In this guide
This guide suits the marketing lead who has been handed a list of Lyon exhibitions and asked to turn it into a campaign plan. You are not choosing a day out. You are deciding where a stand, a demo or a meeting room earns its budget, and how the promotion and follow-up around it will run.
The ten events below span food and hospitality, environmental technology, agriculture, general trade, technology, fashion, art, gaming and light. Exhibitor counts range from 150 to 2,000. Dates run from September 2026 to April 2027, and every one of them carries an unconfirmed date status, so treat each date as provisional until its organiser states otherwise.
Each entry pairs the show with the marketing question it raises: who the audience is, what promotion tends to work, and what a lead-capture and follow-up routine needs to look like afterwards. Use it to brief your team, not to book a stand on sight.
Who Should Go to Which Lyon Show
Match the show to the buyer, not to the calendar. A foodservice brand gains little from an art fair; a lighting supplier has no reason to staff a hospitality hall. Start from the audience each exhibition lists and work backwards to your own pipeline.
- Product-led consumer brands: Lyon International Fair, Lyon Game Show, Lyon e-Sport.
- Technical and industrial sellers: Pollutec, Salon International de l’Agriculture, Lyon Tech & Digital.
- Relationship and image businesses: Lyon Fashion & Design, Lyon Art Fair.
- Hospitality and foodservice: SIRHA.
- Lighting and installation: Lyon Light Festival.
For teams with one budget line, pick two shows that share a follow-up routine. SIRHA and the Salon International de l’Agriculture, for example, both reward pre-booked meetings and technical follow-up material, so one nurture sequence can serve both with modest edits.
The Lyon Exhibition Line-Up at a Glance
| # | Event | Dates | Industry | Exhibitors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SIRHA | January 2027 (unconfirmed) | Food & Hospitality | 2,000+ |
| 2 | Pollutec | November 2026 (unconfirmed) | Environmental Technology | 2,000+ |
| 3 | Lyon International Fair | September 2026 (unconfirmed) | General Trade | 1,200+ |
| 4 | Salon International de l'Agriculture | February 2027 (unconfirmed) | Agriculture & Food | 1,000+ |
| 5 | Lyon Tech & Digital | March 2027 (unconfirmed) | Technology | 800+ |
| 6 | Lyon Fashion & Design | September 2026 (unconfirmed) | Fashion & Textiles | 500+ |
| 7 | Lyon Art Fair | October 2026 (unconfirmed) | Art & Culture | 400+ |
| 8 | Lyon Game Show | November 2026 (unconfirmed) | Gaming & Entertainment | 300+ |
| 9 | Lyon e-Sport | April 2027 (unconfirmed) | Gaming & Technology | 200+ |
| 10 | Lyon Light Festival | December 2026 (unconfirmed) | Technology | 150+ |
1. SIRHA
Food and hospitality, 2,000 exhibitors, January 2027
SIRHA is the largest field in this set by exhibitor count, and its listed names — Nestlé, Unilever, Coca-Cola, Danone, Heineken — signal a buyer audience that expects a working product story. Promotion should lead with samples, menu applications and supply terms rather than brand awareness. Plan lead capture around named contacts and purchasing authority, because a busy food hall produces many cards and few decisions. Follow-up within days, with a short product sheet and a clear next step such as a tasting or a quote.
Best for: Foodservice brands selling to chefs and buyers
2. Pollutec
Environmental technology, 2,000 exhibitors, November 2026
Pollutec carries the same 2,000-exhibitor scale as SIRHA but a different conversation. Listed names such as Veolia, Suez, Siemens and Schneider Electric point to industrial and municipal buyers weighing compliance, water, waste and energy projects. Pre-show promotion should be technical: a case study, a specification, a measurable result. Capture the project type and timeline on the stand, not just the job title. Follow-up belongs with technical colleagues who can answer engineering questions, and it should reference the specific problem the visitor described.
