NACS has held an annual event since its founding in 1961. Initially called the Annual Meeting, NACS began including an Expo in 1976, and continued to do so every three years. The Expo became a permanent annual feature in 1993, and the event was rebranded as the NACS Show. In 30 years, the NACS Show Expo has grown from 171,000 net square feet to over 435,000 net square feet.

The NACS Show has a rich history in Las Vegas, with some notable highlights: 

1966: Five years after its founding, NACS held its first Annual Meeting in Las Vegas with over 700 attendees.

1975: Future U.S. President Ronald Reagan served as the opening keynote speaker for the NACS Annual Meeting.

1983: The last NACS Annual Meeting in Las Vegas that did not feature an Expo.  

1996: The first NACS Show to take place in Las Vegas after being rebranded in 1993.  

2001: Taking place just six weeks after the September 11 terrorist attacks, former U.K. Prime Minister John Major delivered a timely keynote on global issues.

2004: Attendance topped 24,000 for the first time. 

2005: The NACS Show was initially scheduled to take place in New Orleans, but as Hurricane Katrina devastated the city, the NACS Show was moved a month later to Las Vegas. 

2018: The NACS Show sets an all-time attendance record of 25,159 and a record-setting Expo of 431,800 sq. ft. 

2024: The NACS Show set two new records with 26,124 attendees and a 437,500 sq. ft. Expo.