With several convention centers, including a new ultramodern downtown facility, Miami is an attractive gathering place for large or small groups. Generous hotel space and a warm climate, coupled with a diverse range of available leisure activities, make the city an ideal spot for business mixed with pleasure.
The Miami Convention Center is located on the Miami River in the heart of the business and financial district. One of the most advanced meeting, educational, sports, and entertainment complexes in the southeast, it offers 70,000 square feet of space for exhibits, shops, and restaurants, and its main convention floor can accommodate 5,000 people. The Hyatt Regency Miami is adjacent to the center, and also offers convention facilities. The 5,000-seat James L. Knight International Center can accommodate many types of events, and Riverfront Hall adds 28,000 square feet of space to the Convention Center. A scenic promenade leads from the center to Bayside Marketplace.
The Miami Beach Convention Center, which spans four city blocks and sits adjacent to the Jackie Gleason Theatre, offers 500,000 square feet of gross exhibition space and 70 meeting rooms. Promoted as the nation's only African American majority-owned convention hotel, the Royal Palm Crowne Plaza Resort features two 15-story oceanfront buildings within walking distance of the Miami Beach Convention Center. Ten minutes from downtown Miami, the unique Coconut Grove Exhibition Center, once a navy hangar, offers up to 150,000 square feet of contiguous space, which can subdivide into five halls ranging from 7,000 to 50,000 square feet apiece. Located on Biscayne Bay, it is within walking distance of the center of the village of Coconut Grove and Sailboat Bay and Kennedy Park. The Radisson Mart Plaza Hotel & Convention Center is ranked as the largest hotel exhibit space in the region. It offers more than 24,000 square feet of meeting space, with another 115,500 square feet available in the adjoining Radisson Centre.
For groups ranging in size from 20 to 1,350 people, other downtown meeting sites can be found in numerous hotels. Some resort hotels located in Miami offer meeting facilities along with a variety of activities, including health clubs and water sports; similarly, some resort hotels located in nearby Coconut Grove, Key Biscayne, and Coral Gables also accommodate large and small meeting groups. Miami Beach, too, offers a number of hotels with meeting facilities, of which the best known are the Fontainebleau, the Eden Roc, and the Doral, popular for decades as tourist resorts.
Convention Information: Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, 701 Brickell Ave., Ste. 2700, Miami, FL 33131; telephone (305)539-3000; toll-free (800)933-8448; email convservices@gmcvb.com