Trade Show Insurance Cost

Trade shows bring together industry enthusiasts, newcomers, and veterans all in one space. Pulling off a successful trade show involves scheduling pre-show booth meetings, strategizing your social media presence, organizing your sales team, connecting executives, and much, much more.¹

With all the planning needed to pull off a trade show, trade show organizers must be prepared for the many things that could go wrong. That’s why you need Trade Show Insurance. Not sure if it’s worth the investment? Let’s do the math.

Trade Show Insurance provides protection against the risks associated with putting on trade shows, fairs, and industry expos.

With Thimble, Trade Show Insurance provides coverage for events of up to 250 people. Once you know how many people will attend your event, here’s an example of a range of how much a one-day Trade Show Insurance could cost:

According to Insurance Journal, there are some trade show activities that insurance companies may not cover.² Depending on the special event you’re attending, your insurer may exclude:

• Athletic activities: If your event involves athletic participants, your Trade Show Insurance policy may exclude bodily injury claims to those who participate in the event. However, some insurers provide an optional endorsement that you could purchase to add additional coverage for athletic participants.
• Special devices: Your special event may involve the use of fireworks, inflatable devices, aircraft and watercraft-related activities which many insurers may exclude from coverage or require additional endorsements to be purchased in order for coverage to apply. Even in these cases, the coverage may be subject to special conditions or limits.
• Unscheduled events: Your insurer will only cover events that are scheduled on the special events insurance liability policy, not for ordinary operations.

Though you may already have workers’ compensation coverage or professional liability insurance, those coverages typically exclude third-party bodily injury or property damage. It could also exclude damage caused by your employees or personal and advertising injuries that occur at trade shows. If that’s the case, purchasing Trade Show Insurance could help protect you against your liabilities at a trade show.

You never want to wait until a crisis happens to get insured, but having Trade Show Insurance prior to an event is especially crucial. In fact, many trade shows will require exhibitors and vendors to have a certificate of insurance when applying to display or sell goods and services at the event. In some cases, the trade show sponsors may require that they be listed as an Additional Insured on the exhibitors’ and vendors’ general liability policy.

Thimble customers can purchase Trade Show Insurance as early as six months in advance before the event. And if there’s a change of plans, Thimble customers can cancel their policy before the event starts without a penalty. Make sure you read your policy to understand how your insurer defines “start time” for your event.

If you have a trade show or industry expo coming up, here’s what you need to know to prepare:

• Your insurance premium depends on a range of factors, particularly how many people attend your event.
• It can help protect you from the financial consequences associated with claims that arise from third-party property damage or bodily injury that occurs during the event.
• You need to have other insurance coverage to protect you against claims relating to injury to your employees and for damage to property you own.
• Some select activities, such as fireworks or athletic activities, may be excluded from the event.