Booth types and footprints
Most North American shows build their display rules on the International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE) guidelines. IAEE offers them as a model for organisers to adapt, not a rule book, so each show changes the numbers to suit its halls — which is why your manual decides. The model is still the right place to start, because it explains what each booth type is and why its limits are where they are.
| Booth type | Footprint | Open to aisles | Height in the IAEE model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linear (inline) | Most often 10 × 10 ft; 10 × 20, 10 × 30 and longer are linear booths combined | One, in front | 8 ft back wall, allowed in the rear half only; 4 ft in the front half |
| Corner | A linear booth at the end of a row | Two | Same as linear |
| Perimeter | A linear booth that backs onto the hall's outside wall | One | 12 ft back wall |
| Extended header | A linear booth 20 ft or longer with a centre header | One | Header up to 8 ft high, as wide as 20% of the booth's length, and up to 9 ft deep from the back wall |
| Peninsula | Usually 20 × 20 ft or larger | Three | Back wall 4 ft high within 5 ft of each aisle when it backs onto linear booths; typically 16–20 ft in the centre, signs included |
| Split island | A peninsula that shares its back wall with another peninsula | Three | The whole cube of the space, typically 16–20 ft, signs included |
| Island | Typically 20 × 20 ft or larger; IAEE advises against islands under 400 sq ft | Four | The whole cube of the space, usually 16–20 ft, signs included |
Source: IAEE Guidelines for Display Rules and Regulations, 2023 North American Update, introduction and pp. 1–7, as of October 2026. Rules change each season — confirm with your show.
The line-of-sight rule for inline booths
Inline booths sit shoulder to shoulder, so the line-of-sight rule keeps each one from hiding its neighbours from people walking the aisle. In IAEE's model, the full 8 feet is allowed only in the rear half of the booth; everything in the front half, forward to the aisle, stays at 4 feet or under. In a 10-foot-deep booth, that means tall things — a backwall, a tower, a banner stand — live in the back 5 feet, and counters, kiosks and product in front stay low.
Combine three or more linear booths into one exhibit and the 4-foot limit applies only within 10 feet of a booth next door, so the middle of a long inline run can go to full height closer to the aisle. A canopy can't come lower than 7 feet within 5 feet of the aisle. And if a show grants a height variance in a linear booth, the back of anything over 8 feet must be free of logos and graphics.
Some shows use the other IAEE style, cubic content, which lets an exhibit fill the whole volume of its space — a 10 × 10 booth becomes a 10 × 10 × 8-foot cube, built right up to the aisle. ISC West and SHOT Show both follow cubic content, with their own height limits.
Sources: IAEE Guidelines for Display Rules and Regulations, 2023 North American Update, pp. 1, 8, 9, 16, as of October 2026; ISC West 2026 Display Rules and Regulations, p. 2, as of October 2026; SHOT 2027 Display Regulations & Height Restrictions, section 1, as of October 2026. Rules change each season — confirm with your show.
How Las Vegas shows change the numbers
The same 10 × 10 booth gets a different envelope at each show. Here are four that publish their rules, from the documents we read; your own show's rules may differ again, and they change from one edition to the next.
