NAB Show Exhibitor Guide: Plan Your Las Vegas Exhibit

NAB Show 2027 at a glance

The date distinction matters. The broader education schedule starts on April 3, while the show floor opens on April 4. Conference and workshop programs can also require separate purchases. Do not use the education dates as freight or booth-staffing dates.

What kind of event is NAB Show?

NAB Show is the Las Vegas marketplace for technology used to create, manage, distribute, and monetize media and entertainment. Broadcast remains central, but the current program reaches streaming, sports, cloud infrastructure, artificial intelligence, creator businesses, enterprise media, and immersive production.

That breadth is useful only when your offer fits a recognizable workflow. A visitor comparing cameras approaches the floor differently from an executive evaluating media supply-chain automation. Your first exhibit decision is therefore not “How large should our booth be?” It is “Which buyer problem do we solve, and where will that buyer already be comparing solutions?”

The organizer's 2026 pre-audited figures reported more than 58,000 registered attendees, more than 1,100 registered exhibitors, 146 countries represented, and 22% international registration. The 2027 exhibitor prospectus says 70% of registrants were buyers and an attendee survey found 82% had direct buying authority or influence. These are organizer-reported 2026 measures, not a forecast of your traffic or sales in 2027.

Match your product to the right hall

The organizer says 2027 category and destination mapping remains largely aligned with the 2026 campus. Use the live floor plan before accepting a location because available inventory and nearby exhibitors can change.

West Hall: software, infrastructure, business, and emerging platforms

West Hall currently groups areas such as AI and machine learning, cloud computing and storage, streaming, AdTech, asset management, media supply-chain automation, monitoring and measurement, sports, and startups.

This is the strongest starting point when your demonstration follows a digital workflow rather than a physical production chain. Instead of filling the booth with separate feature stations, let a visitor follow one job from input to result. A cloud or AI exhibitor should also decide whether the live demonstration depends on venue connectivity. If it does, the network order and a recorded fallback belong in the same plan.

Central Hall: capture, sound, lighting, display, and transmission

Central Hall covers cameras and support, audio production and networking, lighting and grip, digital signage, transmission, TV and radio operations, and show-floor destinations such as CineCentral and Creator Lab.

Products here often need to be seen or heard in operation. That creates a space problem as well as a technical one. The 2027 contract requires audiences and equipment to remain inside the exhibit, limits sound measured from the center of an adjacent aisle to 80 dB, and restricts flashing lights or lasers without prior written approval. Plan the viewing line, listening position, operator location, and waiting space before the display wall is fixed.

North Hall: production and post-production workflows

North Hall includes acquisition, editing, graphics, production, post-production, and VideoNext. It also contains education destinations, but a conference name appearing in a hall does not turn the exhibit floor into the full conference program.

A useful North Hall demonstration usually shows the handoff between stages. If your product improves editing, graphics, or post, visitors need enough context to see where the input came from and what changed. Keep that sequence short enough to repeat throughout the day, then move detailed technical reviews into scheduled meetings.

Who will your team meet?

NAB describes an audience that includes broadcasters, streaming companies, production and post-production teams, systems integrators, hardware suppliers, corporate and education production groups, advertising and marketing teams, software developers, radio organizations, government users, creators, and sports media operations.

The list should not become ten equal target personas. Choose one primary buying group for the exhibit and identify the technical users, recommenders, and executives who influence that group's decision. A product manager can then prepare one core demonstration with different proof points, rather than asking booth staff to improvise a new story for every badge.

Use the organizer's buyer statistics as a reason to prepare qualification questions, not as a promise that every visitor has an active budget. Your lead form should capture the workflow being changed, the current system, the person's role in the decision, and the next technical step. A badge scan without that context is difficult to route after the show.

How to become a NAB Show 2027 exhibitor

The public exhibitor resources page is accepting applications. Start with the official application or contact the NAB sales team, then use the live 2027 floor plan to discuss a category and location. Companies that exhibited, sponsored, or advertised in 2026 were offered priority-ordered space selection; new applicants should not assume the same appointment or inventory.

