# How to tell whether an international trade show paid off

Add up the full cost, not just the floor space, and divide it by the useful meetings and the qualified opportunities the show produced. Then track those opportunities in your CRM across the whole sales cycle, which for bioprocess equipment can run for many months. Goals that are not about sales, such as finding distributors, hiring or watching competitors, are measured separately.

[Web version](https://www.crida.studio/en/insights/guides/international-trade-show-roi/)

By David Monje, crida studio · Published 2026-02-20 · Updated 2026-02-20

## Add up the full cost of the show

Floor space is the line everyone looks at, but it is only one line. At ACHEMA 2027, the space fee ranges from 378 euros per square metre for a wall stand to 529.20 euros for a stand with two or more open sides. Working from these published fees, excluding VAT, a 25-square-metre wall stand comes to 9,450 euros in space, and the Compact build package at 198 euros per square metre adds another 4,950.

On top of that come the other charges and services listed in the conditions of participation, plus everything the organiser does not bill. Write the full list before you sign, because that is the figure you will divide later.

- Space, stand build, electricity and services.
- Shipping and insurance for the demo unit.
- Travel, hotels and expenses for the whole team.
- Sales and engineering days spent away from the office.
- Renders, videos, print and campaigns before and after the show.

![Bar chart of ACHEMA 2027 space fees, from 239 euros per square metre for start-ups and research to 529.20 euros for stands with two or more open sides](https://www.crida.studio/recursos/assets/achema-2027-space-fee-per-square-metre.957d3c196462.svg)

ACHEMA 2027 space fee per square metre

| Stand type | Euros per square metre |
| --- | --- |
| Wall stand or outer aisle stand | €378 |
| Other aisle stands, one side open | €453.6 |
| Two or more open sides | €529.2 |
| Start-ups and academic research | €239 |

Space price per square metre at ACHEMA 2027 by stand type, excluding VAT, stand build, services, travel and staff time.

Source: [ACHEMA, exhibitor application and fees 2027](https://www.achema.de/en/for-exhibitors/application)

## Cost per meeting and per qualified opportunity

Divide the full cost by the useful meetings and, above all, by the qualified opportunities. A qualified opportunity is a project with a stage, a scale, a timeline and someone who decides or influences the decision, not a business card. Define it before the show, because afterwards it is easy to count too generously.

That cost only means something when you compare it with other channels. AUMA, the German trade fair industry association, offers a tool called the Trade Fair Benefit Check that compares the cost of exhibiting with that of other marketing activities. You can do the same with what an opportunity costs you from Google Ads, LinkedIn or a sales visit.


### How do you calculate trade show ROI?

Add up the full cost, including space, stand, shipping, travel, staff time and materials. Divide it by the qualified opportunities the show produced and compare that with the cost of an opportunity from other channels. After six or twelve months, check which of those opportunities turned into orders and what they add up to.

## How to count the business that arrives months later

In bioprocessing, a conversation on the booth can turn into an order many months later, after trials, URS and approvals. To see it, every show contact has to enter the CRM with its source tagged, for example ACHEMA 2027, and every new opportunity has to record whether that person or company visited the booth.

Review the data at three, six and twelve months. Count the opportunities that started at the show and the existing ones that moved forward there. QR codes and show links should carry campaign parameters so that website visits can be attributed as well. If you sell through distributors, ask them to tag the opportunities that come from the leads you pass on in the same way.


### How much does floor space cost at ACHEMA 2027?

The base fee is 378 euros per square metre for wall stands, with surcharges of 20% and 40% for aisle stands and stands with two or more open sides. Start-ups and academic research institutions pay 239 euros per square metre. All prices exclude VAT and the stand build, which is charged separately.

## Keep distributors, hiring and competitor watch separate

A trade show is about more than selling. ACHEMA itself says it is a good place to recruit staff, and AUMA lists competitor analysis among the ways to measure a show. Finding a distributor for Scandinavia or seeing what competitors are showing has value, but it is not a sale.

Measure those goals separately, each with its own figure. How many distributor meetings, how many candidates, which competitor launches you saw. Mix them into sales and the show can look like a success with no business, or a failure that actually opened a market for you.


### When can I tell whether the show paid off?

Meetings and opportunities can be counted the following week. Orders take longer, depending on your sales cycle. Do a first review at three months and a final one at twelve, and decide whether to exhibit again based on that data, before the cancellation deadlines for the next edition kick in.

## What organiser surveys tell you and what they do not

Organisers publish satisfaction figures. According to the official ACHEMA 2024 summary, 86.4% of exhibitors rated their success between very satisfying and solid, and 95.7% were considering rebooking for 2027. Those figures help you choose a show, but they say nothing about your own business.

Only you can answer whether the show paid off, using the full cost, the opportunities in your CRM and the length of your sales cycle. AUMA recommends closing every show with a report covering results, what can be improved and what you will change next time, and comparing all your shows against each other.

## References

- [ACHEMA, exhibitor application and fees 2027](https://www.achema.de/en/for-exhibitors/application)
- [ACHEMA, all-in-one stand packages](https://www.achema.de/en/for-exhibitors/stand-construction)
- [ACHEMA, Insights ACHEMA 2024 (official figures, PDF)](https://www.achema.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Content/_Storage/PDF/ACHEMA2027/Insights_ACHEMA_2024_Zahlen-Daten-Fakten_EN.pdf)
- [AUMA, monitoring trade fair success](https://www.auma.de/en/exhibit/tips-for-trade-fair-participation/9-monitoring-success-making-measurement-measurable/)

## The crida perspective

We are a marketing, brand and technology studio based in Girona. We bring identity, content and development together so a digital experience makes sense from beginning to end.

crida studio, Caldes de Malavella (Girona, Spain). David Monje, founder and director.

## Want to know what your last show really delivered?

Tell us which shows you attend, how much you invest and how you follow up contacts today. We will work out with you how to measure the return using the data you already have.

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