| Show | Inline booths | Peninsulas and islands | Hanging signs |
|---|---|---|---|
| NAB Show (2026 rules, LVCC) | Line of sight: 8 ft in the rear half, 4 ft in the front half; perimeter booths 12 ft in the rear half. 8-ft back drape and 3-ft side drape provided | Island walls visible from an aisle must be finished; split-island back walls facing a neighbour neutral, with no text or graphics | Island and split-island signs up to 30 ft in the North and West halls, 25 ft in Central |
| ISC West (2026 rules, Venetian Expo) | Cubic content, 12 ft; 8-ft back drape and 3-ft side drape provided; anything above the drape on a wall next to a neighbour finished, neutral and without copy | Peninsulas of 400 sq ft or more 20 ft; islands 25 ft | Over islands, peninsulas and walk-throughs of 400 sq ft or more and at least 20 × 20 ft; 5 ft off a back wall shared with a neighbour |
| SHOT Show (2027 rules, Venetian Expo and Caesars Forum) | Cubic content; 12 ft in Halls A–D and at Caesars Forum, 10 ft in Hall G; 3 in for each side rail and 9 in at the rear | 25 ft in Halls A–D, 23 ft at Caesars Forum, 12 ft in Hall G | Over islands and peninsulas of 400 sq ft or more in the eligible halls; graphics over 8 ft that face a neighbour kept 10 ft away |
| Shoptalk Spring (2027 show, Mandalay Bay) | 8-ft back walls for 10 × 10 to 10 × 30 booths; shared side walls no higher than 4 ft; no hanging signs | Islands of 20 × 20 ft or more 16 ft, to the top of the structure or sign | Only over booths of 400 sq ft or more, with the top no higher than 18 ft |
Sources: NAB Show exhibitor rules and regulations (2026 overview), as of October 2026; ISC West 2026 Display Rules and Regulations, pp. 2–6, as of October 2026; SHOT 2027 Display Regulations & Height Restrictions, sections 1, 6, 9, 15 and height restrictions, as of October 2026; Shoptalk Spring exhibitor FAQ, as of October 2026. Rules change each season — confirm with your show.
What that means for a backwall graphic
- Height is the structure's limit. In an 8-foot booth, the backwall tops out at 8 feet and so does its graphic; at a show that allows 12 feet, it can go higher. SHOT Show puts it plainly: graphics may not appear above your allowable height.
- Width is inside the rails. IAEE notes that booth measurements have to allow for the pipe, and at SHOT Show floor-plan widths are measured to the centreline of the side rails. SHOT Show 2027 asks linear exhibits to leave 3 inches for each side rail and 9 inches at the back for utility access, so a 10 × 10 booth there has 9 feet 6 inches of width to build in. IAEE notes that the back 9 inches of a booth typically stays clear for power.
- The drape isn't a display wall. IAEE's guidance is that pipe and drape isn't meant as a display fixture and nothing should be attached to it; SHOT Show bars attaching any part of a display to the drapery backdrop or side dividers. A backwall graphic needs a frame, a hard wall or a stand of its own.
- Print to the structure, not the footprint. Every frame and hard wall has its own graphic size. Send us the exhibit house's template or spec sheet and we print to its finished sizes, bleed and finishing notes.
- Cover the whole back. ISC West requires inline and peninsula booths to have a finished backwall covering the back of the booth, with no see-through backwalls.
- Put the message high. Counters, product and people stand in front of the lower part of a backwall. The logo and the one line people should remember belong where they show over heads from down the aisle.
Sources: SHOT 2027 Display Regulations & Height Restrictions, sections 1, 7, 11, as of October 2026; IAEE Guidelines for Display Rules and Regulations, 2023 North American Update, pp. 13, 16, as of October 2026; ISC West 2026 Display Rules and Regulations, p. 4, as of October 2026. Rules change each season — confirm with your show.
Side walls and dividers
At shows that provide pipe and drape, the side dividers are low: NAB Show and ISC West both give inline booths an 8-foot back drape and 3-foot side drape. Shoptalk Spring caps shared side walls at 4 feet. Under IAEE's line-of-sight model, a side wall can reach 8 feet only in the rear half of the booth — in a 10-foot-deep booth, the first 5 feet from the back — and 4 feet from there to the aisle.
Cubic-content shows let you build full height to the front, but the side that faces your neighbour still stays plain. ISC West requires anything above the drape on a wall next to another exhibitor to be finished, neutral and without copy, and the backs of walls on a shared border to be clear of logos and graphics. NAB Show doesn't let logos or branding in a linear booth face into the booths beside or behind it. So size side-wall graphics for the face that looks into your own booth and onto your aisle, and plan the other face as a plain finish.
