Convention Center Floor Plan Types

A convention center accommodates a wide range of visitors based on the needs of those using it. Whether you are the center manager renting it out, or you are an event planner organizing an event for a client, youll need to decide how many people the place will hold in a variety of setups both in the big hall, divided hall and the centers break-out rooms. Consider banquet, classroom, theater-style or trade show setup when creating the floor plan for your event. Does this Spark an idea?

Full Hall

A convention center exhibit hall is basically one big room, either square or rectangular, and sometimes with smaller areas to the sides that are used for staging supplies. An entrance is usually located on each side of the big square, usually in two places along a side. This allows for entry into each section of the hall when it is divided. The full hall can easily accommodate trade show booths or very large banquets using round tables with or without a dance floor or stage. If you're hosting a popular speaker or musician with a large number of people in attendance, classroom style for the speaker (long tables with chairs, all facing the front of the room) or theater style for the speaker or musician (rows of chairs facing the front) are best. Sliding walls usually fold against each wall, or are stored in pockets inside the walls, so they can be pulled to the center to break the full hall into two, three or four smaller halls.

Divided Hall

To accommodate more than one trade show or event at any one time, or to hold more than one session or event at the same trade show or conference, sliding walls can be pulled to the center. For example, you can set up a trade show in one portion of the hall, a banquet in another (which is good to have set up throughout the event when serving more than one meal) and a live auction, rotating speeches or meeting in the other one. The same setups described for the full hall will work in any of the divided halls.

Breakout Rooms

A convention center usually has smaller meeting rooms, called breakout rooms, in which trade show or conference organizers can hold various sessions throughout their event. Each breakout room, like the exhibit halls, can accommodate a varying number of people, depending on how you set up the rooms. Based on your needs, you can use banquet style (although this wouldnt allow many people in each room), boardroom style with a U- or V-shaped setup, classroom style, theater style, or T-shaped table setup to encourage interaction with the attendees.