How to calculate the ROI of a trade fair trip

A trade fair trip for three people typically costs NOK 60,000–90,000 all-in. To justify that, you need a clear sense of what success looks like before you go and a structured way to evaluate it afterwards.

Set your goals before booking

Define 2–3 concrete outcomes you want from the trip: number of qualified supplier conversations, specific technologies to evaluate, or new contracts to scope. Vague goals like "see what's new" produce vague returns.

What to measure

• Qualified supplier conversations— meetings with decision-makers, not just brochure-gathering.
• Estimated savings or revenue.If a new supplier delivers a 5% cost reduction on a NOK 5M annual spend, that single conversation has paid for the trip ten times over.
• Strategic insights.Harder to quantify, but a clear view of where competitors are heading is genuinely valuable.
• Internal knowledge transfer.Did the debrief produce concrete actions in the team?

Track over 12 months

Many trade fair benefits land months later — a contact made in April closes a deal in October. Build a simple tracking sheet of fair-originated leads and revisit it quarterly.

Use ourcost calculatorto estimate the investment, andget in touchfor tailored planning.