One fixed number. One project manager. A booth that clears McCormick’s rulebook before it ships.
McCormick Place is the largest convention center in North America, and it runs on its own operating system: union jurisdictions decide who touches what, freight moves through a marshaling yard against assigned target dates, and drayage is billed by the hundredweight. Pure Exhibits builds Chicago trade show booth rentals around those rules from the first sketch — designed, fabricated, fully pre-staged and photo-approved before anything ships, priced in one contractual figure — so the only thing your team manages on show week is the show.
More than 500 exhibiting teams have run their programs on the same promise we make in Chicago: a number that holds, a booth that matches its photo proof, and a person who answers the phone during move-in.
“They never just build the booth and disappear — I always know I have someone on call when the unexpected happens.”
Amanda Horner · Three years of Adobe Summit booths · Google Review
“It’s always a pleasure to work with Utsav. The process is simple, straightforward, and high quality. I have worked with them for 3 years now and will continue!”
Carlos Bautista · Three-year client · Google Review
On the Chicago calendar — IMTS · RSNA · PACK EXPO · NRA Show · ASCO · NeoCon
Every project below started as a fixed quote and ended as a booth that matched its photo proof — inlines to 30×30 islands, cybersecurity to consumer brands. This is the same inventory and the same build team your Chicago exhibit comes from. Click any project for a closer look.
Want the story behind a build — the brief, the budget, and what happened when the doors opened? Teramind, Appdome, Afresh, WillowTree, Yuna, LHH and Genea each have one in the case study hub.
A booth that works in Chicago is won before it ships. Pure Exhibits fabricates every exhibit in-house, stands it up completely in the shop, photographs it for your sign-off, then crates it so union I&D crews can re-assemble it at McCormick in the fewest possible labor hours — which is exactly where Chicago budgets are usually lost. Fortune 500 teams and first-time exhibitors run the same playbook with us across IMTS, RSNA, PACK EXPO, the NRA Show, and 200+ events a year nationwide, all on one contractual number.
“The prospect of managing all of the details with big trade shows is daunting to say the least. But the Pure Exhibits team made it easy… If you are looking for a real partner that you can count on, then I recommend you talk with Utsav and his team.”
Footprint decides almost everything at McCormick Place — drayage weight, labor hours, hanging-sign rights, even which aisle traffic you can catch. Pick a size below and the fixed price comes with it. One Chicago-specific note: at campus-scale shows like IMTS and RSNA, islands from 20×20 up typically qualify for hanging signs, and the rigging window closes early — decide on day one, not week six.
“Since being with SpyCloud, Pure Exhibits has exceeded our expectations at every turn. They truly understand our brand and needs, from starting with a 10×20 booth to maximizing our presence with a 20×30 including a meeting space and four demo stations! Pure Exhibits has been with us every step of the way. They have helped us create a commanding presence on any expo floor that authentically represents who we are. It is a thrill to work with them and see what’s next on our journey. I highly recommend them.”
Between two sizes? Send us your show and space number — we’ll tell you which one the floor plan actually rewards.
Most exhibit quotes in this market are a starting bid. These are finishing numbers — the figure on the contract is the figure on the closeout. Take them into your budget meeting and hold us to them.
| Footprint | Area | Fixed price | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10×10 | 100 sq ft | $12,000 – $14,000 | Inline. A first McCormick outing, one sharp message. |
| 10×20 | 200 sq ft | $18,000 – $22,000 | Inline. Two demos and somewhere to sit a buyer down. |
| 20×20 | 400 sq ft | $28,000 – $32,000 | Island. Open to all four aisles. |
| 20×30 | 600 sq ft | $30,000 – $35,000 | Island. Adds a closed meeting room. |
| 20×40 | 800 sq ft | $35,000 – $45,000 | Island. Zoned demo, briefing, and hospitality. |
| 20×50 | 1,000 sq ft | $40,000 – $50,000 | Island. A product wall at showroom length. |
| 30×30 | 900 sq ft | $40,000 – $50,000 | Island. Center structure, theater seating. |
| 30×40 | 1,200 sq ft | $55,000 – $65,000 | Island. Flagship, double-deck capable. |
Four costs at McCormick Place go to the show or venue no matter who builds your booth: the exhibit space itself, electrical service, drayage — material handling charged per hundredweight (CWT) by the show’s contractor, typically Freeman or Shepard — and rigging for anything hung. We can’t make those ours, so we do the next best thing: estimate each one against your booth’s real crated weight and plan, before you commit to anything.
