The third annual Beautiful Booth Awards at RSAC 2026 Conference delivered the most competitive field we’ve seen yet. More entrants, more categories, tighter scores, and at least three booths that stopped us mid-journey-though-the-expo-hall and made us forget where we were heading. That’s the bar, and this year’s winners cleared it with room to spare!

If there was a macro trend worth naming, it’s this: the best booths in 2026 didn’t just follow a theme… they were fully-translated visions. The theme, the product, and the experience were the same sentence, just spoken in three different languages simultaneously: 

• A diner menu that was also a product brochure. 
• A game that was also a demo. 
• A wrestling ring that was also a recovery narrative. 

The moment that you stop noticing the scaffolding and just recognize that the metaphor and the message are genuinely inseparable, that’s the moment you’ve gone from a booth on a tradeshow floor to an unforgettable, tangible experience; something more than just tables and chairs and vinyl: a pièce de résistance!

Ah...we wax poetic on how cool the booths were this year.

So, yes, what we’re saying is: the theme game was strong at RSAC 2026! 

We also noticed that the boldest design choices this year came from companies that made a decision and stuck to it. The booths that lost points with our judges were usually the ones that had a great idea and then added 3 more great ideas on top of it. Or forgot the message or point in the design.

As we always say at the Cybersecurity Marketing Society: beauty is in the eye of the boothholder (but conviction never hurts).

Things to note before you read on:

• We only judged booths that submitted. (You had to submit to win.)
• The founders of the Cybersecurity Marketing Society recused themselves from judging.
• We scrubbed exact numbers (mostly).
• Because of our rubric-based judging criteria, and just due to the awesomeness of the booths this year, there were multiple ties. We aren’t sorry.  

Judging Criteria

Our judges evaluated each booth and written submission on three key areas (10 points each):

1. Design Aesthetic: Visual appeal, creative use of space, and cohesive branding that draws attention
2. Attendee Engagement: Interactive elements, activities, and experiences that keep visitors engaged
3. Messaging: Clear communication of value proposition, balanced for technical and business audiences, zero reliance on buzzwords

If your booth wasn’t picked, please know that this year’s judging was more difficult than ever. We do have honorable mentions listed within. 

As always, remember: beauty is in the eye of the boothholder. 

But is it Beautiful to the Finance Department?

PSST! Our annual ROI of RSAC Conference survey and report (see the 2024 version here) is live! Submit anonymously here to receive the data 30 days before public access.

Small Booth (10×10) Winners

These booths packed a lot in a small space!

First Place (Tie): Brinqa

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Sometimes a single question is worth a thousand brochures. Brinqa led with “Are You Smarter Than a CISO?,” a bold, high-contrast interactive game that turned passive foot traffic into a competitive moment. The headline lived on an illuminated booth in red, white, and blue, with clean LED edge lighting making the space pop from across the aisle. But design was the wrapper; the game was the gift. People stepped up, tested themselves, debated the answers, and (crucially) brought friends back to try. Our judges noted the design was a little busy at the edges, but the appeal of the activation was undeniable. The supporting message, “Exposure is chaotic. Managing it doesn’t have to be,” kept the serious cybersecurity stakes present even when attendees were laughing at each other’s answers.

First Place (Tie): RunReveal

RunReveal had one of the most talked-about human presences at RSAC 2026: a chess grandmaster. Grandmaster Andrew Hong played over 100 five-minute blitz games against booth visitors across the four days, with pre-signup through a Luma event and live waitlists forming throughout the show. Our judges recognized the uniquely brilliant idea of having a grandmaster there that people could actually play against. The chess theme extended across a backlit booth in RunReveal’s bright brand palette, chess board design elements on the structure itself, and swag that included chess socks and “RunReveal Chess Club” shirts and pins. The connection to the product, a unified security data platform, was clean: check your threats before they check you. This was RunReveal’s first year exhibiting at RSAC, and they showed up like they’d been doing it for a decade.

