December 2026 Trade Shows: 40+ Major Events, Dates & Planning Guide

December is a month of two halves. The first ten days are packed: RSNA in Chicago, AWS re:Invent in Las Vegas, GITEX in Dubai, Art Basel Miami Beach and a long run of US industry meetings all land between 29 November and 11 December. After that the calendar thins out to regional fairs, mostly in India, and a handful of consumer shows before the holidays.

This guide lists the shows we can place with a date, city and venue, grouped by week. Dates were checked against organiser sites where noted; the rest come from our own listings, with the date they were last checked. Always confirm on the organiser's page before you book travel.

The big overlaps to plan around

• 29 Nov to 4 Dec: RSNA (Chicago, 29 Nov to 3 Dec) and AWS re:Invent (Las Vegas, 30 Nov to 4 Dec) start a day apart. Healthcare imaging and cloud teams are unlikely to clash, but anyone covering both industries has to pick.
• 2 to 6 Dec: Automechanika Shanghai (2 to 5 Dec) runs alongside Art Miami and Context Art Miami (1 to 6 Dec) and Aqua Art Miami (2 to 6 Dec).
• 4 to 6 Dec: Art Basel Miami Beach overlaps Art Miami, Context Art Miami and Aqua Art Miami. All four fall in the same week in Miami.
• 7 to 11 Dec: GITEX Global in Dubai (summit 7 Dec, expo 8 to 11 Dec) overlaps the ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting in Orlando (5 to 9 Dec) and NeurIPS, whose Atlanta satellite site runs 9 to 13 Dec. NeurIPS 2026's main venue is Sydney, 6 to 12 Dec.

December 2026 at a glance

Dates for RSNA, GITEX, Black Hat MEA, AWS re:Invent, LDI, PAX Unplugged, NeurIPS, Performance Racing Industry, Midwest Clinic and Automechanika Shanghai were checked against organiser sites in October 2026. All other dates come from TradeShowBuzz show pages, whose listings were last checked between 16 Sep and 4 Oct 2026. Confirm with the organiser before you travel.

Week by week

29 Nov to 5 Dec. RSNA runs at McCormick Place, Chicago, from 29 Nov to 3 Dec, with technical exhibits open 29 Nov to 2 Dec. AWS re:Invent follows in Las Vegas from 30 Nov to 4 Dec. In Miami, Art Miami and Context Art Miami share the Art Miami Pavilion from 1 to 6 Dec, with Aqua Art Miami on 2 to 6 Dec and Art Basel Miami Beach on 4 to 6 Dec making it the headline art-fair week. Industry options that week include The Docks Expo in Nashville, the International WorkBoat Show in New Orleans and LDI in Las Vegas (2 to 8 Dec, with the expo floor open 6 to 8 Dec). Black Hat MEA runs 1 to 3 Dec at the Riyadh Exhibition and Convention Center, Malham, for cybersecurity buyers in the region. In India, the India International Cargo Show opens at Jio World Centre, Mumbai, on 2 Dec, and EFY Expo Gujarat and the MCCIA Defence, Aerospace and Space Expo run 3 to 5 Dec. PAX Unplugged, the tabletop gaming show, runs 4 to 6 Dec in Philadelphia.

6 to 12 Dec. GITEX Global is the one to plan around. The summit day is 7 Dec at the Dubai World Trade Centre, then the expo runs 8 to 11 Dec at the Dubai Exhibition Centre, Expo City Dubai, so check which venue your pass covers. Las Vegas hosts two agriculture and water shows on 9 to 10 Dec at the convention centre (the Irrigation Show and NGWA Groundwater Week), and Phoenix holds Build Expo USA on the same days. Indianapolis holds the Performance Racing Industry Show on 10 to 12 Dec. The Indian regional fair circuit builds through the week, with Auto EV Bharat from 9 Dec and Global BuildTech Expo, EPS Energy Expo and Earthcon Expo all running 11 to 13 Dec, so the last of them finish just after this week ends.

13 to 20 Dec. Mumbai, Pune and Gandhinagar carry the week: ICERP India (14 to 16 Dec), Khadhya Khurak, Asia Coat + Ink Show and Subcontract India. In the US, the American Society for Cell Biology meets in San Diego from 12 to 16 Dec, the Midwest Clinic takes over McCormick Place on 16 to 18 Dec, and Collect-A-Con comes to Los Angeles on 19 to 20 Dec.

21 to 31 Dec. Quiet in the US and Europe. Source NXT and Intimasia run in Mumbai on 22 to 24 Dec, Tech Vapi on 23 to 25 Dec, and Rajkot hosts Agri World Expo on 25 to 27 Dec. The San Diego International Auto Show opens on 31 Dec and runs into January.

Listings that are easy to get wrong

• Two-part events. GITEX Global has a one-day summit (7 Dec) and a separate four-day expo (8 to 11 Dec) at a different venue.
• Lookalike names. Several December shows appear under more than one listing or name (Black Hat Middle East & Africa, ELECTRO INSTAL EXPO, IPF Japan, Valve World). Use the organiser's own page for dates.
• Dates that move. LDI, NeurIPS and PAX Unplugged were flagged as changed when we last checked their listings. We have since confirmed their dates with the organisers, but an organiser can still revise them, so check again before you book.
• Satellite sites. NeurIPS 2026 has its main venue in Sydney; the Atlanta dates in the table are for the satellite site.

How to choose

1. Start with the buyers you want to meet, then pick the show where they gather, not the biggest show.
2. Check overlaps in the table above before you commit two people to one week.
3. For the India fairs, look at hotel and travel costs in the host city early; December is wedding and holiday season.
4. Read our trade show ROI guide before you set a budget.

Looking ahead

The San Diego International Auto Show runs 31 Dec to 3 Jan, so the new year starts with a show already open. Browse every listing on TradeShowBuzz, and see our November 2026 hub for the shows that run just before this list.

Conclusion

The first ten days of December carry most of the month's big events, and they overlap: healthcare imaging, cloud, cybersecurity and art all peak in the same stretch. Pick your must-attend show first, check it against the overlaps above, and confirm dates with the organiser before you book travel. Use the full show directory to filter by industry and city.

Related reading

• November 2026 Trade Shows: 55+ Major Events, Dates & Planning Guide
• Trade show ROI guide