Chicago · 20x50 Booth Rentals

20x50 Long-Axis Island Booths in Chicago

All-inclusive 20x50 booth rentals — design, fabrication, graphics, freight, install, dismantle and show paperwork, delivered to McCormick Place and the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. Built and inspected at our Las Vegas warehouse, shipped on a schedule that protects your install window.

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20x50 trade show booth rental in Chicago — Exhibit Rentals

From $59,500

$59,500+ Starting Price

450+ Booths Built

24hr Quote Turnaround

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15+ Years Experience

City

Booth Size

Show / Venue

Budget

★ Recent Builds ★

Our 20x50 Booths on the Chicago Show Floor

Real booths we built for real brands at Chicago shows. Every booth pre-assembled and inspected at our Las Vegas warehouse before it ships.

★ Transparent Pricing ★

20x50 Booth Rental Pricing in Chicago

One invoice. Everything covered — design, build, graphics, freight, install, dismantle, and show paperwork. No drayage surprises, no electrical add-ons after the show. Pick the tier that matches your goals; we tailor the configuration to your booth number and aisle position.

Essential

$59,500

Long-axis island with full programming spine — theater, multi-room meetings, hospitality, demos. Flagship-ready.

Custom island construction with hanging sign rigging coordination
Branded counter(s)
Standard LED lighting
High-res graphics design
Round-trip freight
Install and dismantle
Show paperwork (EAC, COI, electrical, drayage)

Standard

$78,900

Adds full press and analyst program capability, third meeting room, expanded hospitality.

Everything in Essential
Theater seating for 20–25
Three enclosed meeting rooms
Full hospitality bar with seating
Press and analyst program capability
Dedicated project manager and on-site lead

Premium

$98,300

Two-story-feel construction, custom ceiling, hardwood, sound-private meeting rooms.

Everything in Standard
Two-story-feel ceiling structure
Hardwood floors throughout
Sound-private meeting rooms with controlled access
Full executive hospitality program
Priority warehouse build

★ Watch the Build ★

From Concept to Show Floor in 56 Days

Watch how a 20x50 booth goes from a 3D rendering to a finished install at McCormick Place and the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center.

20x50 Booth Rentals in Chicago: Costs, Venues, and What Ships

Chicago's McCormick Place is the largest convention venue in North America, and Chicago's labor and freight rules are among the most exacting. Getting a booth on the floor cleanly here means understanding the steward system, the marshaling yard rules, and McCormick's specific drayage tiers. For exhibitors at shows like IMTS, Pack Expo, RSNA, and the NRA Show, a 20x50 booth at 1000 square feet is a workable footprint. Pricing in Chicago typically runs $59,500–$98,300 per show on a fully turnkey basis — higher than Las Vegas because of labor jurisdictions, freight distance from our warehouse, and venue-specific drayage tiers. In practice this means McCormick's drayage tier, steward sign-offs at each install phase, and the hall-specific electrical and rigging submission windows all affect the final number. None of this is unusual, it's just Chicago, and it's why a 20x50 here costs more than the equivalent in Vegas.

Exhibit Rentals operates from a warehouse in Las Vegas. We ship from our Las Vegas warehouse with 5–7 day transit to McCormick Place. Every booth in our 20x50 inventory is fully pre-assembled and inspected at our facility before it ships to Chicago — so the install at McCormick Place and the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center is replication of an approved build, not first-time assembly on the show floor. For markets like Chicago where freight distance and labor rules add risk, the warehouse pre-build is what protects your show date.

Is a 20x50 the Right Size for Your Show?

The 20x50 booth works best for a few specific kinds of exhibitor:

Flagship-level exhibitors with full-year exhibit programs
Companies anchoring shows like CES, NAB, RSA, or HIMSS
Brands hosting multi-day press and analyst programming
Teams of 12–15 staff including specialists by product line

If you need anchor-tenant programming with double-deck construction, executive briefing capability, and five or more enclosed meeting rooms, you're sized for 30x40 or 30x50.

Working With 1000 Square Feet

One thousand square feet supports a complete brand environment. A 20x50 typically includes a hanging banner the full 50-foot length, a 20-seat theater or demo platform, three private meeting rooms, four to six demo or product display stations, a full hospitality bar, dedicated lead capture, and back-of-house storage and tech room.

