Custom Trade Show Booth Rentals for ALA 2026

Booth rentals for ALA 2026 start around $12,350 for a 10×10, $35,550 for a 20×20, and $37,300 for a 30×30 — but those are starting points.
A fully customized 30×30 with premium finishes, AV, and author event setup can run close to $121,700. Final pricing depends on size, design complexity, and display requirements. Use our configurator to explore designs and get a price estimate based on your actual setup.

Your rental covers end-to-end delivery — custom exhibit design, in-house fabrication, pre-show trial build, freight, installation, on-site supervision, and dismantling. You get a dedicated project manager from kickoff to show close, and a full walkthrough of your built booth before anything ships to Chicago.

Librarians and booksellers at ALA are working through acquisition decisions — they need to browse efficiently, find what’s relevant to their collection, and quickly assess fit. The most effective ALA booths organize titles by category or audience level, keep displays uncluttered and easy to navigate, and have a clear space where a buyer can sit down and go through your full list with a member of your team. If your catalog is large, the booth needs to make selection easy, not overwhelming. This is also applicable for other literary exhibitions like AWP Conference and PLA National Conference.

This is one of the most common ALA briefs we work with. The answer is zoning — a front-facing or open area for the author event that draws foot traffic in, and a defined side or back zone where your sales team can have catalog and ordering conversations without competing with the crowd around the signing table. The two activities need to feed each other, not interrupt each other.

For a custom rental at ALA, 8–10 weeks before show open is a workable timeline for most booth sizes. The earlier you start, the more time there is for a pre-show trial build — which is where display configuration, lighting, and AV issues get caught before they become show-floor problems.

The most common issue is a booth that has great titles but makes them hard to find. Displays organized by internal publishing logic rather than how a librarian actually shops, no clear entry point for a browsing visitor, and teams positioned behind counters rather than on the floor — these all slow the conversation down or end it before it starts. The booth should work the way a well-organized bookstore works, not a warehouse.

McCormick Place has specific union labor rules, freight deadlines, and dock access windows that affect your move-in and move-out timeline. For larger booths with heavy shelving, built-in AV, or complex display systems, these requirements need to be planned around from the start — not figured out on move-in day. We build venue logistics into your project timeline so nothing surprises you on installation day.

Renting makes sense when you exhibit at two or fewer shows a year, your footprint or display needs to change show to show, or you don’t want to manage storage and maintenance between events. Buying starts to make sense when you’re exhibiting four or more times a year with a consistent layout and format.