When it comes to business, you can’t beat “The City That Works.” Chicago offers unparalleled meeting facilities, diverse hotels, world-class shopping, exciting nightlife, and impressive attractions that offer a unique blend of big-city entertainment with state-of-the-art meeting capabilities.
Chicago is always changing and improving to better meet the needs of convention and trade show organizers and their attendees. Not only is Chicago more accessible, it continues to diversify its offerings and flexibility to host conventions and meetings of any size.
Chicago has ranked as the most visited U.S. destination for business travelers for the past several years. More than 12 million business travelers visited Chicago in 2007.
What’s new with Chicago’s convention industry?
McCormick Place West, which opned in 2007, has added more than 700,000 sqaure feet to the nation's number one convention center.
The West Building offers:
- 1 exhibit hall (470,000 square feet)
- 61 meeting rooms
- Chicago's largest ballroom at 100,000 square feet
Although McCormick Place is the country's preeminent convention and trade show facility, it continues to provide improvements for its customers including the newly opened busway between the convention center and downtown. By allowing charter buses for convention and trade shows to bypass local traffic, this two-lane, 2.5 mile road decreses travel time and busing costs.
The entire McCormick Place complex is linked by two enclosed pedestrian promenades (Grand Concourse connecting South, North and Lakeside; and the Central Concourse connecting South and West) containing retail shops and other visitor amenities.
McCormick Place is the only venue in the world that provides a permanent 1 Gbps connection to Internet 2. No other destination can provide the necessary “big pipes” to accommodate it. At McCormick Place, you can access Internet 2 everywhere – exhibit floors, meeting rooms and the conference center. The permanent network allows for the highest level of connectivity, data transfer and speed. Other McCormick Place services and amenities include the installation of 62 automated defibrillators throughout the building.
The Chicago Department of Aviation and the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority have installed a flight information display system (FIDS) at McCormick Place. The new display mirrors flight information monitors at airports and assists visitors traveling to O'Hare and Midway International Airports. The FIDS unit is located in the McCormick Place Grand Concourse, above the main entrance near Gate 4, located at S. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive and E. 23rd Drive.
Business travelers attending an event at McCormick Place now have access to Baggage Airline Guest Services (BAGS), a seamless baggage service between the convention center and their post-show travel destination. The program allows travelers to check into their flight and receive their boarding pass for a $10 fee-all while they are still at McCormick Place.
McCormick Place has recently partnered with Chicago-based Open Doors Organization and Scootaround Inc., a leading mobility solutions provider. Meeting planners have access to Scootaround's "Total Mobility Management" solution-a comprehensive list of services including scooter and wheelchair rentals and assistive staffing and attendee shuttling for all types of meeting and conventions.
Located in a spectacular downtown setting on Lake Michigan, Navy Pier is a unique and stunning location for meetings and exhibitions. Navy Pier offers: 70,000+ square feet of exhibit space, 60-foot vaulted ceilings and enhanced exhibit areas, 44,000+ square feet of meeting rooms (divisible into as many as 36 separate meeting areas) and a 8,150 square-foot Grand Ballroom.
The CCTB recently received many accolades. For the fourth consecutive year, the CCTB was honored with the prestigious 2005 Gold Service Elite award by readers of Meetings and Conventions magazine as one of the five "best of the best" CVB's in the country. In addition, readers of EXPO magazine voted the CCTB as Best Convention and Visitors Bureau and McCormick Place as Best Convention Center “Supplier of the Year” awards. The CCTB was also recognized in Trade Show Executive magazines with a “Spotlight on Innovation” award for its DataChicago II program.
The CCTB offers a lead generation program for trade show customers hoping to increase exhibitor or attendee levels. DataChicago II generates attendee or exhibitor prospect lists using SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) codes, as well as other desired characteristics such as location, number of employees, or sales revenue.
Chicago’s "We're Glad You’re Here!" ® program - a special recognition program for convention and trade show attendees - continues to enhance the Chicago convention experience. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley was honored by the Convention Industry Council for his continued involvement and support of Chicago’s convention and trade show industry, namely his involvement with the “We’re Glad You’re Here!” program.
The Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau is the premier sales and marketing organization that promotes Chicago's world-class assets to global leisure travel and convention business to ensure economic vitality of the City and its member business community.