Payment terms: 50% to open design and production, the balance 30 days ahead of the show — the full cost picture in writing from the first quote.
Ask anyone who has exhibited at McCormick Place where the budget went, and the answer is rarely the booth — it’s what arrived after. Drayage that outran the estimate because nobody weighed the crates. Union overtime because the freight cleared the yard late. A reprint, a filing fee, a “small” change order. Here is the same 20×20 island in Chicago, quoted two different ways:
Certainty costs less than surprises. One contractual figure from design through dismantle, show-billed items forecast beside it — and a closeout your finance team approves without a single question.
Four connected buildings, 2.6 million square feet, union jurisdictions on every task, and a marshaling yard that decides when your freight moves — McCormick Place rewards exhibitors who plan for its system and punishes the ones who discover it on move-in day. We plan for it.
The fixed price covers design through dismantle, with the show-billed lines — space, electrical, drayage, rigging — forecast right beside it. Your budget is complete on day one, not reconstructed after closeout.
Carpenters, electricians, riggers, and decorators each own their scope at McCormick. We design the booth so every trade’s work is clean and quick — fewer hours on the clock is the single biggest lever on a Chicago budget.
Freight enters McCormick through the yard against assigned target dates. We schedule the shipment, handle check-in and release timing, and keep your team off the phone with dispatchers.
Your booth is fully assembled in our shop — every wall, light, and bracket — photographed for your approval, then crated. What the crew unpacks in Chicago is a booth that has already worked once.
South’s giant halls, North’s Grand Concourse connection, West’s meeting-heavy layout, Lakeside’s columns and ceilings — each building installs differently, and the plan accounts for which one you’re in.
The invoice matches the PO to the dollar. No overtime line you didn’t expect, no drayage true-up weeks later — the project ends the day the show does.
Quotes within 24 hours — sooner if your Chicago show date is close.
Renders sell booths; video proves them. Walk through finished builds from a 10×10 up to 40×40 flagship scale and judge the finish quality for yourself — the same standard every Pure Exhibits rental ships with, whether it’s headed to IMTS, RSNA, or PACK EXPO.
▶30′×60′ Custom Rental Booth Build
▶40′×40′ Custom Rental Exhibit
▶30′×30′ Custom Exhibit
▶30′×30′ Custom Exhibit
▶30′×30′ Custom Exhibit Rental
▶20′×30′ Custom Exhibit Booth
A beautiful booth that captures no leads is expensive decoration. Every Chicago design decision we make traces back to a working question: who stops, what do they do next, and what does your team walk away with?
Scaled to read down McCormick’s long halls, where sightlines run hundreds of feet
Openings placed for the hall’s actual aisle flow, not just how the render looks
Your core message legible before an attendee is close enough to be scanned
Demo stations that hold a small crowd without choking the aisle behind them
Height and lighting spent where the hall’s scale demands it — and nowhere else
Layouts driven by your lead and meeting goals, not a template library
Meeting space positioned so it actually gets used between sessions
Modular bones that re-skin for next year’s show instead of starting over
Space confirmed late, vendor backed out, launch moved up — it happens every season. Our rush track builds, stages, and ships a complete exhibit in 24 business days, at the same fixed price. ✓ Rush rentals, 24 business days
Chicago quotes are notorious for growing between signature and closeout. Ours can’t — the contract is the price, and the show-billed lines are forecast next to it before you commit. ✓ One contractual number
A designer, a fabricator, a freight broker, a labor company, and a graphics shop — each pointing at the others when something slips. Here it’s one team and one phone number from sketch to teardown. ✓ Single-team delivery
Union jurisdictions, CWT drayage, target move-in dates, marshaling-yard timing — the venue’s system catches first-timers every show. We’ve designed for it so long it’s built into the booth itself. ✓ McCormick Place experts
The event manager is the one who told a client, a CMO, or a board what this booth would cost and when it would be standing. At McCormick Place — where a missed target date or a drayage surprise can blow both promises in one morning — our whole process exists to keep your word for you. And to hand you the paper trail that proves it, stage by stage.
