2025 Sponsor Resources

We recommend arriving in Chicago on Tuesday afternoon and leave no earlier than Friday, September 19th in the afternoon. If you are an exhibiting sponsor, you’ll want to check the Exhibit Hall schedule to make sure you arrive earlier and /depart later in accordance with move-in and move-out hours 

Click here for a map of McCormick Place 

Click here for a map of the Exhibit Hall, located in Hall A of the South Building 

Sponsor Tickets include access to: 

• Our Meetup networking platform (subject to registration deadline of August 22) 

• All days of Shoptalk 

• The Exhibit Hall 

• Meals (breakfast and lunch as stated on the Shoptalk agenda) 

• Shoptalk sessions and networking events (excluding sessions and networking events that are private/invitation only, or specific to certain groups of attendees). 

• Industry Party 

Tickets can be transferred any time until the point you print your badge. To transfer your ticket, login to MyExperience here using your email address as the username and ticket confirmation number as the password and click “Transfer Ticket.” If you already printed your badge oniste, you can no longer transfer your ticket 

IMPORTANT: After August 22 during the meetup process, if you transfer your ticket you will lose all your progress so far. If you would like to transfer a ticket during the meetup process, please contact us for assistance at registration@shoptalkfall.com.  

No, we do not offer any one day or Exhibit Hall-only tickets. Tickets provide access to all aspects of Shoptalk, including sessions, Meetup, networking events, breakfasts, lunches, receptions, exhibits, etc. that are not private, specific to a particular group of attendees, or arranged by sponsors independently. We do not offer any partial attendance rates. 

If you are an Exhibitor and require a crew badge for your vendor to access the Exhibit Hall, please review our Crew Badge Guidelines. 

Please contact our Sales Team at sales@shoptalkfall.com or fill out an application form. 

If you purchase a space-only booth, the price will not include booth structures, furnishings, flooring, installation and dismantle, electrical, material handling, etc.  

*Hours are subject to change

Freeman is the official general contractor for Shoptalk Fall 

McCormick Place Exhibitor Servcices is the exclusive provider of internet, cable and telephone services.  

Should you hire an EAC to build your booth, they must not perform any services exclusive to Freeman or the venue.  

To avoid delays, we strongly recommend shipping in advance to the Freeman Warehouse. Items must be delivered to the warehouse beginning August 15, 2025, to September 8, 2025. Freeman also offers outbound shipping for your convenience during move-out. Please refer to the Freeman Online shipping page for material handling rates, order forms, and shipping labels. 

Detailed information and options can also be found on our shipping page!

As an Exhibitor you may “hand carry” certain items. Hand carry is defined as small items such as packages or cartons an Exhibitor can carry. Any mechanical assistance is limited to a small dolly or assistance from the hotel bellman. The assistance of any motorized device or pallet jack is NOT permitted. When Exhibitors hand carry, they may not access designated material handling areas. Exhibitors must use the main entrance of the facility. 

If your freight is being delivered by a carrier, you must use Freeman to unload the freight and transport it to your booth or meeting room. You will also be charged a material handling fee. For more information on Material Handling, please visit Freeman Online. 

EACs must read and comply with all show rules and regulations as outlined in the Display Rules & Regulations, Exhibitor Terms & Conditions, and the Freeman Exhibitor Kit. 

EACs will be granted access to the Exhibit Hall during move-in and move-out only. 

EAC’s and subcontracted labor/vendors must register with McCormick Place and submit a COI to McCormick Place. See more information HERE 

All exhibitors are required to submit a Permission to Exhibit.  

All EAC booth builds are required to receive Permission to Exhibit Certificates. 

Freeman booths and Self-Build/Portable Pop-up booths will not be issued a certificate but are required to certify insurance.  

Permission To Exhibit certificates will only be issued by our Health & Safety partner, Abraxys, once ALL required documents have been submitted and the review has been completed. Booth plans emailed to Abraxys directly will not be accepted. 

Shoptalk utilizes the standard IAEE Line of Sight rule for all “space only” in-line booths.  

• Booths 100-300 sqft have an 8 ft high backwall maximum 

• Sidewall Options for booth 100 to 200 sqft include:  

• • None 

• • Max 4 ft height for any 10 feet length 

• • The back 5 ft of the sidewall can reach up to 8ft high, while the front wall can reach a maximum of 4 ft. 

• Booths 400 sq. ft. and above have an 18 ft high maximum (including the top of any rigged structure or banner) 

• •  Hanging signs & rigging is only allowed for booth 20’x20’ or larger 

Booth displays should be arranged in such a manner so as not to obstruct sight lines of neighboring Exhibitors 

Visit Freeman’s page to explore turnkey options or request a custom consultation. For custom booths, you can also contact solutions@freemanco.com. 