Sources: NAB Show exhibitor rules and regulations (2026 overview), as of October 2026; ISC West 2026 Display Rules and Regulations, pp. 2, 4–6, as of October 2026; Shoptalk Spring exhibitor FAQ, as of October 2026; IAEE Guidelines for Display Rules and Regulations, 2023 North American Update, p. 1, as of October 2026. Rules change each season — confirm with your show.
Counter and kiosk wraps
Under line-of-sight rules, everything in the front half of an inline booth stays at 4 feet or under — counters, kiosks and anything standing on them included. Check the counter's height against your show's rule before it ships.
To size a wrap, send the counter maker's template if there is one. If not, measure every face that shows — front, sides, any top edge you want wrapped — and note the corners, doors, vents and cut-outs. We print counter wraps on permanent vinyl for smooth counters; if the counter is rented and has to go back clean, tell us and we'll recommend the film for that. Send us the measurements with the rest of the booth list.
Source: IAEE Guidelines for Display Rules and Regulations, 2023 North American Update, p. 1, as of October 2026. Rules change each season — confirm with your show.
Floor graphics in a booth
Floors are where show rules differ most. SHOT Show 2027 bars decals and other adhesive materials on the walls and floor of its exhibit areas, while ISC West requires floor covering in every booth — so at shows like these, a floor graphic goes on your own booth flooring rather than the hall's floor. The floor graphics rules guide has the rules venue by venue.
For sizing: floor pieces are cut to the finished size with no bleed, butt together edge to edge with no overlap, because an overlap underfoot is a trip edge, and run up to 12 feet long. A 10 × 10 booth floor therefore prints as strips that each run the full 10 feet. Hard floors get an anti-slip laminate on every piece; carpet takes a carpet graphic film. Price it in the floor graphics quote, and see floor graphics for the materials.
Sources: SHOT 2027 Display Regulations & Height Restrictions, section 7, as of October 2026; ISC West 2026 Display Rules and Regulations, p. 4, as of October 2026. Rules change each season — confirm with your show.
Hanging signs
So the sign's size comes from the frame maker's template, and its deadline from the advance warehouse, not from move-in — the show graphics deadlines page lists them for Las Vegas shows. For the graphic itself, send us the template and the date it has to reach the warehouse.
- Which booths. In IAEE's model, peninsulas and islands, plus perimeter booths against the hall wall; end-caps don't qualify. Las Vegas shows set their own minimums — 400 square feet at ISC West, SHOT Show and Shoptalk Spring.
- How high. Typically 16 to 20 feet, measured from the floor to the top of the sign, and never above the booth's own height limit. Among the Las Vegas shows above, limits run from 18 feet (Shoptalk Spring) to 30 feet (NAB Show's North and West halls).
- Where. Directly over your own space and set back 10 feet from neighbouring booths in the IAEE model; ISC West asks for 5 feet off a back wall you share with a neighbour.
- When. IAEE advises organisers to approve hanging signs at least 60 days before installation, and to have them labelled and cased separately, because they usually go up before the rest of the exhibit.
- Who rigs. The show's or the venue's contractor. At Venetian Expo, rigging and banner hanging are exclusive services of the venue and its technical partner; at Shoptalk Spring, Freeman rigs non-electrical signs under 200 pounds and Mandalay Bay Exhibitor Services the rest.
Sources: IAEE Guidelines for Display Rules and Regulations, 2023 North American Update, pp. 10, 16, as of October 2026; ISC West 2026 Display Rules and Regulations, pp. 5–6, as of October 2026; Venetian Expo General Contractor & Production Guide, p. 19, as of October 2026; Shoptalk Spring exhibitor FAQ, as of October 2026; NAB Show exhibitor rules and regulations (2026 overview), as of October 2026. Rules change each season — confirm with your show.
Setting up the file
Build the backwall at full size or to scale, with the scale in the file name — “backwall_10pct.pdf” or “1-10 scale”. At 10%, a 10 × 8-foot backwall is a 12 × 9.6-inch file, and the inch of bleed a wall graphic needs on every side becomes a tenth of an inch. Outline or embed the fonts, keep logos and type as vectors, and build in CMYK if you can.
