Events
Over 1.2 million square feet of exhibit space, more than 2,000 exhibitors, and 90,000 visitors across six days. The International Manufacturing Technology Show fills McCormick Place from September 14 to 19, 2026, under AMT, the Association for Manufacturing Technology. Booth teams arrive early, executives land for a single day, and client dinners run late across town. Private IMTS transportation exists because that week has more moving parts than one hotel route covers.
Almost nobody expects this on a first visit. Exhibit hours differ by building, and the gap is a full hour at each end of the day.
A team split across two buildings therefore starts and finishes an hour apart. Anyone working the East hall is done while the North hall still has an hour to run.
Set the two sets of hours beside each other and consequences follow.
A meeting between a booth in the East hall and one in the North hall has a seven-hour overlap rather than eight. Only the middle of the day is common ground.
A team spread across buildings needs two collection times each morning and two each evening. One vehicle at half past eight does not serve both halves of a stand.
Badge collection sits in every building rather than at one central desk, so nobody needs a detour on arrival. Tell us the building your booth is in, and that is the gate we use.
A conference ticket carries floor admission for all six days, so a delegate booked for a single session has access all week. That lengthens visits, and lengthens the vehicle commitment with them.
Saturday shifts again. The Student Summit closes at 1:00 p.m. rather than 3:00 p.m. while the main halls run a full day, which is why departures that afternoon want a vehicle of their own.
Two smaller points. Backpacks are welcome on the floor, and baggage check runs from room S100C in the South Building and E256 in the East. Show management never provides an attendee list either, so any offer to sell one is a scam.
IMTS runs a complimentary shuttle across all six days, between McCormick Place and most official hotels. For a visitor walking the floor and returning to a room afterward, that covers it.
Exhibitors work other hours. Their people are on stand ahead of the doors opening and leave once the aisles clear, both outside shuttle times. Client dinners land later still, in River North or the West Loop.
Whoever owns the stand carries that risk. Months of budget sit in a display that only works with people in front of it. One vehicle failing on the first morning undoes much of that.
Three patterns cover most of what we run that week:
Saturday needs its own car, since the halls run on while some of your people fly out.
Most exhibitors book our private IMTS transportation for the whole six days rather than day by day. The larger vehicles are spoken for early, so the sooner we know your dates, the more choice you have.
September and October stack up here, and the wider autumn calendar puts pressure on the larger vehicles first.
At Pontarelli, we have been working Chicago convention weeks since 1977. Our chauffeurs have spent enough time on that campus to know which gate belongs to which hall. Send us your hotel, your building, and your dinner reservations at 312 361 4111 or info@pontarelliischicago.com, and we will build the week around them.