Second Place (Tie): Conveyor

Conveyor built a retro arcade experience around a custom-branded Tetris game, and then made Tetris the product demo. The metaphor was airtight: blocks representing security questionnaires and SOC 2 requests piling up, with Conveyor clearing them all at once. “Don’t get crushed by security questionnaires” is a headline that lands for everyone in the building, practitioners and executives alike, and doesn’t require a glossary. A “PLAY HERE!” floor decal pulled people in before anyone waved them over, and the branded Game Boy giveaways (earned by beating the high score) created line-forming FOMO throughout the day. Our judges specifically appreciated the nice touches on the arcade theme, from the desk designs to the floor sign, and noted the customer logo slideshow on the TV display as a smart credibility signal that attendees cited as what actually drew them in from the aisle.

 (We are noticing a "game" theme here in the first 3 winners so far!)

Second Place (Tie): Strike Security

Strike Security built a plane for their booth: Aa narrow fuselage structure with a tube-like body, staff in flight crew uniforms, and seats inside where attendees could actually sit down, rest, and watch a demo while they caught their breath from the RSAC floor. Our judges noted the great use of the small space. The use of forced perspective made the booth seem much larger than 10×10. The creative spend was remarkably low (mostly tensioned fabric and some Amazon sourcing, per their submission...and we love that honesty!). Their main claim, “Offensive Security on Autopilot,” mapped directly to the experience: you sit, you relax, the pilots handle it. Creativity wins!

Third Place: Token Security

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Token Security built a beach and a spring break vibe inside a 10×10 footprint, all pulled together on a four-week timeline with a startup budget. Our judges highlighted that real plants brightened up the space, and that the beach theme was fun and well-executed from the flooring to the swag, with extra credit for pulling this together in just four weeks (italicizing again!) due to the space coming available via waitlist. Natural plants, a jute rug, green and lavender brand colors that broke hard from the sea of corporate blue and grey around them, and a team in bright Hawaiian shirts that started conversations before anyone opened their mouth. Identity-first AI security was front and center.

Medium Booth (10×20) Winners

 A little more space, but not too much!

First Place: UpGuard

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UpGuard built “Risk Invaders,” a custom two-player arcade interface designed to translate attack surface management into a tangible, competitive experience. Our judges called it fabulous: clean design where everything tied in with the theme, and really cool swag to boot. The booth used a bold orange-and-black “warning label” aesthetic grounded by natural wood flooring and live plants, which sounds like it shouldn’t work and absolutely does. Every time a player lost the game, a synced red light and siren alarm triggered… a pattern interrupt audible from neighboring aisles that drew curious spectators to see what the commotion was. That’s a free crowd-generation mechanic baked into the gameplay itself, and we are taking notes. The swag, custom Game Boys for top leads, “404 Risk Not Found” mugs, sticker sheets, and “My Passwords” notebooks, extended the visual world consistently.

Second Place (Tie): Jazz

Jazz had the most uniquely designed booth in the 10×20 category, and more than one attendee said exactly that, unprompted. Our judges cited the distinctive branding and cool activations as the defining factors. A custom Guitar Hero-style game renamed “Jazz Hero,” 50 seconds of hitting notes to jazz tracks, had lines forming throughout the show and became a social media moment in its own right. But the design wasn’t the whole story: Jazz hosted a large number of demos across the show. Their messaging, “DLP that’s in tune with your business” and “DLP Sucks, But We Have Something Different,” played directly into practitioner pain in a way that made technical buyers stop and lean in. Jazz also won the AWS-Crowdstrike-NVIDIA Startup Accelerator at RSAC 2026 - kudos to the team!

Second Place (Tie): Mesh Security

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If you walked by a booth with real trees, live moss, actual mulch, and a woodland elf, you were at Mesh Security. Our judges were emphatic: so unique! They loved the design and noted that while the interior space was tight, it definitely grabbed eyeballs and got some well-deserved buzz. 

The team brought a literal forest scene to the RSAC show floor: tree stumps, lanterns, crystals, nests, plants at multiple layers of height, and a Head of Marketing in full elf costume. The product concept, Mesh discovers real attack paths by unifying your stack across domains, exposing the “Crown Jewels” hidden in the forest, mapped to the environment with clarity (and fun).

