A new study by the Center for Exhibition Industry Research has put a price tag on the value of exhibitions.

CEIR’s Cost Effectiveness of Exhibition Participation study determined that it costs about $215 to make an initial face-to-face contact with a customer at an exhibition. Included in that cost is exhibition construction, storage, exhibit space, transportation, salesperson salary, travel, and entertainment, according to the report, conducted for CEIR by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Travel and Tourism Center at the University of South Carolina. To make that first meeting with a potential customer in the field without an exhibition lead would cost about $1,039. Breaking it down, the researchers found that it costs an average of $596 to contact the prospect in the field and $443 to identify the prospect prior to the sales call.