Best for: Cleantech and industrial sustainability sellers
3. Lyon International Fair
General trade, 1,200 exhibitors, September 2026
The Lyon International Fair is a broad general-trade gathering, with Samsung, LG, Bosch, Whirlpool and Philips among the listed names. That mix means a consumer-facing audience alongside trade visitors, so your stand message may need two versions. Promotion can lean on demonstrations and seasonal offers. Lead capture should separate retail buyers from members of the public, because the follow-up differs sharply. A simple two-track form at the stand prevents a sales team from chasing consumer enquiries while a buyer waits.
Best for: Consumer electronics and home goods brands
4. Salon International de l'Agriculture
Agriculture and food, 1,000 exhibitors, February 2027
The Salon International de l’Agriculture lists Bayer, Syngenta, BASF, Cargill and ADM, which frames an audience of growers, cooperatives and agri-food buyers. Promotion works best when it speaks to yield, compliance and seasonality rather than generic innovation. Book meetings before the event where you can, since farm and cooperative diaries fill quickly in February. On the stand, capture crop type, region and scale. Follow-up should arrive with a technical datasheet and an offer of a field visit, and it should be timed around the growing calendar rather than your CRM’s convenience.
Best for: Agri-supply and input businesses
5. Lyon Tech & Digital
Technology, 800 exhibitors, March 2027
Lyon Tech & Digital lists IBM, Oracle, SAP, Microsoft and Google, so visitors arrive with enterprise expectations and comparison habits. Pre-show promotion should offer something concrete: a demo slot, a benchmark, a workshop place. The stand needs a capture route that records the systems a visitor already runs, because that determines whether a follow-up is credible. Route leads to solution specialists quickly. A generic newsletter sign-up will waste a show where buyers are evaluating shortlists and asking hard integration questions.
Best for: B2B software and enterprise platforms
6. Lyon Fashion & Design
Fashion and textiles, 500 exhibitors, September 2026
Lyon Fashion & Design lists Chanel, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Hermès and Gucci, which sets the tone: image and craft matter as much as the sales conversation. Promotion should be visual and consistent across channels, with a clear reason to visit the stand. Capture buyers’ order windows and category interests rather than broad contact data. Follow-up should be polished and quick, with lookbook material and a proposed appointment. In this segment, a slow or generic response undoes the impression the stand worked to build.
Best for: Design-led labels and retail buyers
7. Lyon Art Fair
Art and culture, 400 exhibitors, October 2026
Lyon Art Fair lists Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, Pace Gallery, White Cube and David Zwirner, so the audience is collectors, curators and cultural partners. Marketing here is relationship work. Promotion should be invitation-led and personal, and the stand should feel like a room rather than a booth. Lead capture is light-touch: note interests, preferred contact and any follow-up invitation. Follow-up is a conversation, not a campaign, and should come from a named person. Measure success in meetings held and relationships opened, not in volume of contacts.
Best for: Galleries and cultural partnerships
8. Lyon Game Show
Gaming and entertainment, 300 exhibitors, November 2026
Lyon Game Show lists Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Ubisoft and EA, pointing to a consumer audience with high engagement and short attention. Promotion should be built around playable content, streamer partnerships and a schedule visitors can plan around. Capture registration data before the event, because queues at the stand make forms unreliable. Follow-up should respect consent and offer something worth opening, such as early access or a community invite. Track community sign-ups and demo plays alongside contact records.
Best for: Games publishers and consumer hardware
9. Lyon e-Sport
Gaming and technology, 200 exhibitors, April 2027
Lyon e-Sport is smaller, with 200 exhibitors and listed names including Razer, Logitech, Corsair, Alienware and MSI. That focus suits hardware and peripheral brands whose audience tests products hands-on. Promotion should invite trial and comparison, with clear station times. Capture player profiles and setup preferences rather than basic details, since these drive relevant offers later. Follow-up can include a product trial or community challenge. Keep the tone native to the audience and avoid corporate phrasing that reads as out of place.
Best for: Peripherals and esports hardware brands
10. Lyon Light Festival
Technology, 150 exhibitors, December 2026
Lyon Light Festival is the smallest field here at 150 exhibitors, listing Philips, Osram, GE Lighting, Urban Light and Sylvania. Its technology framing covers lighting and installation suppliers. Promotion should lean on visuals and place-making, aimed at city, venue and event buyers. Capture project context: site type, timeline, decision stage. Follow-up should include imagery and technical specifications together, because the buyer is often balancing aesthetics and engineering. December timing means planning early and confirming details with the organiser well ahead.
