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IMEX Frankfurt 2026:
About the event
IMEX Frankfurt 2026 delivered another record-breaking edition of Europe’s largest trade show for the global meetings, events and incentive travel industry.
The event welcomed 13,515 participants – including 4,700+ buyers – while generating 73,000 appointments across one-to-one meetings, stand presentations and group appointments. Buyer attendance increased year on year, reinforcing IMEX Frankfurt’s position as Europe’s most important business platform.
More buyers. More meetings. More business.
What makes IMEX Frankfurt special
IMEX Frankfurt brings together destinations, venues, agencies, event planners and suppliers from across the global meetings and events industry.
Success for the organizer depends on creating valuable connections between buyers and exhibitors while maintaining a seamless attendee experience.
ExpoPlatform supported this objective as the official technology partner, building on a relationship that now spans multiple editions of IMEX Frankfurt and IMEX America.
Growing pains
As IMEX Frankfurt continues to evolve, the IMEX Group needed technology that could support growth without creating friction for users.
Key priorities included:
- Maintaining platform stability under increasing traffic
- Making exhibitor discovery intuitive for buyers
- Simplifying meeting scheduling across thousands of participants
- Supporting 2,900 exhibiting companies with diverse operational requirements
- Delivering a seamless experience across mobile and web
- Continuing to evolve the platform through exhibitor and attendee feedback
- Enhancing customer experience while preserving the familiarity users expected from previous editions
Building a complex event
ExpoPlatform delivered a tailored tradeshow technology ecosystem that balanced scale, stability and continuous innovation.
The solution included:
- Advanced matchmaking and exhibitor discovery tools
- Intelligent meeting scheduling designed for high-volume meeting programmes
- Integrated mobile and web experiences with synchronised agendas
- Recommended exhibitors, personalised for each attendee
- Lead capture and badge scanning tools for exhibitors
- Real-time reporting and analytics for IMEX
- Exhibitor management capabilities designed for varying booth structures
- Continuous platform enhancements based on feedback from previous IMEX shows
- Dedicated support and collaboration with the IMEX team throughout planning, delivery and post-show analysis
The result was a technology experience that remained intuitive for attendees while giving IMEX the flexibility and control required to manage one of the largest shows in the global meetings industry.
Record buyer engagement
The strongest indicator of success at IMEX Frankfurt remains the volume and quality of business connections.
The event welcomed 4,739 buyers from 94 countries, including 3,731 hosted buyers and 1,008 buyer attendees. Buyer numbers increased by 6% year on year, creating more opportunities for exhibitors across every sector of the industry.
Buying power remained exceptionally strong.
- 22% controlled budgets exceeding $10 million
- 13% controlled budgets between $5 million and $10 million
- 29% controlled budgets between $1 million and $5 million
- 36% controlled budgets up to $1 million
For exhibitors, these figures translated directly into commercial opportunity.
Buyer Power Visualisation
Total buyers at the show
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Results
Engagement levels continued to rise across every major platform metric.
Attendees used the platform extensively to discover suppliers, save favourites, communicate directly and schedule meetings before arriving onsite.
- 73,395 total meetings – up 8% on 2025
- 668,189 conversations – up 18% on 2025
- 899,526 favourites
- 118,564 lead scans
- 13,515 participants
- 2,963 exhibiting companies
Organiser Perspective
“What’s great about ExpoPlatform is that it’s an exhibition-led platform, which is really important because there is a massive complexity in how our exhibitors need the platform to behave and perform.
What ExpoPlatform allowed us to do was really tailor the solution, so we had the benefit of this big foundational system – but then we could really personalise elements of it for our show and for our exhibitors. That was very powerful.
You have a great team and they work really well in partnership with us.
A partnership that continues to deliver
The relationship between IMEX Group and ExpoPlatform extends beyond platform delivery.
Both organisations continue to refine the attendee experience through shared learning, iterative development and long-term collaboration. Platform enhancements introduced for one show create benefits for future editions.
The result is measurable growth across meeting numbers, engagement and lead generation supported by the improvements made across the show platform.
Key takeaways
- Record buyer attendance increased meeting opportunities across the show
- 73,395 total meetings
- Nearly 119,000 lead scans strengthened ROI and post-event follow-up
- AI-powered discovery and recommendations simplified networking at scale
- Continuous platform development supported ongoing event growth
- Long-term collaboration enabled innovation without compromising stability
IMEX Frankfurt 2026 demonstrated how a mature technology partnership can support continuous growth while maintaining a seamless attendee experience.
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