Third Place: Doppel

Fresh off a rebrand and back-to-back Series B and C funding rounds, Doppel used RSAC 2026 as the first physical expression of their new brand, and they stuck the landing. Our judges noted that the design and messaging was clean, and the in-booth activations were really unique. The booth used intentional minimalism: curved architectural panels with integrated LED backlighting, natural wood grain elements, and a warm, bright environment that served as a deliberate counterpoint to the dark booths on either side. The “Deepfake Hotline” put attendees through live voice attack simulations involving fraudulent payroll updates and recruiter outreach; the “Phish or Fact” touchscreen quiz covered texts, emails, and landing pages. Stickers (“Gone Vibe Phishing,” “Deepfakes Wanna Be Me,” “I Brake for Deepfakes”) earned their own following. A scratch-off mechanic extended the experience to Doppel’s adjacent brewery space for prizes and aura photography.

Long Booth (10×30) Winner

One long booth to rule them all!

Winner: SpyCloud

SpyCloud marked their 10th anniversary in the business of disrupting cybercrime with a dark, matte-foundation booth with sharp illuminated green accents, backlit branding, and large-format demo screens facing high-traffic areas. The design communicated “identity threat protection” without ambiguity, and the open layout created defined zones: quick conversations up front, interactive demos along the sides, custom hat creation as a hands-on experience, and semi-private sessions with Solution Architects for deeper technical conversations. The messaging made a notable choice: in a year when every other booth was leading with AI, SpyCloud deliberately held back, focusing instead on the real identity challenges security teams face today and the decade of data behind them.

Medium Booth (20×20) Winners

20x20 means more room for activities!

First Place: Dropzone AI

Where do we even start? Dropzone AI built a 1950s retro American diner on the RSAC show floor. A fully realized, immersive environment complete with a chrome counter, red pendant lamps, black-and-white checkered floors, a scrolling LED ticker with “daily specials,” staff in full period-appropriate diner uniforms (checkered shirts, red aprons, retro hats, matching red lipstick), and Wagyu sliders on the grill. You could smell the popcorn machine before you saw the booth. That’s not a metaphor… attendees noted the scent on LinkedIn.

The execution ran 90+ creative inventory items deep: custom golden food trophies awarded throughout the day (“Beefed Up and Booked” for scheduling a demo, “Top Dog!” for completing one), a laminated diner menu that doubled as a product brochure (capabilities listed as Starters, Mains, Sides, Specials, and Desserts) and a robot named Droppert in a diner apron who greeted attendees by name and fielded questions about agentic SOC capabilities. Our judges were enthusiastic: awesome booth design, swag was on point, and it definitely got some buzz. Droppert was, by multiple accounts, the most photographed non-human entity at the show.

The founders leaned across the counter, talking to prospects. That tone, low-pressure en combined with eye-catching "wow!" factor of the booth created the kind of extended dwell time you usually only dream about: people would grab a slider, watch a live unscripted threat hunt, and stay. Then come back the next day.

The results? Thousands of badge scans, a multitude of demos, and 20,000+ social media impressions. This from a three-person marketing team competing against 54+ vendors in the AI SOC category alone. Multiple independent “best of RSAC” roundups named the AI Diner in their top five. The tagline on the menu said it perfectly: The Agentic SOC Diner. Open 24/7. No Reservations Needed.

Second Place: Alice

Alice built a Wonderland in the form of an Alice in Wonderland tea party, with upside-down furniture on the ceiling above the tea bar, teacup chairs and dice tables, a six-foot cutout of Sir Gavin (their white rabbit mascot), a find-Sir-Gavin selfie challenge, real tea served in custom branded ceramic cups, and a beautiful display shelf of ceramic mugs and playing cards as swag. The booth was designed in the round, which created the rare effect of having no “bad angle.” Our judges noted that it was so unique, with eye-catching visuals and a theme that was very consistent throughout, and they heard a ton of buzz about this brand from other attendees (possibly thanks to the upside-down furniture on the ceiling!). The product message, “Security, safety, and trust for the AI era,” connected cleanly to the theme: just as Alice’s Wonderland is full of magic and risk, so is the AI world their customers are navigating.