One conversation about your show, space number, and goals. You leave it knowing what your budget genuinely buys at McCormick — including the show-billed costs nobody else mentions until later.
3D concepts within 3–5 business days, designed around your actual placement and sightlines — then revised until it’s right. Revisions are part of the process, not a change order.
The booth goes up completely in our shop — walls, lighting, graphics, screens — and you approve photographs of the real thing. Nothing is crated for Chicago until you’ve seen it standing.
Final QC, then we run the Chicago gauntlet for you: carrier scheduling, marshaling-yard check-in, target move-in dates, and venue paperwork. Your team never talks to a dispatcher.
Because the booth has already been assembled once, the union crew is re-assembling a known quantity — every panel labeled, every connection proven. Fewer labor hours, no improvising on the floor.
A screen misbehaves, a graphic needs swapping, the client wants a change before day two — you call one number and it’s handled while the hall is still open.
Teardown, crating, and outbound freight are ours. Your team walks out when the show closes; the closeout invoice that follows matches the contract you signed.
Chicago’s show floor is really six floors — four McCormick Place buildings plus Navy Pier and Rosemont — and each one installs differently. Knowing which one your space number sits in changes the freight plan, the labor plan, and sometimes the design itself.
The biggest contiguous halls on the campus, where the heavy-machinery and packaging giants set up. We plan crate weights, rigging, and target move-in dates around South’s dock realities so your booth lands on schedule.
Linked to South by the Grand Concourse and home to RSNA’s technical exhibits. Clinical-grade finish matters here — our photo-proof process means the booth that arrives is exactly the booth you approved.
The newest building, heavy on ballrooms and meeting space. Shows here skew conference-plus-expo, so we design booths that work hard in tighter halls with high decision-maker density.
The original lakefront building with its own dock access and its own quirks — column grids, ceiling limits, longer freight runs. We plan for all three so nothing surprises your team at move-in.
A very different animal from McCormick: tighter docks, tighter turns, and a public-facing venue. Pre-staged builds that install fast are exactly what these conditions call for.
Minutes from O’Hare and a favorite for regional industry shows. Same fixed-price model, same photo-approved delivery, right-sized for Rosemont’s halls.
Machine tools in September, radiology after Thanksgiving, restaurants in May — Chicago’s calendar swings across industries, and each show floor has its own rules of engagement. Pure Exhibits designs for the specific show you’re walking into, not a generic exhibit hall.
Every show date implies a start date. Count backwards from these anchors and the runway each one really needs becomes obvious — and if your show isn’t on the list, we’ll pull its exhibitor manual before we quote.
| Show | When | Venue | Start planning |
|---|---|---|---|
| IMTS | September, even years | McCormick Place (full campus) | 6 months |
| RSNA | Late Nov – early Dec | McCormick North & South | 5 months |
| PACK EXPO International | October, even years | McCormick Place | 5 months |
| NRA Show | May | McCormick Place | 4 months |
| ASCO | Late May – early June | McCormick Place | 4 months |
| Automate | June | McCormick Place | 4 months |
IMTS gets six months, not four — the entire campus books at once, heavy freight is assigned target move-in dates earlier than most exhibitors expect, and labor and hotel capacity tighten citywide in the same window. Plan the runway and it’s routine; miss it and the marshaling yard sets your schedule for you. Already compressed? The rush track below exists for exactly that.
