Biggest tech conferences of 2027, ranked by attendance
The 20 biggest tech conferences of 2027 by organizer-stated attendance, the April clash week, and how to tell if a big event holds enough of your buyers.
- VivaTech (200,000), CES (148,392) and CIOE (143,645) are the 3 biggest tech events of 2027 by the attendance their organizers state.
- The week of April 5, 2027 stacks RSA Conference, HIMSS, Hannover Messe, NAB Show and Japan IT Week, 5 of the 20 on this list.
- Attendance tells you the size of the room. Before you sponsor, count the target accounts in it and the meetings you can book, then price each opportunity.
The biggest tech conferences of 2027 are VivaTech in Paris, CES in Las Vegas and CIOE in Shenzhen, each with more than 140,000 attendees by their organizers’ figures. 5 of the 20 overlap in one April week. Before you sponsor any of them, check how many of your buyers will be in the room.
The list covers consumer electronics, mobile, industrial tech, enterprise IT, cybersecurity, media tech, health IT and developer events. Attendance and dates are from our October 18, 2026 snapshot of the Luminik catalog.
Organizer-stated attendance
is the number an organizer publishes for an edition of its event. Organizers count in different ways: some report registrations, some badge pickups, some unique visitors across all days, and some include exhibitor staff and press. Treat it as a size class for the room. It does not tell you how many of your buyers will be there.
The biggest tech conferences of 2027 by stated attendance
| # | Event | Dates | City | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | VivaTech | Jun 16 to 19 | Paris | 200,000 |
| 2 | CES | Jan 6 to 9 | Las Vegas | 148,392 |
| 3 | CIOE (China International Optoelectronic Exposition) | Sep 8 to 10 | Shenzhen | 143,645 |
| 4 | Hannover Messe | Apr 5 to 8 | Hanover | 110,000 |
| 5 | MWC Barcelona | Mar 1 to 4 | Barcelona | 105,000 |
| 6 | Japan IT Week Spring | Apr 7 to 9 | Tokyo | 100,000 |
| 7 | MWC Shanghai | Jun 23 to 25 | Shanghai | 100,000 |
| 8 | DeepFest | Apr 12 to 15 | Malham, Saudi Arabia | 68,000 |
| 9 | GITEX Africa | Apr 26 to 28 | Marrakech | 60,000 |
| 10 | London Tech Week | Jun 7 to 11 | London | 55,000 |
| 11 | NAB Show | Apr 4 to 7 | Las Vegas | 46,000 |
| 12 | IBC | Sep 10 to 13 | Amsterdam | 45,000 |
| 13 | RSA Conference | Apr 5 to 8 | San Francisco | 44,000 |
| 14 | NRF Retail’s Big Show | Jan 10 to 12 | New York | 41,000 |
| 15 | Web Summit Rio | Jun 14 to 17 | Rio de Janeiro | 40,000 |
| 16 | Web Summit Qatar | Jan 31 to Feb 3 | Doha | 30,000 |
| 17 | HIMSS | Apr 5 to 8 | Chicago | 23,860 |
| 18 | GDC Festival of Gaming | Mar 1 to 5 | San Francisco | 20,000 |
| 19 | Tech Show London | Mar 10 to 11 | London | 19,250 |
| 20 | KubeCon North America | Nov 8 to 11 | New Orleans | 9,000 |
- VivaTech200,000
- CES148,392
- CIOE143,645
- Hannover Messe110,000
- MWC Barcelona105,000
- Japan IT Week Spring100,000
- MWC Shanghai100,000
- DeepFest68,000
- GITEX Africa60,000
- London Tech Week55,000
- NAB Show46,000
- IBC45,000
Other large tech events with 2027 dates
| Event | Dates | City |
|---|---|---|
| ISE (Integrated Systems Europe) | Feb 2 to 5 | Barcelona |
| KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe | Mar 15 to 18 | Barcelona |
| SXSW | Mar 15 to 21 | Austin |
| LEAP | Apr 12 to 15 | Riyadh |
| GITEX Asia | Apr 29 to 30 | Singapore |
| Computex | Jun 1 to 4 | Taipei |
| Infosecurity Europe | Jun 8 to 10 | London |
| DEF CON | Aug 5 to 8 | Las Vegas |
| Dreamforce | Sep 21 to 23 | San Francisco |
Which big tech event fits which buyer
The events above serve different buyers. Start from who you sell to, then look at size.
| You sell to | Events on this list built for them |
|---|---|
| Security teams and CISOs | RSA Conference, Infosecurity Europe, DEF CON |
| Hospital and health system IT | HIMSS |
| Broadcast, streaming and media operations | NAB Show, IBC |
| Telecom operators and device makers | MWC Barcelona, MWC Shanghai |
| Manufacturers and industrial engineers | Hannover Messe, CIOE |
| Retailers | NRF Retail’s Big Show |
| Platform and cloud native engineers | KubeCon North America, KubeCon Europe |
| Game studios | GDC Festival of Gaming |
| Consumer electronics brands, retailers and suppliers | CES, Computex |
| Startups, investors and corporate innovation teams | VivaTech, Web Summit Rio, Web Summit Qatar, London Tech Week |
| Enterprise IT buyers by region | Japan IT Week, GITEX Africa, GITEX Asia, LEAP, DeepFest, Tech Show London |
The cybersecurity, AI and machine learning and cloud and DevOps event pages list the smaller specialist events in each field.
