What the Move to Vegas Means for IBS and KBIS Budgets

Design & Construction Week moves permanently to the Las Vegas Convention Center in February 2027. Here's a category-by-category cost comparison between Orlando and Las Vegas — based on audited data from 224 trade shows across 23 U.S. cities — so IBS and KBIS exhibitors can plan accordingly. By Travis Stanton

Las Vegas has a reputation. Among trade show exhibitors, it's become shorthand for expensive — where per diems feel punitive, labor rates feel personal, and the exhibitor manual reads like a hostage negotiation. That reputation isn't entirely unearned. But when it comes to Design & Construction Week's permanent relocation from Orlando starting in 2027, the data tells a story that's considerably more nuanced than the conventional wisdom — and in a few places, flat-out contradicts it.

We pulled the numbers from the 2025 Annual Survey of Exhibition Rates, produced by The Exhibitor Advocate in partnership with Tradeshow Logic and independently audited by EVOLIO Marketing. The survey benchmarks material handling, labor, electrical, internet, and booth services across 224 tradeshows in 23 major U.S. cities — and it's the closest thing the industry has to an apples-to-apples cost comparison between the place you've been exhibiting and the place you're headed. Here's what it found.

How Much More Will Hanging Signs Cost at IBS and KBIS in Las Vegas?

Before we get to the nuance, let's deal with the number that isn't nuanced at all. Hanging sign straight-time labor in Orlando: $120.45. In Las Vegas: $848.07. That's not a typo. It's a 604-percent increase. Hanging sign overtime follows the same trajectory, jumping from $180.75 in Orlando to $960.03 in Las Vegas.

Orlando's hanging sign rates appear to have benefited from blended pricing structures that were unusually favorable to exhibitors — particularly those with high overhead sign volume, compressed installation schedules, or weekend move-in. Las Vegas pricing is closer to the national norm, but the contrast with Orlando is violent enough that "closer to the national norm" provides cold comfort if you've been budgeting off Orlando actuals.

If your IBS or KBIS booth has a hanging sign — and if you're exhibiting in any serious way, it probably does — this is not a simple increase. It's a line item that must be part of the exhibit design discussion from day one.

What Will Electrical Labor Cost at the Las Vegas Convention Center Compared to Orlando?

A standard 120v/5-amp electrical outlet costs $158.34 at an Orlando show. In Las Vegas, that same outlet runs $249.26 — a 57-percent jump before a single wire gets run. For KBIS exhibitors who treat electrical as ambient infrastructure — powering appliance demonstrations, touchscreen displays, theatrical lighting schemes, and the AI-powered design tools that have become a genuine competitive differentiator on the show floor — outlets multiply fast. The booth that was running a dozen outlets in Orlando for roughly $1,900 will pay close to $3,000 for the same setup in Las Vegas. That math is uncomfortable. The overtime math is worse.

Electrical straight-time labor rises from $141.50 in Orlando to $187.21 in Las Vegas — meaningful, but the kind of increase that good planning can absorb. Electrical overtime, however, goes from $212.00 to $364.39 — a 72-percent increase. Las Vegas doesn't just cost more for electrical work. It costs significantly more for electrical work that runs long. The financial penalty for a complex build that spills past the straight-time window is no longer just an inconvenience. In Las Vegas, it's a budget buster.

Is Display Labor More Expensive in Las Vegas Than Orlando?

Here's where the doom-and-gloom narrative starts to unravel. Display labor — the cost of actually installing and dismantling your exhibit — rises from $134.35 per straight-time hour in Orlando to $151.07 in Las Vegas. Overtime goes from $212.26 to $234.52. Double time climbs from $241.85 to $283.76.

These are increases, yes. But they're also broadly in line with the national year-over-year labor inflation trend of 6 to 9 percent that exhibitors have been absorbing across every market, regardless of where they're showing. For exhibitors who plan intelligently and run tight installation schedules, display labor is the least alarming number in this entire comparison. It costs more, but it doesn't cost dramatically more.

Is Las Vegas Drayage More Expensive Than Orlando for IBS Exhibitors?

The conventional wisdom says Las Vegas is punishing on drayage. The data disagrees, at least when compared to Orlando.

Base material handling rates are nearly identical between the two cities — $1.81 per pound in Orlando, $1.80 per pound in Las Vegas. The secondary rate, applied to freight arriving after the advance warehouse deadline or flagged for special handling, is actually lower in Las Vegas at $1.66 per pound versus $1.99 per pound in Orlando.

