Trade shows, conferences and business events in the US: how European companies use them to win customers

A European company entering the United States faces a simple problem of scale. Your future customers are spread across a continent, four time zones and fifty sets of state rules. Cold emails go unanswered and flights add up. Trade shows and industry conferences solve part of that problem: for three days the buyers, distributors, journalists and competitors of your industry gather under one roof. We have watched clients find their first distributor at a booth in Las Vegas and their first investor at a breakfast in Austin.

Why events carry so much weight here

American business runs on relationships as much as European business does, but the relationships start faster and the distances are longer. A purchasing manager in Ohio will rarely fly to meet an unknown supplier from Lyon or Bologna. She will, however, walk past your booth at the show she attends every year anyway, and she expects to see you there if you are serious about her market.

Being present signals commitment. Many American buyers have seen European suppliers test the market for a season and disappear. A booth, repeated year after year, tells them you are here to stay. That is also why we tell clients to plan events as a programme over two or three years.

Events also compress your learning. In one walk through the hall you see your competitors' pricing, packaging, claims and staffing, and you hear which distributors are looking for new lines. For a company still deciding between an agent, a distributor or a subsidiary, that is valuable research; our guide to US sales channels explains those options.

Which kind of event fits your stage

A good example of the third type is the SelectUSA Investment Summit, run by the U.S. Department of Commerce. The 2026 edition took place in National Harbor, Maryland, in May, with more than 5,500 attendees, including over 2,700 international business leaders and over 1,100 US economic developers. The Department lists the next summit for 2 to 5 May 2027, again in National Harbor. For a European company comparing states, few events put so many state agencies in one place.

Before you book a booth, we recommend you attend a show once as a visitor. Ask the organiser for the audited attendee profile, study the exhibitor list, and walk the floor on the second day, when the real buyers are there. Then decide.

The visa side: what ESTA and B-1 allow

Attending events is a classic business-visitor activity. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services lists "traveling for a scientific, educational, professional or business convention, or a conference on specific dates" among the activities of a B-1 visitor, together with consulting with business associates and negotiating contracts. Citizens of Visa Waiver Program countries, which include most of Europe, usually travel for these purposes on an ESTA; our guide to business trips on ESTA explains the limits.

The State Department's Foreign Affairs Manual adds two details that matter for exhibitors:

• A business visitor may engage in commercial transactions that do not involve gainful employment in the US, and the manual gives the example of a merchant who takes orders for goods manufactured abroad (9 FAM 402.2-5(B)).
• Employees of foreign exhibitors at international fairs or expositions are ordinarily classified B-1 (9 FAM 402.2-5(E)(7)). Employees of a US exhibitor or employer are not eligible for B-1 status on that basis.

The line to watch is productive work for a US company. If your new US subsidiary is the exhibitor and pays your staff, or if you hire Americans to staff the booth, the picture changes, and US hires bring payroll obligations. Bring a short letter describing the event and your role, and our business trip checklist.

Getting your samples and display goods through customs

Exhibits, demonstration machines and samples are imports, and US Customs and Border Protection treats them that way. Two tools help:

The ATA Carnet

An ATA Carnet is an international customs document that lets a business take goods temporarily into participating countries without paying duties or import taxes, while guaranteeing those duties if the goods are not re-exported. CBP lists three categories: commercial samples, professional equipment, and exhibitions and fairs. For the US, CBP specifically confirms temporary importation of commercial samples, professional equipment and certain advertising materials by a nonresident. A carnet is valid for one year with unlimited entries and exits. Carnets are issued in each participating country by a national association approved by its government and by the World Chambers Federation of the International Chamber of Commerce, so you apply at home before you ship; in the US the guaranteeing association is the United States Council for International Business.

A carnet does not cover consumables such as giveaways, food and disposables, or merchandise intended for sale. CBP defines a sample as an article imported to take orders for similar merchandise.

Trade fair entry

For fairs designated by the Secretary of Commerce, CBP offers a separate trade fair entry (entry type 24, 19 CFR Part 147) under which exhibition goods enter free of duty and most other taxes and fees, except the harbor maintenance fee. Ask the organiser whether the event is designated.

Anything you will sell or give away goes through a normal entry, with duty and current tariffs. Our page on US tariffs on imports from Europe covers the rates.

Selling at the booth: sales tax and state taxes

Europeans are often surprised that a three-day show can create state tax obligations. Texas is a clear example. The Texas Comptroller's publication on fairs, festivals, markets and shows says a seller needs a Texas sales and use tax permit if it sells taxable items, takes orders for them, or uses the event to promote selling them. Sellers from outside Texas are engaged in business in Texas at such events, even when they operate only temporarily. The permit costs nothing, but operating without one can bring a penalty, and promoters must collect tax on sales by sellers who have no permit.

Texas also offers relief on the franchise tax side: an entity whose only business in Texas is soliciting orders at fairs and trade shows, that visits no more than five times in its accounting year, with each visit lasting no more than 120 consecutive hours, may qualify for an exemption.

Other states have their own rules for show vendors, so check the state of each event before you ship stock. Once your US sales grow, the broader rules on sales tax nexus take over.

What your budget can deduct

If your US company pays for the event, US federal tax rules decide what it may deduct. IRS Publication 463 sets out the main points:

• Convention travel is deductible if attendance benefits your trade or business. Travel costs for your family are not.
• A convention outside the North American area is deductible only if it is directly related to your business and it is as reasonable to hold it there as within North America. Luxury water travel, such as a cruise, has a daily limit of twice the highest federal per diem rate.
• Business meals are generally 50% deductible. Food and drinks you distribute free to the general public as advertising, such as coffee and snacks at an open booth, are not subject to the 50% limit.
• Entertainment, such as taking a client to a sporting event or a nightclub, is generally not deductible at all.
• Business gifts are deductible up to $25 per recipient per year. Widely distributed items costing $4 or less with your name permanently imprinted, such as pens, do not count toward that limit, nor do signs and display racks for the recipient's premises.

The booth fee, stand construction, shipping of display material and printed matter are ordinary business expenses. In your home country, separate rules apply if the European parent pays; keep the invoices clearly allocated between the two companies.

Working the show: a timeline that works

1. Six to nine months before: book the space, decide who goes, apply for the carnet, check the state tax rules, prepare US-format price lists in dollars and US units.
2. Three months before: book meetings in advance. American buyers fill their calendars early, and a pre-arranged fifteen minutes is worth more than a hundred passers-by.
3. At the show: stand, do not sit. Qualify visitors quickly and note on each lead what was discussed and promised.
4. Within three business days after: follow up personally with every qualified lead. Speed impresses here; a reply three weeks later signals a company that will be slow as a supplier too.
5. Within a month: add contacts to your marketing only within the rules of US email law, and plan your remarketing to show visitors.

Small cultural points matter at the booth: firm handshakes, first names, a short clear pitch, and business cards or a scannable code ready. Our guide to US business etiquette covers the rest.

Hosting your own event

Once you have a team in the US, your own customer day, product launch or dinner can do more than a booth in a crowded hall. A few practical points from our experience:

• Pick a city your customers can reach in one flight. Austin, Dallas, Atlanta and Chicago are well connected hubs.
• Read the venue contract carefully: minimum food and drink spend, cancellation terms, insurance requirements and who serves alcohol.
• Ask your insurer whether your general liability policy covers events off your premises.
• Send invitations six to eight weeks ahead and a reminder a week before; American calendars move fast.
• Keep speeches short and the networking long. Guests come to meet each other as much as to hear you.

Events open doors. A company structure that can sign contracts, invoice in dollars and employ people walks through them.