Booth visitors stand close, so a photo on a backwall needs more pixels than one on a wall seen across a lobby. The pixels per inch that look sharp fall as people stand farther back — about 3,438 divided by the viewing distance in inches — and 150 pixels per inch at the printed size is sharp even up close. Remember that a 10% file needs ten times the pixels:
| Where people stand | At full size | In a 10% file |
|---|---|---|
| 3 feet (inside the booth) | 95 ppi | 955 ppi |
| 8 feet | 36 ppi | 358 ppi |
| 15 feet (down the aisle) | 19 ppi | 191 ppi |
Seams on wide backwalls
A 10- or 20-foot backwall is wider than the vinyl roll, so it prints in panels. Wall graphics hang in vertical drops, like wallpaper, overlapping by half an inch, with each piece up to 20 feet long — so an 8-foot backwall's panels each run its full height in one piece, and every seam is vertical.
Send the whole backwall as one file and the wall graphics quote lays out the panels, draws every seam on your artwork and warns you if one crosses lettering; drag a seam into open background. If the backwall is built from modular panels, drag the seams onto the structure's joints instead, as long as each piece stays within the widest piece the printer can make. Panels come labelled A, B, C… in hanging order, with the overlap marked. The large-format file setup guide covers scale, bleed and seams in more depth.
Ordering booth graphics in Las Vegas
Upload backwall and side-wall art to the wall graphics quote and booth floors to the floor graphics quote to see the panels and the price at your size. For counter wraps, banners, hanging sign graphics and the rest of the booth, send us the list with the show, your booth number and type, its height limit and the deadline you're working to.
We print to the venue's and the show's spec, label every panel, deliver for move-in, and coordinate the install with your show's contractor; see trade show graphics and installation. Building rules for walls, glass and floors are on the LVCC, Venetian Expo and Caesars Forum pages. Need the booth itself? Our sister company Innovate 3D designs and builds custom trade show exhibits.
Questions we get
What size is a 10x10 booth backwall graphic?
It's set by the frame or wall the graphic goes on, so print to that structure's template. The booth sets the envelope: usually up to 8 feet tall under line-of-sight rules, and a little under 10 feet wide, because the side rails take space — SHOT Show 2027 allows 3 inches for each, leaving 9 feet 6 inches.
How tall can a trade show booth backwall be?
In the IAEE model most shows adapt, 8 feet for an inline booth and 12 feet for a perimeter booth against the hall wall. Shows change it: ISC West and SHOT Show allow 12 feet for inline booths in their main halls, and SHOT's Hall G 10 feet. Your exhibitor manual has the final number.
What is the line-of-sight rule at trade shows?
A rule for inline booths that keeps neighbours visible from the aisle. Displays can reach the full 8 feet only in the rear half of the booth; everything in the front half stays at 4 feet or under. When three or more booths combine, the 4-foot limit applies only within 10 feet of a neighbour.
Can I hang my graphics on the pipe and drape?
Generally not. IAEE's guidance is that pipe and drape isn't a display fixture and signs shouldn't be attached to it, and SHOT Show 2027 bars attaching any part of a display to the drapery backdrop or side dividers. Use a frame, a hard wall or a stand.
Can I put graphics on the back of my booth wall?
Not on a side that faces another booth. ISC West requires the backs of walls on a shared border to be clear of copy, logos and graphics, and SHOT Show wants the back finished in a neutral colour. Graphics face your own aisle and booth.
How high can a hanging sign be?
In the IAEE model, typically 16 to 20 feet to the top of the sign, mainly over peninsulas and islands. Las Vegas shows vary: 18 feet at Shoptalk Spring, 20 feet over ISC West peninsulas and 25 over its islands, and up to 30 feet in NAB Show's North and West halls.
What scale should a booth graphic file be?
Full size, or a common scale such as 10% or 25% with the scale in the file name, like “_10pct”. At 10%, images need ten times the pixels: about 955 pixels per inch in the file for a graphic people see from 3 feet. Vector logos and type stay sharp at any scale.