Boston: Convention Facilities

Boston is a popular meeting site for groups of all kinds and sizes. Completed in 2004, the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center has 516,000 square feet of contiguous exhibit space, 82 meeting rooms, and a 40,000 square foot ballroom. Built on the South Boston waterfront, it is minutes from Logan Airport. Another major venue is the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center, encompassing more than 289,000 square feet of meeting, exhibition and banquet space. Five exhibit halls and 37 meeting rooms can host large conventions or several small conventions simultaneously. Thirteen major hotels are located within walking distance of the center, which is in Boston's Back Bay area, convenient to shopping and other amenities.

World Trade Center Boston offers a ground-floor Main Hall measuring 120,000 square feet; on that floor are theater seating for 5,000 participants and classroom and banquet seating for 3,000 diners. Located on Commonwealth Pier, it opened in January 1986, for the purpose of furthering international trade among and economic development of all the New England states.

Unique meeting and reception sites in Boston include the facilities of a Victorian mansion, a lounge, a ballroom-style entertainment complex, and a rock dance club among many others. The metropolitan area supports about 45,000 hotel rooms; 17,000 of them are in Boston and Cambridge. Suburban to Boston are the meeting and exhibition facilities of the Royal Plaza Trade Center, which contains 43,000 square feet of exhibit space and the Bayside Expo Center, which offers 240,000 square feet of exhibit space and 17,000 square feet of additional meeting room space.

Convention Information: Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau, Two Copley Place, Suite 105, Boston, MA 02116-6501; toll-free (888)SEE-BOSTON; fax (617)424-7664. Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, 415 Summer Street, Boston, MA 02210; telephone (617)954-2000; fax (617)954-2299