The ENTECH Roadshow has closed out its 2026 Australian tour with record visitor numbers, a revitalised exhibitor floor, and a clear signal that the professional AV, lighting, and production industry is spending well.
Five cities. One crew. Thousands of handshakes. After rolling through Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide across the first half of the year, the ENTECH Roadshow has packed up its trucks and called 2026 a wrap, and the numbers make for very good reading.
Total visitor registrations across the five-city Australian tour reached 3,806, up 27 per cent on the 2024 event. Sydney led the charge with 1071 registered visitors (+37%), Melbourne followed with 1017 (+32%), and Brisbane continued its strong upward trajectory with 828 (+20%). Adelaide, 399 registered visitors, up 28% on its 2024 figure.
Perth rounded out the run and drew 491 visitors, a modest +3% on its 2024 figure, and a respectable result given the circumstances. But registration counts only tell part of the story. What exhibitors care about is who walks through the door, and on that measure, 2026 delivered emphatically.
Across all cities, 85 per cent of registered visitors reported some form of purchasing role: final decision-maker, specifier, or influencer. Critically, 82 per cent indicated active or near-term purchasing intent, either buying now or planning to spend within the next twelve months. Just 408 visitors identified as actively buying at show time, but a further 2,171 flagged projects in the pipeline for the coming year. For exhibitors, that’s a well-stocked order book walking around the floor.
Audio and sound remained the dominant interest category, selected by 74 per cent of all AU visitors, followed by lighting at 60 per cent and video/broadcast at 49 per cent. (Trade flagged multiple interests). Perth stood out as the tour’s most technically focused audience; visitors there led all cities in staging and rigging (43%), power and data infrastructure (38%), and education and training (31%), suggesting a production-heavy crowd that turns up with very specific things in mind.
On the exhibitor side, between 62 and 68 stands were filled, varied by local single-city buying.
The seven-person touring crew that makes the whole thing happen covered 10,563 kms across the country, managing bump-in, floor operations, and bump-out across every city, a logistical undertaking that, from the outside, looks deceptively straightforward and, from the inside, is anything but. Four Live Event Logistics trucks and up to 30 local crew were supported by 30 venue staff at each event.
The energy on the floor was purposeful, said to be ‘electric’. Conversations were less exploratory and more transactional. People were ready to buy.
The 2026 tour also marks Perth’s final appearance on the ENTECH calendar. From 2027, the Roadshow restructures as a focused three-city East Coast run, to Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, a change the organising team describes as a sharpening of focus rather than a retreat. If the 2026 numbers are any guide, the industry will follow wherever ENTECH goes.
The 2027 tour dates are: Brisbane, May 11, Sydney, May 13, and Melbourne, May 18.
ENTECH next rolls across NZ in late July.