For large IBS exhibitors shipping heavy structural components, machinery, and products across multiple truckloads, this matters. The material handling savings won't fully offset the hanging sign and electrical premium for large-footprint exhibitors, but they're real, and they tend to get buried under the assumptions that follow the words "Las Vegas drayage" in any budget conversation.

How Do Internet Costs at the Las Vegas Convention Center Compare to the Orange County Convention Center?

If you're a KBIS exhibitor running AI-powered design tools, live-streaming activations, interactive product visualizers, or any booth experience that requires reliable bandwidth, the internet cost comparison between Orlando and Las Vegas is one of the better pieces of news in this analysis.

A 3 Mbps dedicated connection costs $3,495.00 in Orlando. In Las Vegas, the same connection runs $1,207.00 — a 65-percent decrease. A 10 Mbps dedicated connection drops from $7,012.50 in Orlando to $4,450.43 in Las Vegas, a 37-percent savings. That delta should go directly into the budget column that offsets some of what hanging signs are about to cost you.

Are Booth Flooring and Furnishings Cheaper in Las Vegas?

Booth flooring is less expensive in Las Vegas across every category. Carpet for a 10-by-10-foot section costs $362.51 in Orlando versus $318.12 in Las Vegas. Rebond padding drops from $2.84 per square foot to $2.13 — a 25-percent decrease. Visqueen covering goes from $1.25 to $0.96 per square foot. Draped tables and counters are less expensive in Las Vegas at every size, which benefits small in-line exhibits as well.

For exhibitors running large footprints — the 5,000-to-15,000-square-foot builds that define the upper tier of both IBS and KBIS — flooring savings compound quickly. A 5,000-square-foot exhibit saving $0.71 per square foot on padding alone recups $3,550. It won't rewrite your P&L, but a penny saved is a penny that can be spent elsewhere.

What Do Forklift and Operator Rates Look Like in Las Vegas vs. Orlando?

Forklift and operator rates rise 35.7 percent in straight time — from $258.26 in Orlando to $350.48 in Las Vegas. Overtime moves from $344.87 to $463.57. For exhibitors with complex structural builds, heavy product displays, or exhibits that require multiple forklift moves across the installation period, those hours accumulate. Las Vegas rewards exhibitors who sequence their installation efficiently and penalizes those who don't. That's always been true to some degree. In Las Vegas, the penalty has teeth.

Is Las Vegas Actually an Expensive City for Trade Show Exhibitors?

Here's the number that tends to end arguments about Las Vegas: according to the 2025 Annual Survey of Exhibition Rates basket-of-goods analysis — a standardized comparison of labor, equipment, and booth services priced identically across 23 cities — Las Vegas ranks as the second-least-expensive major convention city in the country at $2,112. Only Atlanta, at $2,012, comes in lower. New York costs $3,531. Philadelphia runs $3,512. San Francisco comes in at $3,249. Boston totals $3,141.

Orlando doesn't crack the top or bottom five, which puts it solidly in the mid-range. On a pure cost-of-exhibiting basis, most IBS and KBIS exhibitors aren't moving to a more expensive market. They're moving to one of the least expensive major markets in the country — with one significant asterisk, and that asterisk is rigging anything above your booth.

How Will the Las Vegas Move Affect Your Specific IBS or KBIS Exhibit Budget?

The financial impact of the Orlando-to-Las Vegas move isn't one story. It's two, and which one you're in depends almost entirely on your exhibit profile.

If you're a small to mid-size exhibitor with a modest electrical load, no overhead signage, and an efficient installation timeline, there's a reasonable case that your all-in costs in Las Vegas will be lower than they were in Orlando. Internet savings, flooring savings, and material handling parity do meaningful work when the hanging-sign wildcard isn't in play.

If you're a major IBS or KBIS exhibitor running a large-footprint custom environment, multiple hanging elements, heavy electrical infrastructure, and a complex installation schedule, you're facing a materially higher cost structure than Orlando. Hanging signs and electrical overtime are where the exposure concentrates. For an exhibitor already committing seven figures to a major Design & Construction Week presence, these aren't rounding errors. They're budget line items that need to be accounted for before you sign off on your exhibit design.

The practical implication is the same for both profiles: Las Vegas rewards exhibitors who plan early, budget honestly, and build their strategy around the full cost picture — not the Orlando actuals sitting in last year's spreadsheet. The exhibitors who will hit the Las Vegas Convention Center floor in February 2027 in the strongest position are the ones who started that work now.

Storylink Creative is a strategy-led experiential marketing and exhibit design agency specializing in trade show exhibits, branded environments, and immersive activations. If you're building your Construction & Design Week strategy, we'd love to be part of that discussion.

Contact us to start the conversation.