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Third Place (Tie): SandboxAQ

SandboxAQ brought the old West to the RSAC show floor. Our judges loved the well-executed western theme, which was pulled off really nicely with colors, textures, and Most Wanted posters all working together. Details included swinging saloon doors at the entrance, real wood finishes throughout, barrel demo stations, leather saddlebags holding collateral, and hanging lassos (not available as swag!). And, of course, the most cowboy detail of all: cold brew on tap at a central bar. The central game, “Night Watch,” put attendees in the role of threat hunter, actively identifying cryptographic dangers on a map, serving as both a hands-on demo driver and a natural conversation starter without forcing a pitch. The tagline “Outlaws hate visibility” raised a question, named the enemy, and made the product’s purpose immediately legible, all in three words. Yeehaw!

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Third Place (Tie): imper.ai

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Here’s a booth that made an abstract threat feel visceral before anyone said a word. imper.ai built their entire 20×20 around a single, extremely well-executed metaphor: wolves in sheep’s clothing. Our judges highlighted that the fluffy texture (simulating sheep's wool) throughout the booth really stood out, and that the booth layout was excellent. Giant fluffy sheep-silhouette framed the backlit LED screens inside, a ceiling ring of wolf/sheep silhouettes prowled overhead, and fluffy white ottomans composed the theatre seating. A live mentalist performed continuously on the show floor; his entire act was tied explicitly to the product message: if a skilled illusionist can make you believe something false is real, imagine what a sophisticated insider threat or North Korean IT worker can do inside your organization.

Big Booth (20×30) Winners

These big booths had plenty of space but needed to not overwhelm.

First Place (Tie): Broadcom

Broadcom’s “Legends Never Die” tour returned for its second year, this time with a main stage announcement: the launch of Symantec CBX, a unified cloud-based XDR platform merging the R&D lineages of Symantec and Carbon Black for the first time. Our judges called it a fantastic concept with great swag, and the photo booth activation tied in perfectly with the theme. The booth was built around one story only, which prevented product portfolio sprawl and competing CTAs. Details included a custom oversized amp at the center, an AI-powered photo booth that let attendees create personalized album covers themed around CBX (the judges’ favorite: “All the Single Agents,” Beyoncé edition), and industry analyst and author Allie Mellen signed copies of her new book Code War at the booth, drawing significant crowds. The specific, resonant hero of the messaging: the under-resourced security team, named explicitly and spoken to directly. Result: 32% increase in booth traffic over 2025, plus many, many demos!

First Place (Tie): MIND

MIND flew attendees business class. Literally, architecturally, in a full airplane fuselage structure with windows, rivets, overhead bins, and a lavatory door, staffed by “MINDAir flight crew” brand ambassadors who issued boarding passes, offered beverages from galley carts, and personally invited visitors to their business-class seats for a demo. Our judges noted that every single touch-point was well thought-out and fit into the theme, that the humorous moments throughout were a highlight, and that it was amazing what they accomplished within the allotted space. A split-flap display personalized content with visitor names in real time. The “swaggage claim” conveyor belt drew visitors deeper into the space with branded swag including “Mind your juice” battery backups, Tide pens, aviator sunglasses, and flight wings pins. Personalized laser-etched luggage tags were one of the takeaways. The product message, “Stress-Free DLP,” landed with zero turbulence.

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Second Place (Tie): Vanta

Vanta’s “Calm-pliance” campaign was already running on billboards, SFO placements, city buses, and social media before anyone set foot in Moscone. Our judges appreciated that the messaging wasn’t crowded, you could instantly tell what their company does, and the swag and colors were very cute and inviting. The booth delivered on the campaign promise physically: ASMR-inspired activations including a bubble pop wall, a paper shredder for dramatically disposing of faux compliance paperwork, and an interactive harp. Signage like “Show your audit who’s CISO” and “Make audits your beach” met people emotionally before anyone launched into a demo. The Calm-pliance concept, built in-house, was one of the most fully integrated booth-to-campaign executions we saw this year.

