PACK EXPO International 2026: Dates, Costs & Attendees

PACK EXPO International 2026 runs from 18 to 21 October at McCormick Place in Chicago. Organised by PMMI, it is one of the largest packaging and processing shows in the world: the 2024 edition hosted about 2,700 exhibitors and 48,000 attendees on more than 1.3 million square feet.

Every step of a production line is on show, from processing and filling to labeling, case packing, inspection and palletizing, for food, beverage, pharma, personal care and industrial goods. This guide covers costs, the audience and how to reach the plant teams who buy.

PACK EXPO International 2026 at a glance


Next edition	18-21 October 2026, McCormick Place, Chicago. The next Chicago edition is in 2028; PACK EXPO Las Vegas runs in 2027
Venue	McCormick Place
City	Chicago, Illinois, USA
Typical month	October-November
Frequency	Biennial in Chicago (even years); PACK EXPO Las Vegas in odd years
Attendance	~48,000 attendees (77,500 incl. exhibitor staff, 2024)
Exhibitors	~2,600-2,700 exhibitors on 1.3 million sq ft
Industry	Packaging & processing machinery
Organizer	PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies
Official website	packexpointernational.com

What is PACK EXPO?

PACK EXPO International is one of the largest packaging and processing shows in the world. It covers every step of a production line (processing, filling, labeling, case packing, palletizing, inspection, automation and materials) for food, beverage, pharma, personal care and industrial products.

Machines run on the floor, and pavilions focus on areas such as processing, containers and materials, healthcare packaging and reusable packaging. It alternates with PACK EXPO Las Vegas, so there is a PACK EXPO show in the US every year.

Location and venue

McCormick Place, Chicago (all halls).

Does it change location? It alternates: Chicago in even years (PACK EXPO International) and Las Vegas in odd years (PACK EXPO Las Vegas). PMMI also runs regional PACK EXPO East.

Industrial factory with machinery and pipes. Photo by Lalit Kumar on Unsplash.

Who you’ll meet at PACK EXPO

CPG, food, beverage and pharma manufacturers
Plant managers and packaging engineers
Operations and procurement leaders
Contract packagers and co-manufacturers
Brand owners and packaging designers

Budget holders are here, but they are spread across a large crowd that also includes engineers, partners and other vendors. The value comes from filtering the list down to the titles and companies that actually buy from you.

Skip the days of manual LinkedIn research. Tell me which roles you sell to and I’ll send a filtered, enriched PACK EXPO attendee list you can load straight into your CRM. Request it here

What PACK EXPO covers

Packaging machinery: filling, sealing, labeling, cartoning
Food and beverage processing
Pharmaceutical and medical packaging
Packaging materials and sustainability
Robotics, automation and controls
Inspection, traceability and coding

The sales opportunity at PACK EXPO

Packaging lines are capital purchases, and the people who specify them (packaging engineers, plant managers and operations leaders) are often hard to reach outside a show like this. Many arrive with a line upgrade or a new product launch to plan.

For machinery, automation, materials and software vendors, the attendee list is most useful when split by end market. A pharma packaging engineer and a snack-food plant manager need very different conversations, and knowing who is coming lets you prepare both.

Who should attend PACK EXPO?

Best for: vendors with a defined segment in packaging and processing who are ready to filter the attendee base by role and company size.

Less ideal for: teams expecting qualified leads to come to them. At PACK EXPO, the useful meetings are almost always arranged before the show opens.

Passes and pricing

Option	Price / details
Also good to know	Attendee registration is low cost, historically about $30 in advance and ~$130 later/onsite (confirm for each edition)
Typical cost	Roughly $30-130 per attendee.

Prices change between editions and by registration date, so treat these as a guide and check packexpointernational.com before you buy.

Does PACK EXPO have an app?

Yes, PACK EXPO has an official app (packexpointernational.com/app) with exhibitor search, maps and schedules.

The official app is good for finding a booth or a session. It is much less useful for prospecting: data is thin, you can’t export it, and messaging limits stop you from reaching more than a handful of people a day.

Is PACK EXPO worth it?

Pros	Cons
Very large, highly qualified buyer base	Chicago edition only every two years
Capex-heavy purchasing decisions	Very large floor
Annual rhythm via alternation with Las Vegas	Heavy-machinery booths are costly
Low attendee registration fee

A pre-show prospecting plan for PACK EXPO

When	What to do
6-8 weeks before	Get the attendee and exhibitor list. Segment it by job title, company size and industry, and remove existing customers and competitors.
3-5 weeks before	Start outreach on email and LinkedIn. Mention the event, give a specific reason to meet and offer two or three time slots.
Show week	Confirm every meeting 48 hours ahead, keep a short list of walk-in targets, and log every conversation in your CRM the same day.
1-5 days after	Follow up while the event is still fresh, then add non-responders to a nurture sequence.

With the 2026 show only days away at the time of writing, focus on confirming meetings with accounts already in your pipeline, then use the attendee list to plan follow-up for PACK EXPO Las Vegas 2027.

The hard part of this plan is step one: the list. That’s exactly what I do. Get your PACK EXPO attendee list and spend your time on the conversations instead.

Frequently asked questions

When is PACK EXPO International 2026?

18-21 October 2026, McCormick Place, Chicago. The next Chicago edition is in 2028; PACK EXPO Las Vegas runs in 2027. Dates can shift, so confirm on the official website (packexpointernational.com) before booking travel.

Where is PACK EXPO held?

McCormick Place, Chicago (all halls).

Does it move? It alternates: Chicago in even years (PACK EXPO International) and Las Vegas in odd years (PACK EXPO Las Vegas). PMMI also runs regional PACK EXPO East.

How much does a PACK EXPO ticket cost?

Roughly $30-130 per attendee. See the pricing table above for pass types.

Who attends PACK EXPO?

Mainly CPG, food, beverage and pharma manufacturers; plant managers and packaging engineers; operations and procurement leaders; contract packagers and co-manufacturers.

Can I get the PACK EXPO attendee list?

Event organisers rarely sell attendee lists. Prospector builds one for you from the event app and website: attendees, exhibitors and speakers, enriched with job title, company, company size, industry, LinkedIn profile and work email where available, delivered as a CRM-ready file before the event. Ask about PACK EXPO here.

Get the PACK EXPO attendee list

Whether you are exhibiting or walking the floor at PACK EXPO, the teams that win are the ones who arrive with meetings already booked. Get in touch through Prospector and I’ll put together the attendee list for your event.

Photo credits

Cover image: Photo by Remy Gieling on Unsplash
In-article image: Photo by Lalit Kumar on Unsplash

Sources

Event details were last checked in October 2026. Dates, venues and prices can change, so confirm them on the official event website.