Salon SME (ex Salon des Micro-Entreprises) · 2026

Agoris analysis · updated October 2026

Key takeaways

• Salon SME, formerly Salon des micro-entreprises, is the annual gathering for the self-employed, freelancers, founders and managers of micro-businesses. It is organised by en Personne expo (chaired by Alain Bosetti), the company that also runs Silver Economy Expo and the Salon des services à la personne et de l'emploi à domicile.
• 2026 edition: Tuesday 13 and Wednesday 14 October 2026 at the Palais des Congrès de Paris, level 3. Free admission with prior online registration.
• Announced format for 2026: 100 exhibitors, 500 entrepreneurship experts and 100 free-access conferences and workshops.
• Created in 1999 under the name Salon des micro-entreprises, renamed Salon SME in 2016 for its 18th edition (sources: economie.gouv.fr, lejournaldeleco.fr).
• A compact, content-driven trade show: the value lies in the conferences, masterclasses and meetings with experts more than in the exhibition floor space.

Who exhibits

Typical profile

Banks and professional neobanks, financing and microcredit, insurance and social protection, management software, accounting and invoicing, AI solutions, telecoms and web hosting, accountancy and legal expertise, franchise networks, support and training bodies, and institutional players in business creation.

Notable exhibitors

The exhibitor list is available on the official website: salonsme.com/espace-exposants/exposants-secteurs.html. Among the exhibitors at the 2025 edition: Bpifrance, CIC, Crédit Mutuel, Hello bank! Pro, MAIF, Agipi (AXA), Orange Pro, La Poste Pro, Indy, Tiime, EBP, SumUp, Hostinger, as well as the institutional players France Travail, Urssaf, Adie, France Active and France Num.

Quality of attendees

• Attendees are project leaders and managers of micro-businesses with 0 to 20 employees: freelancers, independent consultants, slashers, solopreneurs, business founders and franchise candidates.
• The trade show draws on a vast market: more than one million businesses created per year in France since 2021, including 1,111,200 in 2024, a record (source: insee.fr).
• Franchise candidates can meet networks in active recruitment, complementing a specialist trade show such as Franchise Expo Paris.

Activities & community

Conference programme

The 2026 edition announces 100 free-access conferences and workshops, led by 500 entrepreneurship experts.

In 2025, the programme already featured around a hundred conferences and workshops spread across five rooms over two days (source: journaldunet.com): from idea to project, women's entrepreneurship, starting a business after 50, freelancing, AI applied to small businesses, visibility on LinkedIn and social media, financing, choosing a franchise, B2B selling. Formats on offer: Masterclass, Freelance Talks, Speed Business Meetings and Meet-up.

Awards and recognition

The trade show hosts the presentation of the Trophées des Tribus: in 2025, the trophies were awarded by the show's partners (Alibaba.com, Be a Boss, CCI Paris Île-de-France, JPG becoming Mondoffice, Moze and Le Salon SME) as part of the Grand Rendez-vous des Tribus, which combines a conference, Speed Business Meetings and a networking aperitif.

Community and networks

The organiser en Personne expo also runs a virtual events platform (en Personne Virtual) and the communications agency en Personne 360.

On the press side, the trade show maintains a press area with studies and infographics on entrepreneurship, and offers visitors free professional press content to download on site.

On site: what you need to know

Access, parking and accommodation: see the listing for the Palais des Congrès de Paris.

Specific to the trade show:

• Opening hours: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on both days.
• Level: the trade show occupies level 3 of the Palais des Congrès; allow around fifteen minutes between arriving at Porte Maillot and reaching the show entrance.
• Visitor badge: free with online registration, a personalised badge sent by email in September. No badge printing on site: you must download it before you come.
• Cloakroom: on level 3, with a charge (€3), for coats and helmets.

How much it costs to exhibit

Stand prices are not published on the official website. Request the exhibitor pack from the organiser: contact@salonsme.com.

Preparing your visit

For the exhibitor

A typical timeline observed for the 2025 edition, for guidance only:

• 12 to 6 months before: request the pack from en Personne expo and choose a location, as the number of stands is limited (around a hundred exhibitors).
• Early September: declaration of service providers, validation of fit-out plans and safety certificate.
• Mid-September: submission of signage files and completion of the extranet form to appear on the show's printed materials.
• Late September: ordering of furniture.
• The day before opening: build-up.

For the decision-maker visitor

• Free online registration at salonsme.com; a personalised badge received by email in September, to be downloaded before you come.
• One day is enough to walk the stands; allow both days to attend several masterclasses in a row and take part in the Speed Business Meetings.
• Check the conference schedule in advance: five rooms run in parallel.

The trade show's evolution

Trajectory analysis

Created in 1999, ten years before the auto-entrepreneur scheme, Salon SME has accompanied the entire rise of the freelance economy and weathered Covid by switching 100% online in 2020 (22nd edition). The 2016 renaming, from Salon des micro-entreprises to Salon SME, clarified the target audience: the self-employed, founders and managers of micro-businesses with 0 to 20 employees. The current format remains deliberately compact: around a hundred exhibitors on a single level of the Palais des Congrès, with the centre of gravity firmly on content (500 experts, 100 conferences and workshops). For a provider of services to micro-businesses, the promise is direct contact with project leaders and young managers, not a mass-market trade show.

Unless otherwise stated, all factual data in this listing comes from the organiser's official website (salonsme.com).