What doesn't fit at the long-axis footprint: a fully square layout for centered programming, or anchor-tenant programming with very heavy hospitality. The long-axis shape creates choreography options but constrains square arrangements.

Floor-Plan Choices at 20x50

A 20x50 lets you design distinct neighborhoods inside the booth. The most workable layout for a long footprint: brand entry at the narrow end facing the highest-traffic aisle, a central demo and theater spine running the length, two to three enclosed meeting rooms staggered along the long side, and back-of-house staff and storage at the far end.

On a long-axis footprint, design for movement. Visitors who walk from one short end to the other experience the booth as a journey — brand statement at the entry, product demos in the middle, deeper engagement near the exit. Visitors who only see one short end need that end to communicate the entire offer.

McCormick Place's South and North halls have different ceiling clearances, and your hanging sign rigging gets reviewed by the venue's rigging contractor weeks ahead. At 20x50 the rig coordination is meaningful — McCormick requires submission timelines that vary by hall, so design freeze comes earlier here than at most other venues.

Everything Your Quote Covers

Every quote from Exhibit Rentals is turnkey. One number on the proposal covers every line item below — there's no separate drayage invoice, no surprise electrical bill, no post-show reconciliation:

Photorealistic 3D rendering before approval
Full pre-build and inspection at our Las Vegas warehouse before shipping to Chicago
Full graphics production — backlit fabric, direct-print, or tension fabric depending on design
Round-trip freight from our Las Vegas warehouse to McCormick Place and the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center (or other Chicago venue)
Certified installation and dismantling, fully labor-compliant for your venue
Show services paperwork — EAC filings, Certificate of Insurance, electrical orders, drayage coordination
One dedicated project manager from kickoff to load-out
Hanging sign rigging coordination with venue
AV equipment specification, sourcing, and on-site setup (monitors, sound, lighting controllers)
On-site project lead for the duration of the show, separate from your project manager

What a 20x50 Costs in Chicago

A turnkey 20x50 trade show booth rental in Chicago typically falls between $59,500 and $98,300 per show. Where you land in that range comes down to materials, monitor and AV count, and how much custom architecture you add.

$59,500–$78,900: Clean professional build with backlit fabric, standard counters, LED lighting. Right for flagship-ready programs at tier-one shows.
$78,900–$88,600: Adds monitor walls, upgraded lighting, additional counters, expanded meeting and executive programming. The mid-market sweet spot.
$88,600–$98,300: Premium materials, architectural ceiling features, double-deck construction, executive briefing wing, custom architecture.

That works out to roughly $60–$98 per square foot in Chicago. Chicago pricing reflects McCormick Place's specific drayage tier structure and the steward-coordination overhead. Compared to a Vegas-local equivalent, expect roughly a 60–70% premium on the all-in number — most of that is freight and venue services, not design or fabrication. Booking 10–12 weeks ahead of major McCormick shows protects pricing, Chicago drayage and electrical rates climb noticeably for late orders.

Getting Into Chicago Venues

McCormick Place enforces the Trade Show Workers Right-to-Work Act — exhibitors have flexibility, but our crews still coordinate with the four house unions (Carpenters, Decorators, Electricians, Riggers) for steward sign-off.

McCormick Place uses a four-union model (Carpenters, Decorators, Electricians, Riggers) with steward sign-off at each phase. Drayage is tiered by package weight and material handling category — and the rules change periodically. Our project managers coordinate every steward sign-off and confirm drayage tier before crating, so you don't get a surprise material handling invoice after the show.

Where 20x50 Booths Go Wrong

At 20x50, the usual design errors cost you more. What we see at McCormick Place and the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center shows:

Designing for centered symmetry on a long-axis footprint that demands movement
Skipping the runsheet — without scheduled programming a 1,000 sqft booth feels half-empty for most of the show
Underbuilding sound isolation on meeting rooms that face high-traffic aisles
Treating hospitality as a perk instead of a deliberate extension of qualification
Staffing too few demo specialists — at this size you need parallel demo capacity, not serial
Missing the McCormick electrical-order deadline — late electrical at McCormick is significantly more expensive than on-time orders, and the deadlines are earlier than most exhibitors expect.

Rent or Buy a 20x50?