Vendor fell through before RSNA? Space came through late for the NRA Show? Tell us the date — we’ll tell you what’s buildable.
For most Chicago exhibitors the math favors renting, and the reason is specific to this market: a purchased booth still pays McCormick’s drayage, labor, and show services every single year — plus storage and refurbishment between shows. A rental resets the design each cycle and drops the ownership overhead entirely.
| Factor | Renting | Owning |
|---|---|---|
| Cash outlay | One predictable fee per show | Large capital purchase upfront |
| Between shows | Nothing to store or insure | Warehousing charges year-round |
| Wear and repairs | Our problem, not yours | Refurbishment on your budget |
| Design refresh | New look every cycle | Rebuild costs to change anything |
| Scaling | 10×10 this year, island next | Locked to what you bought |
| Show logistics | Bundled into the rental | Sourced separately each time |
Owning starts to pencil only for teams running the same large footprint at many shows a year — and even then, most of them rent in Chicago to skip the storage question.
Our published fixed pricing runs $12,000–$14,000 for a 10×10 up to $55,000–$65,000 for a 30×40 — and that figure covers design, fabrication, graphics, freight, union I&D coordination, and project management, contractually. Separately, McCormick Place bills every exhibitor for space, electrical, drayage, and rigging; we forecast those four lines against your specific booth before you sign, so the complete cost of exhibiting is visible up front.
Drayage at McCormick Place is charged per hundredweight (CWT) by the show’s official contractor — typically Freeman or Shepard — and rates vary by show and material type. Drayage is billed by the show, not by us. What we do is estimate it line by line in your Chicago quote, based on your booth’s real crated weight, so the number you budget is the number the show bills. Because our booths are engineered light and crated tight, that number is usually smaller than exhibitors fear.
Half on signing, which opens design and production; the other half 30 days before the show. Nothing else follows — no true-ups, no post-show reconciliation invoice. If you want to see how the fixed model works size by size, browse the priced rental exhibits.
Yes — and Chicago is where multi-show programs earn their keep, because IMTS, PACK EXPO, and RSNA can all land in one autumn. Booking them together locks pricing across the season, holds your design and graphics between shows, and puts one PM across the whole run instead of three separate projects.
Both, and that’s the point. We fabricate every exhibit ourselves — structures, graphics, finishes — then deliver it on a rental model. You get build-shop quality without buying, storing, or maintaining anything, and every booth is stood up and tested in our shop before it’s crated for McCormick Place.
Three things, honestly. The price is contractual — the figure you sign is the figure you pay, with McCormick’s show-billed costs forecast beside it rather than discovered later. The booth is proven before it ships — fully assembled in our shop and photo-approved by you, so union crews in Chicago re-assemble a known quantity in fewer labor hours. And one project manager owns everything from sketch to closeout, including the marshaling-yard and paperwork grind that eats event managers’ weeks.
The structure, custom graphics, flooring, lighting, furniture, and AV if the design calls for it — plus freight to the venue, union I&D coordination, show-services filings, and a dedicated PM. One quote, one line on your budget. The rental packages page breaks down scope in detail.
You pick or commission a design; we build it, stand it up in the shop, and send you photographs to approve. Then we crate it, run it through McCormick’s marshaling yard on its target date, manage the union install, stay on call through the show, and handle dismantle and return freight. Your involvement peaks at the design stage — by show week, your only job is working the booth.
One, from kickoff to closeout — the same person who priced your booth is the one answering during move-in at McCormick. No handoffs between a sales rep, a producer, and a site lead. If you’d like to start there, talk to a project manager before you commit to anything.
Yes — your PM is reachable through move-in, show days, and dismantle. A flickering screen or a last-minute graphic swap gets handled while the hall is open, not logged in a ticket system for next week.