Best for: Lighting and urban installation suppliers
Event details reflect supplied records and have not been independently verified for this guide. Always confirm on the official event website before booking travel or stand space.
Lyon's Position for Reaching Nearby Markets
Lyon sits in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, and several of these events draw audiences with a regional and cross-border character. That matters for marketing: a message written for a Paris audience may not fit visitors who travel in from the surrounding region or from neighbouring countries.
Practical consequences are small but real. Language choices on signage and follow-up emails should reflect an international visitor mix without assuming it. Meeting slots should allow for travel time. And the follow-up sequence should not assume the contact works in the same country as your sales team. Where a show lists global brands among its exhibitors, as Pollutec and Lyon Tech & Digital do, expect visitors who compare offers across markets. Keep pricing and specification sheets ready in more than one format.
A Practical Travel and Planning Kit for Lyon Exhibitions
Treat this as a planning checklist rather than a booking service. Venue details are absent from the event data used here, so confirm logistics directly with each organiser.
| Item | Action |
|---|---|
| Dates | All ten carry unconfirmed dates; request written confirmation |
| Venue and hall | Ask the organiser for the hall plan before designing the stand |
| Build and access | Confirm build windows and access rules in writing |
| Lead capture | Test the scanning or form tool before departure |
| Follow-up | Draft the sequence before the show opens |
Build a single shared folder per event: brief, stand plan, capture form, follow-up templates, named owner. Small shows such as Lyon Light Festival and Lyon e-Sport benefit most, because a lean team cannot improvise on the day.
The Final Recommendation
Choose by audience fit and by whether you can follow up properly. If your pipeline needs volume and your product suits tasting or demonstration, SIRHA and the Lyon International Fair offer scale. If your sale is technical, Pollutec and the Salon International de l’Agriculture reward preparation and engineering-led follow-up. For brand and relationship work, Lyon Art Fair and Lyon Fashion & Design ask for restraint and polish rather than volume.
Whichever you pick, fix the follow-up owner before you commit budget. A show with 2,000 exhibitors and a show with 150 both fail if nobody answers the leads. Start with two events, confirm their dates with the organisers, and write the follow-up sequence first. The stand design can wait a week; the process cannot.
Lyon Events: Questions Marketing Teams Ask
Are the dates for these Lyon events confirmed?
No. Every event listed here carries an unconfirmed date status, from September 2026 through April 2027. Treat the months shown as provisional and ask each organiser for written confirmation before you commit budget, book stand space or set a promotion calendar around them.
Which Lyon trade show suits a small marketing team?
Smaller exhibitor fields such as Lyon Light Festival at 150 and Lyon e-Sport at 200 are easier to staff and to follow up thoroughly. A team of two or three can run a focused stand and a personal follow-up there more credibly than at a 2,000-exhibitor hall, where volume quickly outruns capacity.
How should we plan lead capture differently across these shows?
Match the form to the buying conversation. At SIRHA, capture purchasing authority and product interest. At Pollutec, record project type and timeline. At Lyon Art Fair, keep it light and personal. At Lyon Game Show, collect registration data before the event, since queues make on-stand forms unreliable.
Do these events share a venue?
The event data used for this guide does not include venue details for any of the ten. Ask each organiser directly for the hall, access rules and build windows, and do not assume two shows share a site simply because both take place in Lyon.
What is a sensible first step before committing to a Lyon exhibition?
Confirm the date and venue in writing with the organiser, then write the follow-up sequence before designing anything. Decide who owns each lead after the show. If those two things are not settled, the stand budget is premature, whatever the exhibitor count suggests.
Pick two events from this list that match your buyer, request written confirmation of dates and venue from each organiser, and draft the follow-up sequence before you approve any stand spend. That order keeps a Lyon exhibition from becoming an expensive week with no pipeline behind it.