ISTELive 2027 · June 27–30, 2027 · Thomas Michael Menino Convention & Exhibition Center (BCEC), Boston
ISTELive 2027 booths in Boston where teachers try the product in two minutes
Teachers want to try the tool themselves and district buyers want a quiet table for budgets, so your booth needs demo pods and a meeting corner. At the BCEC, substantial assembly goes to Carpenters Local 327 through the official contractor, and we book every call.
- June 27–30 · Boston (BCEC)
- 15,201 participants in 2026
- 424 exhibitors in 2026
Every last fee listed upfront, in full, on paper. 3,000+ exhibitors · 10,000+ booths built · 4.9★ client rating · Since 2015
Learning with technology in a university lecture hall
01 Purple at ISTELive 2027
What makes ISTELive different, and how we build for it
ISTELive 27 is the annual conference of the International Society for Transforming Education, the organization ISTE+ASCD became in 2026, and the former ASCD Annual Conference now runs inside ISTELive. Curriculum leaders and technology directors walk the same expo. The week opens on Sunday, June 27, with the Solutions Summit for edtech solution providers, while the Instructional Leaders' Exchange draws the people who choose curriculum. Teachers expect to touch the product and district buyers expect evidence of classroom impact, so booths win at the BCEC when a demo is short, real and followed by a quiet conversation.
Answers on interoperability, device management, student data privacy and total cost, at a table with a screen and enough quiet for a real procurement conversation.
Proof that the product fits a lesson: sample units, alignment to standards and a short walkthrough of what a teacher does on Monday morning.
Hands-on stations where they can try the tool themselves, take a resource home and leave their contact without waiting in a line.
Your team in Boston
Two shops, one project manager, every hall
We build in our own production shop in Fishkill, NY, and our Las Vegas hub, ship to the Thomas Michael Menino Convention & Exhibition Center (BCEC), and install with our own project manager on the floor and vetted local labor. Predictable 30–45-day turnarounds, secure storage and pre-show QA.
Your team walks into a lit, stocked booth. You just show up.
02 Booths & pricing for ISTELive 2027
Popular booth sizes at ISTELive
ISTELive sells exhibit space in 10×10 units, with 5×10 spaces reserved for first-time exhibitors, and larger brands combine units into peninsulas and islands. We recommend a 10×20 with two demo stations for most edtech launches, or a 20×20 island when you need a meeting room; hanging signs need written approval from Exhibit Management.
Two demo stations for different grade bands or products, a resource rack and a small standing table for district conversations.
Shown: ergoPouch, a Purple inline booth
See 10×20 rental booths →
Two bays of teacher pods with headphones and screens angled to the aisle, then a semi-private table where a district technology director talks budgets and data agreements, with the locked device cabinet behind it.
Shown: Alltime, a Purple inline booth
See 10×30 rental booths →
An island with four open sides, three or four demo pods, a short presentation screen for scheduled sessions and a hanging sign up to the approved height.
Shown: Piccolo Bambino, a Purple island exhibit
See 20×20 rental booths →
A mini theater for classroom scenarios, a hardware or robotics area, a closed meeting room for district buyers and storage for devices.
Shown: Doona, a Purple island exhibit
See 20×30 rental booths →In Purple's price
- Design and a 3D rendering, revised until it is right
- Structure, printed graphics, counters and storage as specified
- Lighting and power distribution inside the booth
- Installation and dismantle, with our project manager on the floor
- Every show-service order and deadline tracked for you
Billed by the show and its contractor
- Booth space (paid to the organizer)
- Material handling / drayage, where the space rate does not include it
- Electrical service, internet and rigging
- Booth cleaning and any union labor the venue requires
Rates to plan with for ISTELive:
- Booth space, 10×10 $7,295 per 10×10 after August 31, 2026 (2027 show) source
- Booth space, first-time 5×10 $4,315 per 5×10 after August 31, 2026 (2027 show) source
- Drayage $323.95 per cwt crated to the advance warehouse, 2026 rate from Purple's venue guide
We estimate every one of these on your proposal, so the total is on paper before you sign.
Prices are all-in 2026 rental ranges for design, structure, graphics, installation and dismantle; custom builds are quoted per project. Get an exact number for ISTELive with the booth cost calculator or read the 2026 booth cost guide.
Send the show, your booth size and what the space needs to do. We reply within one business day and send a rendering and a fixed proposal, usually within a week. No charge.
