MEDICA Exhibition Stand Cost: What Exhibitors Need to Budget
Part 1: What it costs
The organiser's published rates for MEDICA 2026
These are net participation fees per square metre of floor space, before German VAT. What you pay depends on how many sides of your booth are open.
Row stand, one side open: EUR 304.00 per m²
Corner stand, two sides open: EUR 317.00 per m²
End of block stand, three sides open: EUR 327.00 per m²
Island site, four sides open: EUR 336.00 per m²
Outdoor section: EUR 200.00 per m²
The regular minimum booth space is 12 m². Smaller areas are only possible if they become available during hall planning. Space is charged in whole square metres, and projections, pillars, columns and space for installation connections are all included in the charged area.
The fixed fees, which catch people out
On top of the per-square-metre rate:
Media fee: EUR 995 per exhibitor. Mandatory. Covers publication of your exhibitor data in the event's electronic media and website.
Technical prepayment: EUR 25.00 per m². Charged to exhibitors who did not take part in the previous edition. Settled after the fair against services actually ordered.
AUMA contribution: EUR 0.60 per m².
Waste disposal during the fair: EUR 2.70 per m², capped at EUR 1,350 for space over 499 m².
Co-exhibitor fee: EUR 1,000 if another company shares your booth.
Additional exhibitor passes: EUR 42.02 each.
Withdrawal fee before admission: EUR 900.
Invoice revision fee: EUR 150 per revision you request.
The point worth noticing: the EUR 995 media fee is flat, so it lands hardest on small booths. On a 12 m² stand it adds more than a quarter to your space cost. On a 100 m² stand it adds three per cent. MEDICA's fee structure quietly penalises the minimum booking.
What the booth build itself costs
Booth construction is entirely separate from space rental and is not included in any of the figures above. Market rates in Düsseldorf fall into three bands.
EUR 350 to 500 per m². Direct flooring, standard and modular structures, 2D graphics, stock lighting and furniture, simple eyecatchers, screens.
EUR 500 to 700 per m². Raised flooring, 3D logos and lightboxes, suspended eyecatchers, taller customised elements, wider AV options.
EUR 700 and above per m². Complex constructions, high-impact features, elaborate eyecatchers, high-specification multimedia.
So a useful rule of thumb for MEDICA: your booth build will cost roughly the same as your space rental at entry level, and around twice as much at the upper end.
Four worked examples
All figures net of German VAT. Booth build assumes the middle of the relevant band.
12 m² row stand, first-time exhibitor
Item | Cost |
Space, 12 m² at EUR 304 | EUR 3,648 |
Media fee | EUR 995 |
Technical prepayment, 12 m² at EUR 25 | EUR 300 |
AUMA, 12 m² at EUR 0.60 | EUR 7 |
Waste disposal, 12 m² at EUR 2.70 | EUR 32 |
Organiser subtotal | EUR 4,982 |
Booth build at EUR 350 to 500 per m² | EUR 4,200 to 6,000 |
Total before freight, travel and staff | EUR 9,200 to 11,000 |
20 m² corner stand, returning exhibitor
Item | Cost |
Space, 20 m² at EUR 317 | EUR 6,340 |
Media fee | EUR 995 |
AUMA and waste disposal | EUR 66 |
Organiser subtotal | EUR 7,401 |
Booth build at EUR 500 to 700 per m² | EUR 10,000 to 14,000 |
Total before freight, travel and staff | EUR 17,400 to 21,400 |
50 m² end of block stand
Item | Cost |
Space, 50 m² at EUR 327 | EUR 16,350 |
Media fee | EUR 995 |
AUMA and waste disposal | EUR 165 |
Organiser subtotal | EUR 17,510 |
Booth build at EUR 500 to 700 per m² | EUR 25,000 to 35,000 |
Total before freight, travel and staff | EUR 42,500 to 52,500 |
100 m² island site
Item | Cost |
Space, 100 m² at EUR 336 | EUR 33,600 |
Media fee | EUR 995 |
AUMA and waste disposal | EUR 330 |
Organiser subtotal | EUR 34,925 |
Booth build at EUR 700+ per m² | EUR 70,000 upward |
Total before freight, travel and staff | EUR 105,000 upward |
The open-sides calculation nobody runs
An island site costs EUR 336 per m² against EUR 304 for a row stand. That is EUR 32 per m², about 10.5 per cent.
On a 50 m² booth, going from one open side to four costs an extra EUR 1,600 in space rental. For a show where 80,000 visitors are walking past and your problem is being seen at all, that is one of the cheapest visibility upgrades available. Exhibitors routinely spend more than that on furniture hire.
Run the comparison before you book the space, not after.
Still outside all of the above
None of the totals include electrical and water connections, rigging fees, booth cleaning, furniture and AV hire, graphics production, freight and forwarding agent charges, crate storage during the show, travel and accommodation for your team, or the EUR 105 venue inspection fee for structures that do not require formal approval.
Düsseldorf hotel rates during MEDICA week are their own line item, and a significant one.
