number of staff.
  • Show offers: these are not costs. The discount reduces revenue on orders written at the show; shipping you absorb on qualifying orders is added to the investment.
  • Revenue: orders net of the show discount, plus reorders: new accounts x reorder rate x monthly reorder value x months in the window.
Tip

Opportunity cost is off by default. Switch it on to see the show as your team experiences it: days out of the office have a price even when nobody invoices it.

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The tools are free. QVINTA does the work.

QVINTA finds the shops that fit your brand, picks the product each one is missing and drafts the pitch, every week. Soon open for beta testing.