IMEX America 2025 took place Oct. 7-9 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. Often referred to as the Super Bowl of the events industry, the three-day show continues to be one of the largest global gatherings for meeting and event professionals.
Originally considered the “little sister” to IMEX Frankfurt—held annually every May for the past 22 years—IMEX America has now outpaced its European counterpart in virtually every metric. There’s more attendees, more expo space and thus, more to recap.
Here are five key takeaways from IMEX America 2025:
1. Record-Breaking Attendance
Just as show organizers anticipated, IMEX America 2025 broke all previous records, welcoming more than 17,000 attendees. It marks a roughly 9.7% increase from 2024’s total of 15,500.
Among those, 6,000 were global buyers, with 4,700 hosted buyers participating in approximately 90,000 pre-scheduled meetings with exhibitors. That’s up from 5,500 buyers (4,300 hosted) and 86,000 meetings in 2024.
2. Expanded International Presence
This year’s IMEX America also featured the largest exhibition floor in the event’s 14-year history. The total footprint grew roughly 5% thanks to more exhibitors and larger booths.
Notably, there was a marked increase in international participation, particularly from:
- Europe, including Hungary, Scotland and Slovenia;
- Africa, courtesy of Morocco;
- and Asia. Especially China, which doubled the size of its pavilion year-over-year (to 1,000 square feet), offering expanded cultural programming that highlighted its rising profile as a MICE destination, according to ChinaDaily.com.
Singapore also returned with a continued focus on sustainability, following its eco-friendly booth debut in 2024. This year, the Singapore Exhibition and Convention Bureau (SECB) made headlines by signing a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau (HVCB) on-site. The alliance aims to strengthen U.S.-Asia MICE ties by aligning marketing efforts, sharing educational resources and facilitating client introductions.
3. Industry Reports
IMEX is known as a launchpad for major trend reports, and this year was no exception.
One standout was the 2025 Experience Trends Report from Freeman, released during the Smart Monday pre-show day powered by MPI. The report revealed a striking disconnect between what organizers consider to be “peak moments” and what attendees actually value.
Top 3 peak moments for organizers:
- keynote speakers (25%)
- opening/closing celebrations (24%)
- surprise elements (23%)
Top 3 peak moments for attendees:
- building vendor relationships (41%)
- learning & development (20%)
- making connections (19%)
Despite 78% of organizers believing they delivered a “peak moment,” only 40% of attendees agreed. That’s a critical insight, considering attendees who experienced a peak moment were 85% more likely to return to the event in subsequent years.
It’s an interesting metric, given that Freeman also found that attendees experiencing said peak are 85% more likely to return to that same event the following years.
Meanwhile, Maritz’s September 2025 Industry Trends Report confirmed that the post-Covid travel boom has cooled, even as hotel prices continue to climb in the face of softening demand. Their advice: Lock in rates now, especially through multi-year agreements with hotel brands to mitigate future cost hikes.
The insight aligns with findings from the Amex GBT’s 2026 Global Meetings & Events Forecast, also released during IMEX. Here are the key stats:
- 38% of planners cited rising costs as their top challenge
- 71% expect budgets to rise, but not enough to keep pace with inflation
- Only 2% expect costs to go down
- Technology will be a key tool to help close the gap
4. Expanded Educational Programming
IMEX America 2025 offered a robust educational slate of 150 educational sessions, plus an additional 150 during Smart Monday, featuring 200-plus speakers across nine themed education tracks.
New tracks this year included:
- Community Builders: Offering strategies for developing engaged audiences, whether fans, followers or brand ambassadors. Sessions included think tanks and real-world case studies.
- Leadership & Culture: Born from the ongoing post-pandemic shift in work culture and supply chain challenges, this track explored live mentoring and leadership development.
The Tech Education stage also returned with an expanded footprint, this time located closer to the Inspiration Hub, the show’s main stage for keynote sessions and presentations.
5. The Rise of Micro-Communities
Beyond the show floor, after-hours side events stole the spotlight, underscoring the growing importance of community in the events space.
Industry veteran Julius Solaris captured the sentiment in a LinkedIn post, writing: “One clear trend emerging.” It’s not AI, puppies, or the custom cowboy hat, he said, though those could all be found on-site. “It’s side events. Never seen so many, so early,” he added, noting that Hubspot alone hosted 750 micro-events around the tentpole show.
Other notable side gatherings included:
- PCMA’s Southwest & Pacific’s NextGen Meetup on Oct. 6, which revealed the event’s “secret location” day-of.
- Club Ichi’s “Red Solo Cup Party,” also on Oct. 6. It was an off-Strop, backyard-style mixer for the platform’s “insiders.”
- Accelevents’ “Swing, Sip & Connect” happy hour at Topgolf on Oct. 7.
Though just a sampling of the gatherings that surrounded the main event agenda, these intimate events are a symptom of attendees’ desire to shift from mass networking to niche-driven experiences.