Part 2: How to hire a booth builder for MEDICA
What a MEDICA booth actually has to do
This is not a general question. MEDICA is a meeting show. Eighty thousand visitors sounds like a footfall event, but the value sits in conversations with distributors, procurement teams and hospital buyers, most of which are scheduled rather than accidental.
That changes the design brief in four specific ways.
Meeting capacity per square metre matters more than open display area. If your objective is thirty distributor conversations across four days, you need somewhere those conversations can happen without being overheard. Most first-time MEDICA exhibitors under-provide seating and over-provide display.
Demonstration space needs planning early. Medical devices are shown working. That means power, sometimes data, sometimes water, and a bench at a height where a small group can gather without blocking the aisle. All of it is ordered from the organiser months ahead and costs more when ordered late.
Storage is not optional. Regulatory documentation, literature, samples and personal belongings all have to go somewhere, and on a 12 m² booth every cubic metre of storage is competing directly with meeting space.
Clean presentation is a sector expectation. Medical buyers read visual sloppiness as a proxy. This is one show where the finish level of your booth carries a message about your product.
The 12 m² problem
Because MEDICA's minimum is 12 m², a very large share of the hall is small booths. If that is you, the design problem is ruthless prioritisation.
On 12 m² you can have roughly two of these three things: a meeting area, a product demonstration zone, and open display frontage. Trying to fit all three produces a booth where none of them works. Decide which two before you brief anyone, and tell the builder which one you are sacrificing.
A good booth builder will tell you this. A poor one will show you a visualisation with all three crammed in and let you find out in November.
What to check before you appoint
Has this builder worked MEDICA specifically? Not Messe Düsseldorf generally. MEDICA fills up to fourteen halls and the medical sector has its own conventions. Ask for the hall numbers and years.
Who submits the technical documentation? The venue requires booth drawings and structural specifications before construction. Establish in writing whether the builder prepares and submits these or hands you a drawing and expects you to deal with the organiser.
Who is on site during build-up, and for how long? Build-up for MEDICA 2026 runs from 10 November at 07:30 to 15 November at 22:00 in halls 1, 3 to 7.0, 10 to 12 and 15 to 17. Someone with authority to make decisions should be in the hall for that window, not reachable by email.
What is in the quote and what is not? Ask for line items separating the booth build from anything ordered through the organiser. A single figure cannot be compared against a competitor's single figure.
What else are they building that week? MEDICA and COMPAMED run simultaneously across most of the fairground. Every builder in the region is stretched. Ask what else is on their schedule.
The dates that govern your project
Build-up: 10 November 2026, 07:30, to 15 November 2026, 22:00, for halls 1, 3 to 7.0, 10 to 12 and 15 to 17
Show days: 16 to 19 November 2026
Visitor hours: Monday to Wednesday 10:00 to 18:00, Thursday 10:00 to 16:00
Exhibitor hours: 08:30 to 19:00
Dismantling: 19 November 2026, 16:00, to 23 November 2026, 16:00
Contractor and forwarding agent entrance: Am Staad, Gate 1, D-40474 Düsseldorf
Timeline, and an honest word about this year
The comfortable window for appointing a booth builder is four to eight months before the show. That covers concept design, real iterations, venue approval and production.
For MEDICA 2026, that window has closed. If you are reading this in September and have not appointed anyone, you are in compressed-timeline territory. That is workable, and builders do it every year, but it narrows what is possible: modular and system solutions become more attractive than fully custom builds, and a two-storey structure is off the table entirely, because formal drawings and neighbour approval are due at least six weeks before build-up.
If you are planning MEDICA 2027, the appointment window opens around March 2027 and closes around July.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a booth at MEDICA cost in total? For a 12 m² row stand, budget roughly EUR 9,000 to 11,000 covering space rental, organiser fees and a basic booth build, before freight, travel and staff. For 20 m², roughly EUR 17,000 to 21,000. For 50 m², roughly EUR 42,000 to 52,000. Larger island sites with complex builds run above EUR 100,000.
What is the minimum booth size at MEDICA? Twelve square metres. Smaller areas are only possible if they become available during hall planning.
Is booth construction included in the space rental? No. Space rental covers the floor only. Booth construction, furniture, AV, electrics, cleaning and waste are all separate.
What is the media fee at MEDICA? EUR 995 per exhibitor, mandatory, covering publication of your exhibitor data in the event's electronic media and website.
Do I pay more for a corner or island booth? Yes. Row stands are EUR 304 per m², corner stands EUR 317, end of block EUR 327 and island sites EUR 336. The premium for three extra open sides is about ten per cent, which is usually good value at a show this size.
When is build-up for MEDICA 2026? From 10 November at 07:30 until 15 November at 22:00 for halls 1, 3 to 7.0, 10 to 12 and 15 to 17. Dismantling runs from 19 November at 16:00 to 23 November at 16:00.
How far in advance should I hire a booth builder? Four to eight months. Shorter is workable but narrows your format options, and a two-storey booth becomes impossible once the six-week drawing deadline passes.
Can I share a booth with another company? Yes, with a co-exhibitor fee of EUR 1,000 payable to the organiser.
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