First-timer's guide · Nov 8–9, 2026 · Javits Center
Working BDNY 2026 for the first time.
600 exhibitors, 10,000 attendees, and a rhythm you only learn by working it. Here's what matters — for the booth side and the buying side — plus the New York, NY logistics nobody puts in the brochure.
If you're exhibiting
New exhibitor tips
Freeman runs the floor — use the Exhibitor Hub early
BDNY's services run through the Exhibitor Hub and Freeman Online: badge registration, the service manual, and orders all live behind one login. Javits labour and services get more expensive the closer you order to the show — the Hub checklist is the money-saving document.
Update your directory profile or disappear
The printed trade fair directory and the official BDNY app both build from your Exhibitor Hub profile and product categories. Designers shortlist in the app; a stale profile means you're not on the shortlist no matter how good the booth looks.
Enter Best of BDNY — the deadline is before the show
The Product Design Competition is judged live on the floor and winners get featured in Boutique Design's winter issue. Entries close around October 21 — it is the cheapest press coverage available at this show.
Badge scans are your data pipeline
BDNY's own terms tell attendees that a scanned badge shares their full contact details with the exhibitor. Scan everyone who consents, capture the conversation context immediately, and your post-show list is complete before Freeman starts pulling carpet.
This is a specification show, not an order-writing show
Your visitor is a designer, architect or purchasing agent specifying for hotel projects with long timelines. The win is getting written into a spec — bring customization answers, lead times and contract-grade documentation, not cash-and-carry pricing.
If you're visiting or buying
New visitor tips
Register before August 31 and save two-thirds
Early-bird trade fair passes run about $105 and jump to $305 at the door; conference passes go from $255 to $530. The early-bird cut-off (late August) is months before the November show — this is the largest single saving available.
Choose the pass by the sessions, not the price
Only conference passes access the CEU-accredited sessions; the trade-fair pass covers the floor and free floor sessions. Designers chasing accreditation hours need the conference pass — present your badge at the session door, no per-session registration.
Students get the industry's best deal
Student and educator passes start around $30 with credentials. For design students, two days at Javits with the hospitality industry is the cheapest portfolio-building event of the year.
No under-16s, no exceptions
Children under 16 are barred from the floor at all times, including move-in and move-out.
Know what a badge scan gives away
Letting an exhibitor scan your badge hands them your full contact details — address, email, phone. Scan where you want follow-up; decline where you don't.
How the days flow
- —Sunday: the design crowd arrives en masse — heaviest traffic, and the day exhibitors are freshest for deep product questions.
- —Sunday night–Monday morning: the social circuit (galas, Power Players breakfast) — where introductions become relationships.
- —Monday: specification follow-ups and quieter aisles; the Gold Key Gala closes the show that evening.
New York, NY logistics
Getting there
Javits Center, 429 11th Ave at 35th St. The 7 train to 34 St–Hudson Yards is two blocks; from Penn Station it's a 15-minute crosstown walk.
Hours
Two days only, Sunday and Monday, 10 AM–5 PM both days — the most compressed major show on the design calendar. Plan the floor in halves, not thirds.
Evenings are the second show
The Platinum Circle and Gold Key galas bracket the fair and the hospitality-design industry treats them as the real networking venue. Budget for tickets or work the invite channels — deals surface at dinner here.
The tip every guide agrees on
Capture at the booth. Never "the stack for later."
Whichever side of the aisle you work at BDNY 2026, DaGaMa turns photos of cards, badges, and products into a structured Google Sheet you own — in WhatsApp, Telegram, or WeChat. Free for your first 24 hours.
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