Current official pricing lists raw exhibit space at $50 per square foot for NAB members and $56 per square foot for non-members. The organizer also lists Starter Turnkey packages at $6,550 for 10×10 and $13,100 for 10×20, plus Traditional Turnkey packages at $11,950 for 10×10 and $23,250 for 10×20. These figures describe organizer offerings, not the total cost of exhibiting. Read the current package scope before comparing it with raw space.

For the original space-selection cycle, the page required contracts to be signed by June 1, 2026. That hold deadline has passed. The 2027 contract sets a 50% payment date of July 1, 2026 and full payment by December 1, 2026; when a contract is executed after a payment date, the applicable amount is due on execution. A company applying now should ask NAB what space remains and follow the dates printed in its own contract rather than relying on the earlier appointment instructions.

Build your plan around the rules already published

Several design boundaries are already in the 2027 contract. They are not details to check after fabrication.

• Keep equipment, screens, demonstrations, staff, and the audience inside the contracted exhibit.
• Position machinery and equipment at least 12 inches back from the aisle.
• Keep sound at a conversational level and within the 80 dB limit measured from an adjacent aisle.
• Obtain written approval before using flashing electrical signs, special light effects, or lasers.
• Do not store crates or general packaging behind drape or inside the exhibit. The contract limits in-booth storage to one day's operational materials and assigns empty-container storage to the official service contractor.
• Do not begin packing or dismantling before the official close on April 7. The detailed dismantling schedule will come from the 2027 Exhibitor Manual or official notices.

These rules point to concrete drawing checks. Mark the aisle line, equipment clearance, audience footprint, storage volume, speaker direction, and screen sightline on the plan. For a loud or complex demo, prepare a shorter public sequence and reserve the full technical session for a meeting room or controlled appointment.

The contract also requires exhibitors to maintain general liability insurance of at least $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate, naming NAB and the facility as additional insureds. Exhibitor-appointed contractors must provide the insurance documentation described by the 2027 manual. Send those requirements to your insurance and legal teams; a booth drawing cannot resolve a missing certificate.

Separate the contract from the Exhibitor Services Kit

The contract establishes rights, payment obligations, insurance, conduct, and baseline exhibit rules. The 2027 Exhibitor Manual and service kit are where location-specific execution should be confirmed. The official contract specifically sends exhibitors to that manual for target move-in, construction guidelines, EAC insurance documentation, labor jurisdictions, artwork deadlines, and dismantling schedules.

When this article was checked on September 7, 2026, the public NAB Show exhibitor resources page did not expose a complete 2027 target move-in calendar or a full table of service-order deadlines. Do not fill those blanks with a 2025 or 2026 schedule. The following items remain a live-document check:

NAB Exhibit Services is the official contact for general exhibit questions. The current resource page directs custom-booth and exhibitor customer-service questions to Freeman, while Expovision is named as the official housing office. Use those official interfaces, and make sure each vendor quote states what it covers. A floor-space payment does not automatically include electrical, network, rigging, labor, shipping, or every material-handling condition.

A planning sequence that protects the demonstration

Begin with the product workflow and the target buyer, then confirm the hall. After NAB issues the booth number and contract, put the live floor plan and the current exhibitor manual at the top of the project file.

Next, write a one-page demonstration run. It should show the equipment used, cycle time, operator, audience capacity, sound, screens, network dependency, power load, heat, and fallback. This single document exposes conflicts that a rendering can hide.

Only then should the physical layout be frozen. Review the aisle setback, visitor position, accessible route, storage, cable path, and staff movement against the official rules. Send the approved inputs to the people responsible for freight, utilities, insurance, registration, and on-site labor. Each owner should record the official portal, current deadline, order status, and confirmation number.

Finally, schedule a formal recheck when NAB releases or revises the 2027 manual. Dates and contractor instructions can change after the visual design has been approved. A version number and last-checked date on the project checklist make the change visible.