RSA, HIMSS, NAB Show and Hannover Messe share the week of April 5
5 of the 20 run in the same week. NAB Show opens on Sunday, April 4 in Las Vegas. RSA Conference in San Francisco, HIMSS in Chicago and Hannover Messe all run April 5 to 8, and Japan IT Week Spring runs April 7 to 9 in Tokyo.
- NAB Show, Las Vegas: April 4 to April 7
- RSA Conference, San Francisco: April 5 to April 8
- HIMSS, Chicago: April 5 to April 8
- Hannover Messe, Hanover: April 5 to April 8
- Japan IT Week Spring, Tokyo: April 7 to April 9
If you sell security to hospitals, you have to choose between RSA and HIMSS, or split the team across 2 cities. Decide by late February, when outreach for an early-April event has to start. The 2027 event calendar report shows every clash week on the calendar.
A big event pays back when enough of your buyers attend
A large event gives you reach: brand presence, press, partners and a chance to meet accounts you did not know about. Pipeline comes from something narrower, the share of the room that buys what you sell.
Sellers and marketers we interviewed describe the same pattern at the largest events. Most of the people who stop at the booth are not buyers: students, job seekers, other exhibitors and people collecting giveaways. At the biggest cloud and software events, some teams book most of their meetings with existing customers, because those are the accounts they can reach in advance. If your board asks whether you were at the big event, that is a brand reason to go, so budget it as brand.
- High share of buyers and Smaller event size: Specialist event (Sponsor). Booth or sponsored session; Book 10 or more meetings in advance; Speak if the call is open.
- High share of buyers and Larger event size: Big room, right buyers (Sponsor and host). Booth plus a meeting room or dinner; Rank the attendee list early; Staff the booth for booked meetings.
- Low share of buyers and Smaller event size: Small, off-target (Skip). Send no one, or one person on a pass; Revisit if the agenda shifts toward your buyer.
- Low share of buyers and Larger event size: Big room, few buyers (Attend and host). Passes plus a side event for named accounts; Budget it as brand if you sponsor; Measure meetings held.
How to decide whether a big tech conference is worth it
Run every large event on your shortlist through the same 4 steps before you sign a sponsorship.
1. Count the target accounts likely to attend
Match last year’s sponsor list, speaker list and any published attendee companies against your target account list. If the organizer shares a registrant list with sponsors, ask when it arrives: some send it 1 to 2 weeks before the event, which is late for booking meetings. Luminik builds and ranks the attendee list for each event against your ICP, weeks earlier.
2. Estimate the meetings you can book before the event
Pre-booked meetings are the most reliable output of a big event. The booth adds walk-up conversations on top. Walk-up traffic at a 100,000-person event is hard to predict, so plan on booked meetings.
3. Price the whole event
Add the sponsorship or booth, build and shipping, travel and hotel for the team, any dinner or suite, and the selling time your team spends away from their desks. Then divide by the opportunities you expect. The event ROI calculator does the arithmetic, and B2B event cost per opportunity explains each input.
4. Compare against smaller events
Put the big event next to 2 or 3 specialist events for the same buyer and compare cost per opportunity. Major events against smaller third-party events covers how to split a budget between them, and the event selection scorecard turns the comparison into a decision.
Biggest tech conferences FAQ
What is the biggest tech conference in 2027?
By organizer-stated attendance, VivaTech in Paris (June 16 to 19, 2027, 200,000) is the largest tech event on the 2027 calendar, followed by CES in Las Vegas (January 6 to 9, 148,392) and CIOE in Shenzhen (September 8 to 10, 143,645).
What are the biggest tech conferences in the US in 2027?
CES in Las Vegas (148,392), NAB Show in Las Vegas (46,000), RSA Conference in San Francisco (44,000), NRF Retail's Big Show in New York (41,000), HIMSS in Chicago (23,860), GDC in San Francisco (20,000) and KubeCon North America in New Orleans (9,000), among events with an organizer-stated attendance.
Is the biggest tech conference the best one to sponsor?
Only if your buyers are a large enough share of it. Count the target accounts likely to attend, the meetings you can book before the event and the all-in cost, then compare cost per opportunity across your shortlist. A smaller specialist event often holds more of your buyers per dollar.