Side note: The Breaking Through in Cybersecurity Marketing podcast interviewed Scott Holden about the campaign ahead of RSAC: Listen on Spotify.

Second Place (Tie): Vega

Vega made people feel the weight of the old world before showing them the path to the new one. Our judges noted that every aspect was branded and consistent, with a cute, fun theme featuring unique colors and characters… overall a really engaging booth! Visitors entered an interactive game simulating the legacy SecOps experience: mounting pressure, cascading alerts, fragmented data. Then they won. And the booth opened into something else entirely: white and gold, open space, daisies, four dedicated demo stations, a live harpist at the entrance. A branded Volkswagen van had been making its way through downtown San Francisco each morning handing flowers to attendees. Custom mini Lego kits of SAM, Vega’s mascot, went home with attendees and kept showing up in photos days after the conference. In an industry that runs on fear, showing up with daisies and a harpist is itself a statement!

Third Place (Tie): BeyondTrust

BeyondTrust’s retro-futurism aesthetic was immediately recognizable: a dynamic orange-to-white gradient, curved architectural elements, and a 98” screen with motion-driven content. Our judges noted that the art was very cool and the colors really stood out: it was eye-catching, exactly how a booth should be! Inside, “Mission Control” demo stations offered both high-level and technical conversations, and a five-question Identity Security Persona Quiz invited attendees to discover their role (Mission Leader, Expedition Advocate, Signal Decoder, Atmosphere Guardian), a personalization mechanic that generated peer-to-peer engagement while people compared results. Swag: Owala water bottles, astronaut rubber ducks, holographic stickers, and “rocket fuel” energy drinks. “Secure Every Identity, Everywhere (and beyond)” delivered the message in six words.

Third Place (Tie): Cyera

Cyera has been wowing our judges since 2025, and they’re returning as a top contender for a reason. Our judges called out the beautiful colors, the nice plushies, and the unique seating in the theater area. This year marked the full debut of their new brand on the show floor: bold lilacs and purple haze, splashes of signature lime, immersive LED lighting that made the space glow, and their now-signature floating vessel hovering above the booth… an evolution of last year’s universe installation. Eight fully staffed demo stations were consistently at capacity. The launch of signature 12-inch vessel plushies, mystery box giveaways, and mochi donuts added genuine delight. The tagline “Secure the Unknown” landed because the glowing environment made visibility literal.

Massive Booth (30×30 and above) Winners

 So much room! With great space comes great responsibility.

First Place: Commvault

The ResOps Rumble. That’s going to be the thing people remember from the Massive category at RSAC 2026, and honestly, from the whole show. Commvault built a full-scale professional wrestling ring in the center of their 30×30 footprint, with a ring announcer in a magenta suit, performers in character, scheduled bouts throughout the day, and standing-room-only crowds at peak programming. Our judges didn’t think RSAC had ever had a full-on wrestling ring in a booth before. Commvault really had fun with this theme, and it got a TON of buzz from attendees. An oversized LED jumbotron suspended above read “ResOps Rumble” in lettering visible from over 100 feet away. The purple and magenta palette ran consistently from the jumbotron to the ring ropes to staff attire. Messaging, “Unified We Recover. Siloed We Fall.” and “When Chaos Hits, Unified Resilience Hits Harder,” was plain, declarative, and stuck. The group that gathered to watch the matches was its own crowd-generation engine. Championship belts, referee jerseys on staff, themed giveaways. The wrestling ring wasn’t layered on top of a booth or just a piece of it. It was the booth.

Second Place: Reco

Reco declared AI as the antagonist with the bold message “Attack of the AI Sprawl” ...and then built a Hollywood movie premiere around it! Our judges cited lots of well-deserved buzz and a solid concept from start to finish that made great use of the space. Complete with a glowing marquee, red carpet entrance, ticket booth, concessions stand, and a cast of characters: RatGPT (ChatGPT), Geminasty (Gemini), Co-Pyro (Microsoft Copilot), and Ragentforce (Salesforce Agentforce). Four heroes, Seeker, Wrangler, Keymaster, and Bloodhound, mapped directly to Reco’s four use cases. An AI photobooth transformed attendees into their hero character. A flash mob performed “Attack of the AI Sprawl” live on the floor. The movie theme made a genuine product problem (83% of organizations can’t inventory their AI agents) feel urgent...and memorable.