If you decide to use a third-party contractor to build your booth, please fill out the required forms and information here  once you have confirmed the vendor. EACs will need to provide register and provide a COI to McCormick Place. All EAC booth builds are required to receive Permission to Exhibit Certificates. 

Freeman booths and Self-Build/Portable Pop-up booths will not be issued a certificate but are required to certify insurance.  

Permission To Exhibit certificates will only be issued by our Health & Safety partner, Abraxys, once ALL required documents have been submitted and the review has been completed. Booth plans emailed to Abraxys directly will not be accepted. 

Exhibitors can have a photographer or videographer with approval, but they are restricted to filming only inside the booth. Filming outside the booth space is not permitted. 

Tripods, lights, and elaborate setups are not allowed in public areas, including aisles, due to fire marshal regulations. 

Contact your Logistics Lead for camera crew access to the Exhibit Halls. Photographers and/or Videographers must have a crew badge. 

Meetup meetings will take place onsite during Shoptalk Fall 2025 in a dedicated Meetup area in the Exhibit Hall. 

 All meetings will be scheduled based on everyone’s individual availability during the following times (note that all meetings are pre-scheduled):   

*timings are subject to change 

Thursday, September 18 

• Meeting Slot #1 Meetup for Women: 8:30 am –8:45 am 

• Meeting Slot #2 Meetup for Women: 8:48 am – 9:03 am 

• Meeting Slot #3 Meetup for Women: 9:06 am – 9:21 am 

• Meeting Slot #4: 11:15 am – 11:30 am 

• Meeting Slot #5: 11:33 am – 11:48 am 

• Meeting Slot #6: 11:51 am – 12:06 pm 

• Meeting Slot #7: 12:09 pm – 12:24 pm 

• Meeting Slot #8: 2:40 pm – 2:55pm 

• Meeting Slot #9: 2:58 pm – 3:13 pm  

• Meeting Slot #10: 3:16 pm – 3:31 pm 

• Meeting Slot #11: 3:34 pm – 3:49 pm 

Friday, September 19 

• Meeting Slot #12: 9:00 am – 9:15 am 

• Meeting Slot #13: 9:18 am – 9:33 am 

• Meeting Slot #14: 9:36 am – 9:51 am 

• Meeting Slot #15: 9:54 am – 10:09 am 

• Meeting Slot #16: 1:55 pm – 2:10 pm 

• Meeting Slot #17: 2:13 pm – 2:28 pm 

• Meeting Slot #18: 2:31 pm – 2:46 pm 

• Meeting Slot #19: 2:49 pm – 3:04 pm 

There are a few steps to complete before your meetings start onsite: 

• Step 1: Profile Completion. Complete your profile, letting all participants know about you, your organization and your goals. 

• Step 2: Meeting Selection & Opt-In. Review thousands of profiles and select who you want to meet with–use filters, system generated lists and searches to make it easy. Thousands of other attendees will be doing the same. Then opt-in to the meeting requests you receive. 

• Step 3: Meeting Acceptance & Scheduling. After you review and accept your meetings, we’ll send you calendar invites. 

Then, simply join your meetings onsite. And remember, all meetings are double opt-in, guaranteeing you'll only meet people you want to meet who also want to meet you. 

Your username is the email you registered with. 

Your password is your ticket confirmation number. 

No. Meetings are all based on a double opt-in process that takes into account several variables such as priority, availability and scheduling. The more selections you make and opt-ins you have, the more likely you are to have a higher number of mutual matches and meetings. Our team provides instructions and recommendations along the way to increase your chances of having a full meeting schedule. 

We will only schedule meetings if both parties have said “YES!” along every step of the way. 

Hosted Meetings that do not occur will be assessed for refund eligibility during our reconciliation process, which follows the completion of attendee meeting surveys and continues through the month following the event. Any Hosted Meetings you reject or cancel once schedules are finalized are not eligible for a refund.

Yes! There are two ways to become an Organization Admin and complete Meetup steps for your attendees. 

• If an Org Admin will be attending Shoptalk, they should be registered on a ticket first, then nominate themselves via “Organization Admins” on our registration platform. 

• If an Org Admin will not be attending Shoptalk, they can apply to be a non ticket-holding Org Admin here, or can be nominated by any registered attendee via “Organization Admins” on our registration platform. 

Organization Admins can access attendee’s profiles via their own to complete the pre-event steps of the Meetup and Hosted process - but they must first select the participants they want to manage via the “Manage Participants” screen. 

Organization Admins cannot accept final scheduled meetings; all individual attendees must accept them via their own platform login. 

If you would like to follow up immediately, we recommend collecting contact information during your meeting.

Following the event, you will be asked to complete a feedback survey on your meetings. This will include confirming which meetings did not occur. Once you submit your survey, a Meetings Summary report will be available for download from your platform homepage, which will include the contact information for attendees you met with while onsite.