A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typically offer sufficient floor area to accommodate several thousand attendees. Very large venues, suitable for major trade shows, are sometimes known as exhibition halls. Convention centers typically have at least one auditorium and may also contain concert halls, lecture halls, meeting rooms, and conference rooms. Some large resort area hotels include a convention center.
In Francophone countries, the term is palais des congrès (such as the Palais des Congrès de Paris) or centre des congrès (such as the Centre des congrès de Quebec).
Contents
Types
Meeting facilities with lodging: hotels that include their own convention space in addition to accommodation and other related facilities, known as convention hotels.
Meeting facilities without lodging: are convention centers that do not include accommodation; usually located adjacent to or near a hotel(s).
Other: any convention and meeting facilities designed to hold large numbers of people. Can exist alone (e.g., stadiums, arenas, parks, etc.) or within other structures (e.g., university lecture halls, museums, theaters). Usually do not include accommodation.
History
The original convention centers or halls were in castles and palaces. Originally a hall in a castle would be designed to allow a large group of lords, knights and government officials to attend important meetings with the king. A more ancient tradition would have the king or lord decide disputes among his people. These administrative actions would be done in the great hall and would exhibit the wisdom of the king as judge to the general populace.
One of the most famous convention center debacles happened in France on June 20, 1789. King Louis XVI locked a group known as the Third Estate out of the meeting hall in Versailles. This led to the revolutionary group holding their meeting in an indoor tennis court. This was the first modern democratic conference center and led to the Tennis Court Oath and the French Revolution.
Some historic centers
19th-century exhibition halls
1850 Bingley Hall (destroyed by fire in 1984), Birmingham, England
1851 The Crystal Palace (destroyed by fire in 1936), London, England
1855 Palais de l'Industrie (dismantled in 1897), Paris, France
1873 Alexandra Palace, London, England
1876 Memorial Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
1878 Exhibition Place, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
1878 La Rural, Buenos Aires, Argentina
1878 Music Hall, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
1879 Garden Palace (destroyed by fire in 1882), Sydney, Australia
1880 Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, Australia
1898 Aberdeen Pavilion, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
1898–1903 Beurs van Berlage, Amsterdam, Netherlands
20th-century exhibition halls
1900 Grand Palais, Paris, France
1909 Festhalle, Frankfurt, Germany
1923 Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, Paris, France
1935 Brussels Expo, Brussels, Belgium
1958 Square – Brussels Convention Centre, Brussels, Belgium
1958 Centre of New Industries and Technologies, Paris, France
1959 Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
1960 McCormick Place, Chicago, Illinois, United States
1971 Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles, California, United States
1974 Kenyatta International Convention Centre, Nairobi, Kenya
1975 Helsinki Fair Centre, Helsinki, Finland
1976 Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
1976 Philippine International Convention Center, Pasay, Philippines
1977 Riocentro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1979 Internationales Congress Centrum, Berlin, Germany
1981 BMO Centre, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
1981 Moscone Center, San Francisco, California, United States
21st-century exhibition halls
2000 Excel London, London, England
2001 Bethlehem Convention Palace, Bethlehem
2001 Busan Exhibition and Convention Center, Busan, South Korea
2003 Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Washington, D.C., United States
2004 Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre, Gold Coast, Australia
2007 SMX Convention Center Manila, Pasay, Philippines
2008 China National Convention Center, Beijing, China
2008 BT Convention Centre, Liverpool, England
2008 Raleigh Convention Center, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States
2008 Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center, Taipei, Taiwan
2009 Vancouver Convention Centre, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
2012 Convention Center Poet Ronaldo Cunha Lima, João Pessoa, Brazil
2014 Kaohsiung Exhibition Center, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
2015 Iloilo Convention Center, Iloilo, Philippines
2016 International Convention Centre Sydney, Sydney, Australia
2017 AU Convention Center, Visakhapatnam, India