03 Built by Purple
Booths we have designed, built and installed
Case study · Amazon
Amazon at ESSENCE Festival of Culture, New Orleans
Amazon’s first ESSENCE Festival activation: a walk-through environment that welcomed hundreds of thousands of attendees across Prime Video, Amazon Live and Alexa.
Different audience, same problem: Amazon’s ESSENCE activation walked visitors through Prime Video, Amazon Live and Alexa one by one, the way ISTELive booths walk teachers through each tool.
Read the Amazon case study All case studies →“Itzy and his team are the real deal. If you want to wow your potential customers at your next trade show, this is the team for you. They create the best custom and portable trade show exhibits by far.”
Sherri McManus, Corporate Training, The Lou Everett Group · more client reviews
Trusted by exhibitors including
04 Designing for edtech, curriculum and school technology brands at ISTELive
Four things we get right for ISTELive exhibitors
1Design the demo around one task
Teachers give you about two minutes. Each station should show one classroom task from start to finish, on the same device a student would use, with the screen angled to the aisle so a second visitor can watch while the first one tries it.
2Plan power and bandwidth first
Edtech booths fail on Wi-Fi. We plan hardwired internet drops, enough circuits for charging carts and screens, hidden cable paths and a locked device cabinet, so twelve tablets and two displays stay charged and online from 9 a.m. to close.
Keep the noise under 70 decibels
ISTELive holds sound to conversational level, no louder than 70 decibels. We use directional speakers, headphones at each pod and acoustic panels in meeting areas, so a video demo or robot activity never draws a complaint from the next booth.
Give district buyers a seat
Superintendents and technology directors want privacy to talk budgets, contracts and data agreements. A small enclosed meeting room or a semi-private table at the back of the booth keeps those conversations going while the demo floor stays open to teachers.
Concept rendering
Every proposal comes with a rendering like this
You see the booth in 3D before we cut a single panel: layout, graphics, lighting and product positions, revised until it is right. Shown: a Purple concept for MDM Exports.
Start my ISTELive concept05 Thomas Michael Menino Convention & Exhibition Center (BCEC) · Boston
Logistics for ISTELive 2027, handled
The BCEC offers 516,000 square feet of contiguous exhibit space, and Massachusetts is not a right-to-work state: substantial booth assembly goes to Carpenters Local 327 through the official contractor, and ISTELive requires exhibitors to follow all union rules. Boston drayage is among the most expensive in the country, so we plan crate weights carefully. Peninsula back walls stay at 8 feet, islands can reach 16 feet, and hanging signs need written approval from Exhibit Management. We file through the Exhibitor Services Portal, ship to the advance warehouse and run move-in with our own project manager and union labor.
Hall rules, drayage estimates and freight deadlines for this building are in our Boston Convention & Exhibition Center exhibitor guide.
Hall guide
ISTELive 27 runs its expo in the exhibit hall of the Thomas M. Menino Convention and Exhibition Center. These are the spaces this building uses and what each means for your booth.
516,000 sq ft of contiguous exhibit space on one level, sectioned off or linked into one hall for a large show.
Our advice: One level means no freight elevators; we schedule labor and freight around your bay and the published move-in windows.
82 meeting rooms and a 40,000 sq ft ballroom spread across the building, where sessions and general programs run.
Our advice: Attendees arrive in waves between sessions, so keep the booth front open and a demo pod ready at the aisle.
The Silver Line rapid transit stops at the building, and Logan Airport is about 3 miles away.
Our advice: Staff at Seaport District hotels reach the hall without a shuttle, which helps for the 7 a.m. setup hour on June 28.
What Purple handles
- Exhibitor manual, official contractor orders and Exhibitor Services Portal forms
- Booth drawings and hanging sign approval with Exhibit Management
- Power, internet and device charging plans for every demo station
- Freight to the advance warehouse and drayage estimates by crate weight
- Union-compliant install and dismantle led by your Purple project manager
Timeline, counted back from move-in
Final booth space payment due to ISTE: March 31, 2027. Pay in full by then to keep your space, and send us your booth size so design sign-off lands in mid-April.
We need design sign-off by mid-April 2027.
- Mid-April 2027Design sign-off; island, peninsula and hanging sign drawings go to Exhibit Management for approval.
- April–May 2027Production in Fishkill, NY, and service orders filed once the exhibitor manual opens in the Exhibitor Services Portal in April.