Third Place: Torq

Last year it was GraveDigger. This year it was “Skelly,” a 55-foot inflatable skeleton towering above the Torq footprint, visible from every aisle on the floor. Our judges noted that while it’s tough to top Grave Digger, the gigantic skeleton blowup was awesome, and free Torq tattoos were also brilliant. Torq also featured Trevor From Torq, who worked the crowd with skits and energy throughout the conference, alongside Skelly animations, animated videos, and a tattoo booth where hundreds of attendees got the aforementioned real (and temporary) Torq tattoos. Lines wrapped around the booth daily. More than 1,000 people followed their LinkedIn page during the conference. Kudos to Torq’s creative team, which built the entire design system in-house. We’re not sure Skelly is something you can top next year. But we said the same thing about GraveDigger, so we look forward to what 2027 brings to the Torq booth!

Other Category Winners

While no Early Stage Expo booths submitted this year (what can we say, founders are busy!), there were a smattering of other categories that did! 

Best Non-Booth Winner: Maze

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Maze didn’t have a booth; their booth was the city of San Francisco. They flew a banner plane over Moscone reading “Maze: THIS IS OUR BOOTH,” wrapped custom kids’ BMX bikes with training wheels in Maze brand teal and black, and printed a physical newspaper edition of The Exploit, their satirical cybersecurity publication, with a front-page headline that read: “Judge Sentences CISO and CEO to 8 Hours on RSA Expo Floor as Punishment for Security Breach.” 

Team members rode the training-wheel bikes through the streets handing out copies like newsies. They ran a Google Ad targeting “Maze RSA” that said “See the plane? Click to see what Maze does,” converting sky-views into site visits in real time. Our judges called it brilliant. There was a ton of buzz about this, and Maze wasn’t even on the show floor. The judges did not expect to be giving an award to a plane and a bike rather than a booth. But they submitted to the Beautiful Booth Awards, so here we are.

Best Pavilion Booth: iT.eam

iT.eam, operating within the NL Pavilion, made a strong case for “thoughtful design within a compact footprint” with a high-contrast black-and-white aesthetic, a striking human-to-digital hand interaction as the visual centerpiece, and a program of 15-20 minute Insight Sessions with partners including IBM, Darktrace, and Scythe. Clear “people-driven security. real-world experience” messaging with no jargon to decode.

Honorable Mentions

The competition was deep this year. Every booth below either narrowly missed a podium spot or brought something specific our judges couldn’t stop talking about, organized by category. But we wanted to include them so you could oooh and ahhh over their beautiful booths as well!

Small (10×10)

Sunstates Security

Our judges noted that the hangdown ceiling signage was a genuinely smart move: it helped the booth stand out from a distance in a section where most competitors are fighting for eye level. Combined with a custom claw machine and seven Business Development Managers staffed from across the country, Sunstates turned a 10×10 into a surprisingly high-dwell destination.

Valence Security

Bold LED display, cohesive branding, and an “AI Agent Rush” BlazePod activation that made the challenge of securing AI agent sprawl into a fast-paced physical experience.

Akto.io

The dolphin-and-ocean color palette (vibrant yellow, deep purple, ocean blue) was genuinely pretty and broke from cybersecurity convention. Our judges found the booth design itself fairly standard (hey, we're not knocking that! If it ain't broke don't fix it), but the illustrated mascots and clear “Secure AI Agents and MCPs with Atlas and Argus” messaging showed solid brand coherence!

