The US Trade Show Partner for European Exhibitors

If your company exhibits across Europe and is now taking a stand at a US show, the hardest part is not the design. It is that almost every assumption built into your European stand — the power, the labour, the measurements, the paperwork — changes the moment the show floor is in the United States. Nordic Precision Exhibits exists to absorb that difference on your behalf.

We are the American build partner for European exhibitors. Your stand is fabricated in our own 30,000 square foot facility in Orlando, the graphics are printed in-house, and a supervised crew installs it and dismantles it. You approve a free 3D rendering before anything is built, and you deal with one company and one quote instead of a broker, a builder, a printer and a labour supplier in four time zones.

Why shipping your European stand to the US usually costs more than building here

Exhibitors are often surprised by this, so it is worth being blunt. An ocean freight crossing for a mid-size stand takes weeks and has to be booked around a fixed show date that will not move. Air freight solves the time problem and creates a cost problem. On arrival, US customs entry has to be filed correctly or the stand sits in a bonded warehouse while your show opens without it. Then the crates are handled by the show's general contractor and billed by weight — inbound and outbound — regardless of how far they travelled.

Add the cost of a crew flying in, hotel nights across move-in and move-out, and the risk that a structural component damaged in an Atlantic crossing cannot be repaired in a city where you have no supplier. Against that, a stand built to your design in Orlando arrives on a local truck, is installed by people who built it, and can be repaired in our own shop during show week.

What changes when you exhibit in the United States

Electrical: 110-120V, 60Hz

US show power is 110-120V at 60Hz, not 230V at 50Hz. Lighting, screens, demo equipment and anything with a motor either needs US-specification replacements or correctly rated transformers, and transformers add weight and heat that have to be planned for. Power is ordered through the venue's electrical contractor and dropped at a specified point under the booth, which means the floor plan has to be final earlier than European exhibitors typically expect. We specify US-standard lighting and electrics in the build so this stops being your problem.

Union labour and installation

In much of the United States, who is permitted to touch what on a show floor is governed by labour agreements that vary by city, by venue and sometimes by show. There are tasks your own staff may not legally perform. Orlando is generally more flexible than Chicago or New York, but the rules still exist and they are enforced. We co-ordinate the labour and include supervised installation and dismantle in the quote.

Drayage and material handling

Drayage is the charge for moving your freight from the loading dock to your booth space and back again, billed by weight through the show's general contractor. It is one of the largest and least anticipated line items on a US show budget, and it catches European exhibitors repeatedly because there is no direct equivalent at most European fairs. Building locally reduces the weight and the distance that generate the charge.

Customs, ATA Carnets and temporary import

Product samples, demo equipment and giveaway stock crossing into the US need correct documentation. An ATA Carnet covers temporary import of professional equipment and samples for many exhibitors and avoids paying duty on goods that are going home again; consumables and giveaways generally are not covered. Getting the classification wrong delays the shipment. We cannot act as your customs broker, but we design the build so that the number of things that must cross a border is as small as possible — usually just your product.

Feet and inches, not metres

US booth space is sold in feet: 10x10, 10x20, 20x20, 20x30, 30x30, 30x40. A 3x3 metre stand is not a 10x10 — it is slightly smaller, and a stand designed to metric dimensions will not sit correctly in a US footprint. We work in both, producing drawings in metric for your team and imperial for the show floor, so nothing is lost in conversion.

Fire marshal rules, ceilings and hanging signs

Enclosed meeting rooms, ceilings over booths, second storeys and overhead signs all carry approval requirements that differ from European practice, and they need engineering drawings filed ahead of deadlines. We file them.

How we work with European exhibitors

The sequence is deliberately simple. You send us the show, the booth number, the footprint and your brand assets. We return a free 3D rendering, usually with two layout directions, so you can see the stand from the aisle before committing. Once the design is approved, fabrication happens in our Orlando shop, graphics are printed in-house through Factory of Graphics, and we handle delivery, installation, show-floor support and dismantle. You arrive at the venue and your stand is standing.

Nordic Precision Exhibits is backed by Exhibit Experience, which has been building trade show exhibits for twenty-five years and operates 30,000 square foot facilities in Orlando and Las Vegas. For a European company running a US show schedule that touches both the East Coast and the West, that is one partner rather than two.

Where we build

Our primary market is Orlando, where the Orange County Convention Center carries more than two million square feet of exhibit space across its West and North-South Buildings, and the surrounding venues at Gaylord Palms, Rosen, Hyatt Regency Orlando and the Caribe Royale run a full association calendar. Our Las Vegas facility covers the Las Vegas Convention Center, Mandalay Bay, Venetian Expo, Caesars Forum and Wynn. Between them sits a large share of the US shows a European exhibitor is likely to target first.

Frequently asked questions from European exhibitors

Is it really cheaper to build in the US than ship our existing stand?
For most mid-size stands crossing the Atlantic, yes, once freight both ways, customs handling, drayage by weight, crew travel and accommodation are counted. Send us the dimensions of your existing stand and the show you are targeting and we will give you a straight comparison.

Will our stand look the same as it does in Europe?
That is the point of the free 3D rendering. We build to your brand standards and your design intent, adapted to US footprints, US electrical and US venue rules. You see it rendered before it is fabricated.

Do we need to send anyone to the show?
Your sales team, yes. An installation crew, no — supervised I&D is included.

Can you handle multiple US shows in one year?
Yes. With facilities in Orlando and Las Vegas we store, refurbish and redeploy your property between shows rather than shipping it home and back.

What do you need from us to start?
The show name, the booth number and size, your logo and brand guidelines, and a note of anything that must be demonstrated live. That is enough for a first rendering.

Exhibiting at IAAPA? Start with our IAAPA Expo 2026 checklist for European exhibitors.

Before your first US move-in, read our guide to drayage, union labor and 110V power at the Orange County Convention Center, and see how a custom exhibit built in Orlando removes the freight problem entirely.