Trade fair data is structured information about the companies that exhibit at a trade fair: company name and country, the fair, edition and sector, stand details and business contact details. It comes from the organiser's public exhibitor catalogue and company websites, and every company on it has shown it is active in its market by taking a stand.
What does trade fair data include?
Trade fair data is built in layers. Each layer answers a different question, and a list is only as useful as its weakest layer.
| Layer | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Exhibitor list (name, country, city) | The map of the market: who is active and where they are based |
| Fair context (fair, edition, sector, stand) | Timing and a natural opening: same fair, same sector, same week |
| Business contact (email, phone, website) | The channel for reaching the company; it has to be verified before use |
| Named contact (department or person) | Who inside the company the message is meant for; not every source has it |
- Edition
- One occurrence of a fair, for example the 2026 edition. Data should always say which edition it belongs to.
- Business address
- A company email address such as info@ or sales@. It usually does not identify a person.
- Named contact
- An address or record that identifies an employee. Under the UK GDPR this is personal data and needs a lawful basis.
Where does trade fair data come from?
The primary source is the exhibitor directory the organiser publishes for each edition, often with hall and stand numbers. Company websites add the business email address, phone number and a description of what the company makes or sells. Printed and PDF catalogues from earlier editions help to see which companies return year after year.
How these sources are collected and checked is described step by step in our guide to getting a trade fair exhibitor list.
How do sales teams use trade fair data?
- Checking a target market: how many potential buyers take a stand at the leading fair in your target country? The number is one of the most concrete signs of market size.
- Prioritising: a company that exhibits at the same fair edition after edition is usually more established than a first-time exhibitor. Sort the list accordingly.
- Timing: the fair date is the most natural reason to get in touch. A meeting request about six weeks before, one reminder, a confirmation and a follow-up after the fair (see our meeting request email templates).
- Reaching fairs you cannot attend: no budget covers every fair. Exhibitor data lets you contact the active companies of a fair without travelling to it.
What makes trade fair data reliable?
Four criteria separate useful data from an address dump:
- Source: every record states where it came from, such as the organiser's catalogue or the company website.
- Freshness: the data is tied to a dated edition, not to an undated collection.
- Verification: email addresses are checked before sending, so invalid ones do not harm your sender reputation.
- Legal traceability: you can show how personal data was obtained and how people can opt out, as the UK GDPR expects.
Data that fails any one of these is expensive, however cheap it looked. The legal side of using it for email is covered in our guide to emailing trade fair exhibitors legally.
How does Expomatik provide trade fair data?
Expomatik compiles exhibitor lists per fair edition, with the source of each record and email addresses verified before sending. You open a list in your panel; the price is shown before you open it and small lists are free. Email campaigns go to each company's general business address. The Trade Fair Exhibitor Lists page shows which fairs already have a ready list.
Before you plan
A list does not replace the rules for marketing email in the recipient's country. Check them before the first campaign and keep an opt-out in every message.
Frequently asked questions
- Is trade fair data the same as an exhibitor list?
- An exhibitor list is the starting layer: company names, countries and stands. Trade fair data adds the context of the fair and sector and business contact details, so the list can be used for sales and not only for planning stand visits.
- Is it legal to use trade fair data for sales emails?
- It depends on the recipient's country and on whether the address identifies a person. In the UK, PECR allows marketing emails to limited companies without prior consent if you identify yourself and offer an opt-out; several EU countries, Germany among them, require consent.
- How old can trade fair data be before it stops being useful?
- Data tied to the latest edition of a fair is the most reliable. Lists from earlier years remain useful for research, but addresses should be verified again before sending, because companies close, merge and change their email addresses.