Medium (10×20)

Forescout

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Our judges called out the iris photography activation as one of the more creative theme-to-product alignments in the category: “See Everything. Take Control” isn’t just a tagline when attendees are literally getting their irises photographed. The stickiness mechanic was clever. The five-minute wait for a printed portrait meant guests had spa water, lounge seating, and a 73” video screen to occupy them while a sales conversation unfolded naturally. The adhesive eyeball giveaways, lens cleaning wipes, and Black-Eyed Susan seeds were all perfectly on-theme.

Sygnia

Our judges felt the whiskey lounge-inspired booth design was warm, inviting, and genuinely made them want to sit and stay a while (which, on a trade show floor at hour six, is no small feat). “True cybercrime stories from the trenches” as the engagement mechanic leaned into Sygnia’s actual differentiator rather than inventing a theme. 

Hack The Box

Our judges loved the neon entry area, which really drew in the eyes from across the aisle, and noted that the in-booth CTF activities aligned perfectly with what Hack The Box actually does. The red-exterior/blue-interior wall representing the duality of offensive and defensive security was a design detail worth calling out. The daily reset mechanic and challenge coin reward were smart engagement engineering.

HackerOne

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Our judges appreciated the signature pink uplighting that created a true beacon effect rising above neighboring booths. The build-it-yourself Lego Minifig activation was a tactile, approachable entry point that sparked organic conversation, and let’s face it… everyone loves Legos. The AI-powered photo experience added a shareable, branded layer.

MazeBolt

Our judges noted excellent use of color and lighting, and highlighted that the caution tape was an effective grab-your-attention device. The highway signage concept translated DDoS visibility into an intuitive road metaphor, and the arcade game, players identifying attack vectors against the clock, made a technical concept competitive and accessible.

Nucleus Security

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Our judges recognized the smart use of backlit orange lighting as a differentiator on a floor dominated by blues and reds. The Tunnel to Towers fundraising activation stood out as a genuinely purposeful engagement mechanic: answering an exposure management question and dropping a token into a jar triggered a $5 donation per interaction. More booths should try this.

Harness

Our judges said it simply: cute stuffies! The canary mascot landed well, and the custom slot machine was a clean execution of a familiar traffic-driver mechanic. Three demo stations organized by product pillar (AI Security, WAAP, AST) gave the booth a logical internal structure

Netwrix

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Our judges appreciated the calming blue-and-green color palette and good (also cool looking!) seating. The magician-to-presenter-to-demo flow strategy was well-engineered, and the 20-minute average dwell time reflects a booth that was doing its job dwell.

Medium (20×20)

Noma Security

Our judges thought the Noma Security booth was a solid concept that really popped with the flooring and layout. The floor-to-ceiling wall of branded orange pizza boxes, the diner seating, the neon-lit marquee, and the “Place Your Order” capability menu board were all individually strong, and the fact that 1,000 pizza boxes were distributed as swag(!!!) is a marketing mechanic worth studying! Noma came very close to a podium spot in a stacked category.

Optro
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Our judges found the Optro Space Station theme very cool, with activations and collateral that were engaging and tied in well to the brand. The citron brand color made the booth genuinely visible, the Space Invaders-style “Risk Universe Run” game gave visitors something to do, and a separate activation in the conference lobby created an additional touchpoint before attendees hit the show floor. The “CISO’s Guide to the Galaxy” pamphlet was a clever in-theme leave-behind.

N-able

Our judges noted the Resilience City theme was really well-executed across the board, from the flooring to the design, the activations, and the swag. The turf flooring, stadium-inspired graphics, jersey-style lineup storytelling, and the overhead tower and circular hanging sign all locked into the same narrative without breaking character.

Keyfactor

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Our judges appreciated the bold colors and strong use of lighting, and noted that the concept of cracking open the “black box” of cryptography was one of the more intellectually satisfying booth metaphors of the show. The three-part comic book series on machine identities, 47-day TLS cert lifespans, and quantum-safe cryptography was a smash hit by their account, and the SDRs walking the floor with transparent stadium belt bags full of cryptographic assets generated organic conversations all day.

Hyperproof

Our judges liked the HyperQUEST art style and called out the flooring as a standout design choice. The isometric landscape graphics gave the booth genuine visual depth, and the velvet-accented meeting space was a smart comfort play. We all really want to go on a HyperQUEST now!

