RSNA 2027Exhibitor guide: booth costs, dates and deadlines

At RSNA the fitting tier depends on what you show. A software or AI company in a 10×20 rental spends $7,500 to $15,000 on the booth; a scanner on a 20×20 custom island runs $50,000 to $120,000. Stamped engineering, plinths rated for heavy equipment and Freeman rigging move the number. RSNA bills space separately: $41.25 per square foot at its 2026 rate.

During RSNA 2026, whose Technical Exhibits run November 29 to December 2, 2026. Most contracted exhibitors select 2027 space onsite at an appointment ranked by priority points counted through October 31, 2026, and RSNA holds a webinar on the process on October 21. Space contracted onsite can be cancelled or reduced without penalty until December 31, 2026.

A Purple rental for RSNA covers the frame, fabric graphics, LED lighting, workstation counters cut to RSNA's 4-foot front limit and lockable storage for demo hardware, plus freight, install and dismantle on one fixed proposal. Flooring is part of it too, because RSNA makes every exhibitor cover its booth floor. After Chicago the rental returns to us.

McCormick Place lets people on your own payroll build the exhibit with their own tools, a right dating to the 2010 MPEA reforms, and RSNA opens designated docks for self-unloading cars and small vans during fixed hours. Freight beyond a small hand carry still moves as Teamster drayage, and only Freeman may operate lifts, so overhead work goes to Freeman.

Phantom scanning is allowed anywhere on the floor. Scanning live models requires a signed RSNA Live Scanning Form, a 510(k)-cleared device, a booth of at least 400 square feet, a demo area five feet back from the aisle and sound under 80 decibels (2026 rules). Scans stay on head, neck, upper abdomen and extremities, and contrast is prohibited.

You pay it, billed by weight through Freeman at the exhibitor kit tariff. For McCormick Place we plan on roughly $210 per hundredweight in 2026 and 2027, a 200-pound minimum per shipment, and surcharges of a quarter to a third when freight arrives late, off its target or uncrated. Imaging equipment is heavy, so we price your drayage as its own proposal line.

In 2026 the Technical Exhibits used South Hall A for booths 1000 to 5999, including the AI Showcase, Innovation Park and Educators Row, and North Hall B for booths 6000 to 8599. Your hall follows the booth you pick at onsite selection, and we route freight to that building's dock once the number is set.

We build RSNA booths in modules so the same workstation walls and plinths can travel to the SNMMI Annual Meeting, the SIR Annual Scientific Meeting or HIMSS with new graphics. When RSNA closes we hold the kit in our warehouse, and we refit counters and swap investigational labels to match each meeting's rules.

We do both. Your own builder must be registered as an Exhibitor Appointed Contractor in RSNA's Exhibitor Resource Center, and in 2026 that registration closed October 15, so we prepare it for your sign-off early. Then we place the Freeman orders for lifts, rigging, carpet and material handling, plus electrical and RSNAnet, and copy you on each one.

RSNA 2027 runs Sunday, November 14 to Thursday, November 18, 2027, the week before U.S. Thanksgiving, and the Technical Exhibits close Wednesday, November 17; their opening day and hours are not confirmed yet. RSNA has already published its later meetings: November 26–30, 2028 and November 11–15, 2029, all at McCormick Place.

At McCormick Place, 2301 S King Dr in Chicago, the home RSNA lists for every annual meeting through 2032. In 2026 the Technical Exhibits fill North Hall B and South Hall A, both on Level 3. Two hotels, the Marriott Marquis Chicago and the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, are reached from the halls without stepping outside.

RSNA reported nearly 38,000 registrants and 720 exhibitors, 142 of them first-time exhibitors, at its 2025 meeting. The 2024 meeting drew nearly 39,000 registrants and 722 exhibitors, and 2023 counted 40,661 registrants and 691 exhibitors.

No. Exhibit hall access is limited to qualified exhibitors, professional registrants and guests, badges are non-transferable, and children under 16 are not allowed on the exhibit floor. Exhibitors may not badge radiologists or other people eligible for professional registration as booth staff.

The Radiological Society of North America sells the space through RSNA Exhibition Services. New exhibitors apply on RSNA's space application and may choose the First-Time Exhibitor Pavilion, while returning exhibitors pick next year's booth onsite in priority-point order. Payment runs in three installments, and staff rooms go through the RSNA hotel system.