How Pointr Made NRF’s Big Show an Even Bigger Deal

What’s NRF’s Big Show?

NRF Retail’s Big Show is the premier US retail event and flagship event of the National Retail Federation which has had great success since its inaugural show in 1911. Each year, more than 40,000 attendees and 1,000 exhibitors come to the Javits Center in New York City with keynote speakers such as Tommy Hilfiger, Alex Rodriguez and Tracee Ellis Ross. NRF Retail’s Big Show welcomes retailers, tech companies, and service providers that can enhance the retail space. Spanning over 3.3 million square feet, the Javits Center in New York City is one of the busiest convention centers in the United States. 

NRF was facing a few very unique challenges they wanted to overcome. The size of the Javits Center in combination with the incredibly high number of attendees and exhibitors, made it obvious that finding an innovative maps and wayfinding provider was the perfect solution to add value for exhibitors and make the event more manageable for attendees.

Before finding Pointr, NRF had a floorplan technology for exhibitors to select their booth but had no luck with finding the right provider for user-friendly attendee maps that would work seamlessly across multiple channels (in-app, app-free, kiosk experience). 

Pointr’s Solution

In 2024, NRF and Pointr started their collaboration to enhance the experience for attendees and exhibitors alike. Pointr was introduced as the official maps & wayfinding partner of Retail’s Big Show to put the power of navigation into attendees' pockets. Pointr has continued their partnership in 2025, expanding Pointr’s reach with maps & wayfinding integrated into NRF’s Event app and into the 12 digital kiosks on-site.

With an event the size of NRF, indoor maps are crucial to support the attendee experience. Between exhibitor information, theater schedules and amenities, there is an immense amount of information that everyone involved needs to have a successful event. Having an efficient and effective mapping tool as a resource makes it easier for all parties by:

• Adding value to the exhibitor experience 
• Making it easier for attendees to have all the information they need 
• Alleviating staff responsibility to fill in the gaps 

When picking their official maps & wayfinding provider, NRF looked to Pointr to fulfill three priorities: generate buzz, elevate attendee experience, and increase exhibitor value. 

Pointr provided NRF with a seamless maps & wayfinding experience from start to finish:

• Interactive, Customized, 2D-3D Maps were created from just a CAD File 
  
  
• Pointr provided instant, app-free access to the map via smartphone with QR Codes, URLs or NFC Tags for all attendees across the event 
• Pointr’s maps were integrated into NRF’s event app via Grip and in the 12 Big Digital kiosks across the event
• Usage and Search Analytics were tracked and available in real-time so NRF could see the most popular Points of Interest, what people are searching for, and what searches are failing 
  
  
• Pointr Cloud CMS was available for the NRF Staff to make any last-minute changes or updates before or during the show with ease (for instance by adding new keywords to make unsuccessful searches successful or by correcting errors with the map or exhibitor data)
• All Point of Interest (POI) metadata was sucked in via API. With Rich Point of Interest data, NRF was able to showcase exhibitor information such as photos, descriptions, links, and contact information into their NRF profile for attendees to be able to look at when they are exploring the map  

Pointr’s maps were a huge success with NRF and event attendees alike. The interactive and user-friendly maps allowed attendees to navigate from their smartphones with static wayfinding. After tapping environment-friendly NFC cards to their phones or when scanning a QR code, maps would pop up and users could input their starting point and generate a path with directions to their destination. Attendees were very pleased with this technology. 

With the help of Pointr Cloud CMS, NRF had little work on their end to make sure their maps were up-to-date, accurate, and automatically maintained. All booth data was automatically pulled in via API from the NRF database and updated to keep up with last-minute changes in the weeks and days leading up to the show. 

Pointr also enabled an analytics dashboard to provide NRF with more information regarding map interactions. Usage analytics provided session information and search analytics went in-depth on what were the most searched Point of Interests, what searches failed, etc. These analytics were available in real-time, enabling NRF with the opportunity to respond during the show to problems and make last-minute changes. This was crucial as feedback from the analytics did not have to wait until the next show to be implemented, and could immediately enhance the experience. 

Pointr also provided exhibitors with the opportunity to receive QR codes customized with their branding and preprogrammed to open pathfinding directions to their booth, to be distributed across their channels ahead of the show. They were able to use these as a way to promote their presence at the event and draw visitors to their booth. By giving exhibitors the option to receive custom QR codes and include meeting links and other detailed information in their booth POI data, maps were able to be leveraged as a digital merchandising tool for exhibitors and not just a navigation tool for attendees. 

Success

With over 36,000 unique sessions, 11,000 total unique devices and 355 new users daily, Pointr’s official NRF Retail’s Big Show maps had great success. NRF and Pointr both received great feedback on how valuable the maps were to Retail’s Big Show and people were extremely excited about the technology. NRF was so thrilled with the success of Pointr maps, that we now have a multi-year partnership to continue being their Retail’s Big Show official maps and wayfinding provider.