Yes — drayage, electrical, union labor, and rigging are each estimated as their own line in the quote, calculated from your booth’s actual crated weight and power plan. Those items remain billed by the show, but the estimate is accurate enough that your finance team can budget them as real numbers, not placeholders.
The working set is — counters, tables, seating, and lockable storage sized to the design. If your brand standard calls for specific premium pieces, we source and include them in the same fixed number rather than tacking on a rental line later.
Three systems catch first-timers: union jurisdictions (specific trades own specific tasks, and the lines matter), the marshaling yard (freight enters against assigned target dates — miss yours and your install window shrinks), and CWT drayage (you pay by weight to move crates from dock to booth). All three are manageable if the booth was designed with them in mind, which is precisely how ours are designed. If it’s your first McCormick show, start with a planning call — it costs nothing and saves plenty.
Yes. We coordinate union-trained I&D crews and, more importantly, we hand them a booth engineered to install fast — pre-assembled once, labeled, and documented. Compliance is table stakes; cutting the labor hours the union bills is where we actually earn the fee.
Your booth ships as one coordinated freight move, checks in through McCormick’s marshaling yard on its target date, and the show’s contractor carries it from dock to your space — that last leg is drayage, billed per hundredweight. We book the carrier, manage yard timing, and estimate the drayage from real crate weights in your quote, so the whole chain runs without your team touching it.
Navy Pier’s Festival Hall, the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, and hotel and ballroom events across the city. The model doesn’t change with the address: fixed price, photo-approved prebuild, coordinated install.
Yes — turnkey means the whole chain: design, fabrication, graphics, freight, I&D, on-call support, and teardown under one contract, at McCormick Place and Navy Pier alike. You never assemble a vendor list or reconcile competing invoices.
Yes — IMTS (September 14–19, 2026, across the full McCormick campus) is one of the biggest weeks on our calendar. Fixed-price rentals run from 10×10 inlines to 40×40+ islands, every one pre-staged and union-ready. IMTS runways disappear fast, so book early — or if you’re already late, the 24-business-day rush track exists for exactly this.
That’s the whole job. We start from your brand guidelines and show objectives, design in 3D until you approve, and then — unusually — you approve again from photographs of the physically built booth before it ships. Two sign-offs, zero surprises on the floor.
Everything visible and most of what isn’t: layout, signage, screen count and placement, counters, lighting temperature and intensity, demo stations. The gallery on this page is all rentals — none of them look like they came from the same kit, because the kit is only the skeleton.
Yes — iteration is budgeted into the process, and most teams take two or three revision rounds before final sign-off. What we don’t do is convert your changes into surprise change-order fees; the fixed price already assumes the design will evolve.
All of them, from a 10×10 inline to 30×40+ islands and peninsulas — each configured to its space type’s rules (line-of-sight limits for inlines, hanging-sign and height allowances for islands) and prebuilt in-house before shipping to McCormick.
The structure is the least memorable part of any booth — what people remember is what happened inside it. A demo they touched, a meeting that felt private on a loud floor, a message they could read from thirty feet. We spend the design budget on those moments, which is why our rentals at IMTS and RSNA get mistaken for owned customs.
Eight to twelve weeks covers most Chicago shows comfortably — design, approvals, graphics, prebuild, and McCormick’s paperwork all fit. The exceptions are the campus-scale events: for IMTS especially, start around six months out, because target move-in dates and citywide capacity go early.
Behind schedule already? The rush track compresses the whole build to 24 business days without touching the price or skipping the photo proof.
If you can tell it’s a rental from the aisle, we’ve failed. The underlying structure is modular, but everything an attendee actually perceives — graphics, layout, lighting, finishes, furniture — is produced for your brand and your show. Book a design consultation and judge the difference from the portfolio yourself.
Send the show and your space number. Within 24 hours you’ll have design directions, one contractual figure, and McCormick’s own charges forecast beside it — the whole cost of exhibiting in Chicago on a single page anyone can approve.