At the 20x50 footprint, the rent-versus-buy decision is rarely about cost alone — it's about how many shows you run per year and how aggressively your brand evolves. A purchased 20x50 runs $95,000–$157,000 upfront, plus $6,000–$17,500 per show in storage, refurbishment, freight, and labor. For one to three shows a year, the rental model at $59,500–$98,300 per show wins on cash flow and design flexibility. For five or more shows with stable branding, purchase can amortize lower, but at this booth size, refurbishment cycles and the cost of looking dated mid-purchase-life are real considerations. For Chicago-based exhibitors running shows in both Chicago and Vegas, a rental model often beats purchase outright — the freight savings from owning don't compensate for storage cost in Chicago real estate.

Next Step

Browse our 20x50 design gallery below, or fill out the quote form for a custom 3D rendering and full price within 24 hours. Every booth includes our warehouse pre-build guarantee and a dedicated project manager who handles every step from kickoff to load-out.

★ More 20x50 Designs ★

Browse Other 20x50 Booth Designs

40+ ready-to-customize 20x50 designs in our warehouse. Pick a base, customize the graphics — turnkey in 56 days.

★ FAQ ★

20 Questions Buyers Ask About 20x50 Booths in Chicago

Real answers with real numbers. Click any question to expand.

How much does a 20x50 booth rental cost in Chicago?

A turnkey 20x50 booth rental in Chicago typically costs between $59,500 and $98,300 in 2026, depending on design complexity, materials, AV, and add-ons. That works out to roughly $60–$98 per square foot. Our quotes include design, graphics, freight, install, dismantle, and show paperwork — no separate drayage or electrical billing after the show.

What's included in the rental price?

Every quote includes a custom 3D rendering, full graphics production, round-trip freight from our Las Vegas warehouse to Chicago, certified install and dismantle, EAC filings, Certificate of Insurance, electrical orders, drayage coordination, and a dedicated project manager from kickoff to load-out.

How long does it take to install a 20x50 booth in Chicago?

Standard install time at McCormick Place is 16–24 hours for a 20x50 build. Every booth is fully pre-assembled and inspected at our Las Vegas warehouse before shipping — so the install is replication of an approved build, not first-time assembly under deadline pressure. For the McCormick Place floor specifically, our crew sequences crate arrival to the marshaling yard so the install starts inside your labor window, not after it, when tier-rate clocks have already started.

How fast can I get a quote?

You receive a custom 3D rendering and full price quote within 24 hours of submitting our quote form. The proposal lists every included line item with a single fixed number — no separate invoices for drayage, electrical, or installation.

Can a 20x50 booth look professional next to larger booths at Chicago shows?

At 20x50, you're already at or past the threshold where adjacent-footprint competitors stop creating visual disadvantage on McCormick Place. Performance differences at this scale come from programming, hospitality, and staffing — not from architecture alone. The booths that dominate at Chicago's flagship shows (IMTS, Pack Expo, RSNA, and ASCO) are the ones with a clear theater cadence and a hospitality model that keeps qualified visitors on-stand for 15+ minutes.

Should I rent or buy a 20x50 booth for Chicago?

At 20x50, rent versus buy is rarely a cost-only decision. Rent for design flexibility, lower cash outlay, and freedom to evolve the look year over year. Buy when you have five or more shows annually, stable branding for a 3–5 year horizon, and operational capacity to manage storage and refurbishment cycles.

How many staff do I need at a 20x50 booth?

Roughly 13 staff is the proven mid-point for a 20x50 booth during show hours, though the practical range is wider depending on your activities. Too few creates coverage gaps during peak; too many makes the booth feel crowded and deters walk-ins. The staffing model should match your runsheet — demos, meetings, hospitality, and lead capture each need their own coverage.

Which Chicago venues do you ship to?

In Chicago, we deliver to McCormick Place (North, South, Lakeside, and West buildings), Navy Pier, the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, and the Schaumburg Convention Center. McCormick is North America's largest venue and each building has its own dock and marshaling yard — your hall assignment determines routing and can add or remove about four hours from the install window. Our project managers verify dock assignment with Freeman or GES 10 days before ship date and coordinate marshaling yard timing so the crate isn't sitting in the South Lot during peak load-in.

Do you handle drayage and union labor in Chicago?

