IMTS spans more than 1.2 million square feet across McCormick Place's connected buildings, so a plan saves you hours. The campus is organized into halls — the North, South, and West buildings plus Lakeside — and the show lays exhibitors out by product pavilion so you can head straight to what you need instead of wandering.
The heart of the show is the Metal Cutting pavilions (the machining centers, lathes, 5-axis and mill-turn machines), surrounded by Tooling & Workholding, Metal Forming/Fabricating/Lasers, the Automation sector, Additive, Controls & CAD-CAM, EDM, Gear, Abrasive/Finishing, and Quality Assurance.
Before you go, build a route: use the official IMTS floor plan and exhibitor directory (and the IMTS app) to pin the booths you care about, then group them by building so you're not backtracking. Our machine-type planner tells you which builders to target for each machine class.
Connect the hall route to the parking and transportation guide and the Chicago hotel and travel guide before finalizing each day.
Pick your must-see builders first (by machine type), map their booths in the official app, group by building, and wear comfortable shoes — you'll walk miles. Give yourself two days if you can; one day only covers a fraction of the floor.
Official interactive floor plan: directory.imts.com.
Official show site: imts.com · Dates: September 14–19, 2026 · Venue: McCormick Place, Chicago, Illinois.
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