Arctic Wolf

Big, bold, bright and beautiful! Our judges highlighted the custom sneaker and leather tattoo activations as genuinely memorable… the kind of personalized experiences that make people  come back with colleagues. The dynamic color-shifting lighting from blue to orange triggered before each in-booth theater session was a clever crowd-signal mechanic.

Intezer

APTeddy was very cute (and made it easy to approach the booth), and the Tetris game tied cleanly to the booth’s square-tile aesthetic. The “AI SOC for Enterprise” headline was commendably direct.

DataStealth

Our judges thought the big claw machine was cool, and a pickleball-themed claw mechanic is genuinely unexpected for a data security company. The live platform UI running on all four screens simultaneously was a smart choice that immediately signaled “this is a working product.” We love to see a growing Canadian startup showing up punching above their weight class!

Legion Security

So close to a podium spot! One of our judges had an observation that is also the highest compliment: all hail the dragon!! The medieval castle theme with a suspended dragon overhead as the high-elevation anchor was genuinely show-stopping and cross-aisle visible. The visual was unforgettable.

Big (20×30)

Stellar Cyber‍

Our judges heard a lot of attendees talking about the baby strollers. The “Baby AI Stroller Parking Lot,” physical props parked under the headline “Tired of seeing AI in its infancy?,” generated genuine floor buzz and communicated Stellar Cyber’s competitive positioning (our AI is more mature than theirs) in a way that was funny, visual, and instantly understood. The team reported their best booth traffic ever at RSAC. That tracks!

Expel

Our judges noticed the bright colors and excellent use of light and space. The booth seemed genuinely spacious in a category that often feels crowded. The industrial criss-cross cable structure as a visual reference to transparency (and a nod to Expel’s updated X logo) was a design decision that rewarded attention. The “Security Realist” voice in the booth signage (direct, no FUD, no buzzwords) was a distinct editorial choice in a category that often defaults to the opposite.

OX Security

Our judges loved the swag: the character-driven “OX Box” blind boxes featuring Codey, Claud, Defeni, Vibo, and Clarity were SO CUTE. The OX Box branding was strong and visible from the outside.

Massive (30×30 and above)

Illumio

Our judges noted bright and bold colors, commended Illumio for using exactly the right amount of orange, and highlighted the ceiling-hanger structural elements as genuine attention-grabbers from a distance. The tagline “Breaches are inevitable, but disasters are optional” was one of the cleaner lines of the Massive category, immediately understandable, no jargon, resonant for executives and practitioners alike. Restraint as a design philosophy is hard to pull off at 30×30+ scale.

Teramind

Our judges appreciated the solid concept and great use of color and metallic elements in the space exploration theme. The “Ask Timmy” demo pods gave visitors a direct, low-friction entry into behavioral analytics conversations, and the astronaut-themed photo wall with Timmy the AI Copilot mascot turned the booth into a social destination. Managing 30×60 of footprint cohesively is its own challenge, and they nailed it.

Looking Ahead & What's Next

Congratulations to every company that submitted to the 2026 Beautiful Booth Awards! The quality of entries this year raised the bar for what “beautiful” means in this context, and reminded us that creativity, commitment, and clarity of message are advantages that don’t scale with budget, but with intention.

The Beautiful Booth Awards will return for RSAC 2027. Stay tuned for expanded categories, additional judging voices from the cybersecurity community (maybe including commentary), and more opportunities to share booth best practices throughout the year.

What's the ROI of RSAC?

Just in the pictures shown above, you can see multiple millions of dollars in booth sponsorship, design, and build spend. This is a fraction of the 600+ vendors who exhibit each year at RSAC. And, every year, vendors, founders, investors, and event organizers ask: What is the ROI of sponsoring RSAC Conference?

This year, we're re-launching our comprehensive RSAC ROI survey and accompanying report. Submit here anonymously to get the data 30 days in advance of public access.

To participate in next year’s Beautiful Booth Awards, sign up for the Cybersecurity Marketing Society newsletter for updates and announcements.