Yes. Drayage is included in our flat quote, and our crews coordinate with the four house unions that operate at McCormick Place — Carpenters Local 1027, Decorators (Teamsters Local 727), Electricians (IBEW Local 134), and Riggers, at every phase of install and dismantle. McCormick now operates under the Trade Show Workers Right-to-Work Act, which gives exhibitors more flexibility than they had pre-2019, but the four-union model still applies for any work above eight feet, electrical, and machine-assisted handling. We carry every COI required for I&D access and manage steward sign-off at each phase so you never see an unexpected labor invoice.

What is your warehouse pre-build guarantee?

Every booth is fully assembled and inspected at our Las Vegas warehouse before it ships to Chicago. Transit is 5–7 days by truck, which is exactly why the pre-build matters more for Chicago than for shorter-haul cities — by the time the crate reaches McCormick's marshaling yard, you've already approved photos of the fully built booth. We send preview shots for sign-off, then it ships. The install crew at McCormick Place or the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center is replicating an already-approved build under your steward's eye, not assembling for the first time on show day with the freight clock running.

Can I customize a design from your gallery?

Yes. Pick any base design and customize graphics, colors, finishes, monitor and display placement, counter styles, accessories, and meeting-room configuration where applicable. Your final 3D rendering reflects every change before production starts.

What file formats do you need for graphics?

We prefer vector files (AI, EPS, PDF) for logos and high-resolution rasters (PSD, TIFF, PNG at 150dpi at final output size) for photography. Our design team handles all artwork preparation and submits proofs before printing.

How early should I book my 20x50 for a Chicago show?

For major Chicago shows — IMTS in September of even years, Pack Expo in early November, RSNA at Thanksgiving week, NRA Show in mid-May, and ASCO in early June. McCormick Place drayage tiers are assigned on a first-come basis, and the booths that secure the better tier (and the lower per-CWT rate) are the ones whose freight paperwork is in 12+ weeks before move-in. Book your 20x50 at least 14–18 weeks out for these shows; for mid-tier and regional Chicago shows, 10–12 weeks is workable. Rush rentals are available at premium pricing, see the rush rental question below.

What if my booth needs change after I approve the design?

Minor graphic changes are accommodated up to 10 days before ship date at no extra cost. Structural changes after approval require a change order — your project manager will walk you through cost and timeline impact before any work proceeds.

Do you provide on-site support during the Chicago show?

Yes — at the 20x50 footprint, an on-site project lead is included as standard for every Chicago show. They're on the show floor during show hours for anything from graphic touch-ups to electrical issues to last-minute schedule changes. For Chicago specifically, on-site presence matters more because freight back to our warehouse is a 5–7 day round trip, issues have to be solved in-venue, not by overnighting a part. Dedicated booth-operations staffing for daytime show coverage is available at additional cost.

Can I add AV, monitors, and tech to my booth?

Yes — AV at this footprint is fully integrated. Standard includes monitor walls, theater AV (speakers, microphones, presentation systems), LED columns and towers, lighting design and controllers, touchscreen kiosks, and on-site AV operation during show hours. Everything sourced, set up, and operated by our team in one quote.

What happens to the booth after the show?

Our I&D crew handles complete dismantle, repacks the booth, and ships it back to our Las Vegas warehouse. If you want to reuse it for the next show, we store it for 90 days at no additional cost and refresh graphics for the next event.

Do you offer last-minute or rush rentals for Chicago shows?

Yes. We maintain a ready-to-ship inventory of pre-built 20x50 configurations that can be customized with your graphics in 28–35 days for late-booked Chicago shows. The realistic Chicago rush window is set by freight: 5–7 days of truck transit from our Las Vegas warehouse to McCormick Place is non-negotiable. Anything tighter than 21 days for a mid-or-larger footprint in Chicago is a no — there isn't a way to compress the freight leg without going air, which makes the economics worse than waiting for the next show. Rush pricing applies, and inventory is first-come.

What payment terms do you offer?

Standard terms are 50% on design approval and 50% before ship date. We accept ACH, wire, and major credit cards. Net-30 terms are available for established corporate clients with credit approval.

How do I get started?

Fill out the quote form on this page with your show name, dates, booth number, and any design preferences. You receive a custom 3D rendering and full-price quote within 24 hours — no obligation, no sales pressure.