- Early June 2027Booth, demo devices and literature ship to the advance warehouse in Boston.
- June 25–28, 2027Move-in windows at the BCEC; our project manager and union labor install and test every screen and network drop before the 9 a.m. opening on June 28.
- June 28–30, 2027Expo days; your Purple project manager is on the floor through the 1 p.m. close on June 30.
- June 30–July 2, 2027Dismantle from 1 p.m. on June 30, crates returned and booth shipped to storage or your next show.
Purple planning timeline. Official move-in, freight target and order deadlines come from your exhibitor kit and assigned schedule; we confirm them against your booth when you book.
Printable budget & deadline sheetISTELive exhibitor questions
Questions exhibitors ask us before ISTELive
How much does a booth at ISTELive 2027 cost?
Our rentals start at $3,500 for a 10×10 and run $7,500 to $15,000 for a 10×20; a custom 20×20 island is $50,000 to $120,000. In Boston, union labor and drayage push budgets toward the upper half. ISTE bills floor space on its own, at $7,295 per 10×10 unit for contracts after August 31, 2026.
What is the deadline to pay for ISTELive 2027 booth space?
ISTE takes at least a 50 percent deposit with your application and wants final payment by March 31, 2027. The exhibitor manual opens in the Exhibitor Services Portal in April. We need your design sign-off by mid-April so drawings reach Exhibit Management and the booth ships to the advance warehouse in early June.
Can we rent a booth for ISTELive, and what does a rental include?
Yes. A rental covers the frame, your custom graphics, demo counters, lighting, freight, union install and dismantle. Many edtech companies rent for ISTELive and add owned demo pods with locked device storage and charging, which they reuse at ALA Annual and other education shows.
Can we set up our own booth at the BCEC in Boston?
Only limited tasks below defined size and height limits. Massachusetts is not a right-to-work state, and substantial booth assembly goes to Carpenters Local 327 through the official contractor; ISTELive requires exhibitors to follow all union rules. We book that labor, supervise it with our own project manager and hand you a tested booth.
What are the ISTELive height, hanging sign and sound rules?
Peninsula back walls and displays stay at 8 feet, and island walls can reach 16 feet where clearance allows, with wall length limited to half the space. Hanging signs need written approval, and sound stays at conversational level, no louder than 70 decibels. We design to those lines and file the approvals.
What does drayage cost at the BCEC for ISTELive?
Boston is one of the most expensive drayage markets in the country. A published 2026 rate for another BCEC show was $323.95 per hundredweight crated to the advance warehouse and $404.94 direct to the hall, with a 200 pound minimum. You pay the official contractor; we keep crates light and put the estimate on your proposal.
Is there a smaller booth option for first-time ISTELive exhibitors?
Yes. ISTE reserves 5×10 spaces in designated areas for vetted first-time exhibitors, at $4,315 for contracts after August 31, 2026. We build a compact 5×10 kit with one demo counter, a backlit graphic and device storage that grows into a 10×10 or 10×20 the following year.
Can we reuse our ISTELive booth at other education and AV shows?
Edtech exhibitors often take the same booth to ALA Annual in New Orleans, ATD in Boston and InfoComm in Orlando. We design modular walls that reconfigure from an island to an inline, store the booth between shows and reprint graphics for each audience.
Before you sign with anyone
Five questions to ask any exhibit builder for ISTELive:
- Is every fee on the proposal, including what the show contractor bills?
- Who builds the booth: your own shop or a subcontractor?
- Will your project manager be on the floor for install and dismantle?
- What exactly is in the rental, and what is billed by the show?
- Where does the booth go after the show, and what does storage cost?
Common situations
Already own a booth? We refresh the graphics, repair what is worn, ship it, install it and store it between shows. You keep the structure you paid for.
Exhibiting from outside the US? We are your team on the ground: freight to the advance warehouse, show-service orders, installation and storage, with one project manager answering your emails in your time zone.
Short on time? A rental with your graphics can be ready in two to three weeks. We tell you on the first call what is realistic for your date.
Get a proposal
Tell us about your ISTELive booth
What happens next
- We reply within one business day with questions about your products, goals and footprint.
- You get a concept rendering and a fixed proposal, usually within a week. Every last fee listed upfront, in full, on paper.
- We build in 30–45 days, ship to the advance warehouse and install before the hall opens.
