Exhibitors Connection

What Exhibitors Connection does

Exhibitors Connection is a US-based private company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, founded in 1988, that provides trade show and event staffing services nationwide. The firm supplies trained brand ambassadors, registration personnel, session monitors, hostesses, crowd gatherers, product demonstrators, national marketing personnel and greeters, scaling from single-day events requiring a handful of staff to large-scale trade shows requiring hundreds. Its operating model is built on a curated network of over 7,000 vetted professionals, with a stated emphasis on matching individual staff strengths, emotional makeup and grooming standards to client brand requirements rather than a volume-based 'fire hose' matching model. Services are sold to B2B clients via direct sales and website inquiry, with quote-based, customized pricing tied to event size, duration, location and personnel requirements. Customers disclosed in source material include Redbox, Organic Valley, Kia and Spartan Races, spanning entertainment, food/agriculture, automotive and sports/fitness verticals.

The company is privately held by co-owners John and Jennifer Dixon, with an internal headcount of 11-50 supported by a much larger contract/temp talent pool. The core technology is not a software platform but rather a personnel-matching and training capability layered on top of industry experience accumulated over 27+ years. The single product extension beyond pure staffing is 'EC Tech,' announced in January 2015, which added on-site technical support personnel to the service catalog. There is no public pricing, no funding rounds, no M&A activity, no parent company, and no patent or trademark portfolio disclosed. The company markets itself primarily through a content-led motion: a company blog, industry articles, white papers, video content and an Instagram presence that positions Exhibitors Connection as a thought leader on staffing best practices and the limitations of AI in event staffing. Its operating thesis, articulated explicitly in 2023 content, is that human curation of personnel outperforms algorithmic matching for in-person brand representation.

Name

Exhibitors Connection

Legal name

Exhibitors Connection

Website

https://exhibitorsconnection.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1988

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Exhibitors Connection is a Chicago-based, privately held trade show and event staffing firm founded in 1988 that supplies vetted brand ambassadors and event personnel to B2B clients nationwide, drawing on a curated network of over 7,000 trained professionals.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Event Staffing Services

NAICS

Convention and Trade Show Organizers (561920)

SIC

Services-Advertising Agencies (7311)

akta.pro primary industry

Booth Staffing & Brand Ambassadors (Product Demos, Hosts) (THAHAHAO)

akta.pro secondary industry

Trade Shows & Exhibitions (Booths, Show Management) (BPAFAGAD)

Keywords

• Tradeshow event staffing
• Brand ambassador services
• Event marketing personnel
• Trade show staff
• Event staffing agency

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Event Staffing Services: Provides trained brand ambassadors, registration personnel, session monitors, hostesses, crowd gatherers, product demonstrators, national marketing personnel, and greeters for tradeshows and events. Revenue generated through professional services fees for staffing events.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Exhibitors Connection is a nationwide tradeshow and event marketing company that supplies trained brand ambassadors and event personnel to companies participating in trade shows, corporate events, product launches, and marketing activations. Services scale from large-scale tradeshows requiring hundreds of personnel to single events requiring a few staff, covering roles such as registration, session monitoring, hospitality, crowd gathering, product demonstration, and greeting. The company also expanded into technology-enhanced on-site support with its EC Tech offering in 2015.

Product overview

Exhibitors Connection is a nationwide trade show and event marketing company that has operated since 1988. The core offering is brand ambassador staffing services, providing trained personnel for trade shows and events across the country. The product portfolio centers on the Brand Ambassador Staffing Services as the primary offering, supported by specific service modules including Registration Personnel, Session Monitors, Hostesses, Crowd Gatherers, Product Demonstrators, National Marketing Personnel, and Greeters. These services scale from large-scale trade shows requiring hundreds of personnel to single events needing a few staff members. The company also announced EC Tech in 2015 as a technology-enhanced service expansion. All services emphasize human-centered interaction with extensive training on individual strengths, emotional makeup, dress and grooming, and crowd interaction skills.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Brand Ambassador Staffing Services Core service providing trained brand ambassadors for trade shows and events across the United States, with staffing scaled from single events requiring a few personnel to large-scale tradeshows requiring hundreds. Personnel are vetted for personality traits, dress and grooming, crowd interaction skills, and brand alignment to represent client brands professionally.
• EC Tech Technology-enhanced event staffing service launched in 2015 that expanded Exhibitors Connection's capabilities beyond traditional brand ambassador support to include on-site technical support personnel for events and tradeshows.

Named customers4 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• PromoStaff: Event staffing and promotional staffing agency offering brand ambassadors, models, and trade show personnel across the U.S. Operates in the same niche as Exhibitors Connection with a comparable service model.
• Sparks: Experiential marketing agency delivering brand experiences at trade shows, events, and retail activations. Overlaps with Exhibitors Connection in staffing-heavy live event execution, though typically at larger enterprise scale.
• Trade Show Staffing: Specialized trade show staffing agency providing brand ambassadors, models, and booth staff for exhibitions nationwide. Closely comparable to Exhibitors Connection in core offering and customer base.
• ON Services: National provider of event staffing, brand ambassadors, and event production services for trade shows and corporate events. Directly competes with Exhibitors Connection in booth staffing and brand ambassador deployment across the U.S.
• Ainsley Agency: National event staffing firm providing brand ambassadors, models, and promotional staff for trade shows, conventions, and corporate events. Direct competitor with overlapping target customers and delivery model.

Broad incumbents

• Jack Morton Worldwide: Global experiential brand experience agency producing events, exhibits, and activations for major brands. Competes with Exhibitors Connection in the staffing and on-site execution layer of trade show programs, but at much larger scale and with broader creative capabilities.
• MKG: Experiential marketing and event agency delivering brand experiences at trade shows, conferences, and live activations. A broader incumbent with overlapping capabilities to Exhibitors Connection's staffing and on-site event execution services.
• George P. Johnson Experience Marketing: Large established experience marketing agency specializing in events, exhibits, and trade show programs for global brands. Overlaps with Exhibitors Connection on staffing components of trade show engagements.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks3 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/exhibitors_connection

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Exhibitors Connection