Austin Convention Center – Overview

Everything’s bigger in Texas, including convention centers. As the capital of the Lone Star State, it’s fitting that Austin is home to one of the largest convention centers in Texas, the Neal Kocurek Memorial Austin Convention Center. This state-of-the-art facility spans over six city blocks in the heart of Austin, surrounded by hotels, restaurants, attractions, and more.

The construction of the Austin Convention Center took place between 1989 and 1992. It was built because civic leaders were concerned that Austin was considered unfit as a site for major conventions because the city’s primary event facility, Palmer Auditorium, was too small. Now the Austin Convention Center provides its namesake city with nearly 250,000 square feet of exhibit space, along with ballrooms, meeting rooms, and more. Read on for a detailed overview of the world-class Austin Convention Center, along with helpful tips and interesting tidbits of trivia.

Overview

881,400 gross square feet: Encompassing more than 880,000 square feet, the Austin Convention Center is more than well-equipped to host major events attended by thousands of people. One of these events is South by Southwest, an internationally renowned series of conferences and festivals that takes place in Austin for a little over a week every March. It is also the home of the Texas Rollergirls roller derby league, as well as the former home of the Austin Toros basketball team. The Austin Convention Center was not always this big however. Its first incarnation was only 441,000 square feet. From 1999 to 2002, the facility underwent an expansion aimed at doubling its size. This expansion provided the Austin Convention Center with an additional 440,400 square feet, bringing its total square footage to a staggering 881,400.
247,052 square feet of exhibit space: The Austin Convention Center features 247,052 square feet of column-free exhibit space. This space is divided amongst five contiguous exhibit halls, which range from 32,640 to 79,525 square feet. These exhibit halls are state-of-the-art, equipped with amenities like full wireless internet connectivity capable of moving voice, video, and data at a rate of one billion bits per second.
Two ballrooms: In addition to its five exhibit halls, the Austin Convention Center also features two large ballrooms. The smaller of the two ballrooms encompasses 23,000 square feet of space. The other ballroom is one of the largest in Texas at an impressive 40,510 square feet.
54 meeting rooms: Not every gathering needs to be held in a 79,000-square-foot exhibit hall or 40,000-square-foot ballroom. For smaller get-togethers, such as business meetings and breakout sessions, the Austin Convention Center features 54 meeting rooms. Three are located on the first floor of the facility and the rest are located on the third and fourth floors.
Two parking garages: There’s plenty of parking space for everyone at the Austin Convention Center. The facility features two parking garages, which combined offer a total of approximately 1,685 parking spots. This way attendees don’t have to drive around in circles searching for a place to park.
Amenities: As impressive of a facility as the Austin Convention Center is, it’s its many amenities that truly make it stand out. These amenities include complimentary Wi-Fi, a café, a business center, a gift shop, scooter rental, and shipping services. The Austin Convention Center also features a flight board that displays the status of flights departing from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in real time, as well as a flight check-in kiosk. Both of these traveler-friendly amenities are located right next to the Business Center on the first floor.

Tips

Have a map handy. Being that the Austin Convention Center is such a large facility, it’s quite easy to get lost as you make your way around. That goes double for first-time visitors. To avoid any confusion, grab a map of the facility when you first arrive. That way you can spend less time stressing about finding your way around and more time enjoying your visit to one of the finest convention centers Texas has to offer.
Wear warm clothing. The day-to-day weather in Austin can be summed up in one word: sweltering. To combat this, they like to keep things pretty chilly inside the Austin Convention Center. That’s why it’s a good idea to bring a warm article of clothing that can be put on and taken off as needed, such as a light jacket or sweatshirt. Just make sure you remember to take it off before going back outside!
Wear comfortable shoes. Another article of clothing that’s a must-have for travelers attending an event at the Austin Convention Center is a pair of comfortable walking shoes. After all, aching feet are the last thing you’ll want to be dealing with when you have to spend most of the day standing up and walking around.
Bring a portable charger. Some past attendees have noted that it can be difficult to find electrical outlets for when they need to charge their phone. Avoid this hassle entirely and just bring your own portable charger. That way you won’t have to worry about finding an outlet and can charge your phone while you’re on the go.
Bring a refillable water bottle. If you need to buy bottled water at the Austin Convention Center, be prepared to pay $4 or more. A cheaper alternative would be to bring a refillable water bottle with you, which you can then fill up using the many water fountains located throughout the facility.
Escalators are concentrated along the Trinity Street side of the facility. If you know you’re going to need to head up to the second, third, or fourth floor of the Austin Convention Center, enter the building through the entrance on Trinity Street. Doing so will save you time and energy since you won’t have to walk as far to reach the escalators than if you came in through a different entrance.
Admire some artwork. The Austin Convention Center doubles as something of an art museum, showcasing a variety of pieces from talented local artists. Several pieces were commissioned as part of the City of Austin’s Art in Public Places Program while others were acquired by the Austin Convention Center Department. Two of the most eye-catching works of art displayed at the Austin Convention Center are Tau Ceti, a stunning mural located in the 2nd Street Parking Garage, and Confabulating Orbits, an installation in the first floor stairwell located by the intersection of Trinity and East Cesar Chavez Street.

Trivia

The Austin Convention Center has hosted South by Southwest since 1993. Austin and South by Southwest go hand in hand, so it’s only fitting that the city’s primary convention center serves as the home base for the famed conglomerate of festivals and conferences. The first incarnation of South by Southwest took place in 1987. It moved to the Austin Convention Center six years later in 1993 and has been held there ever since.
The Austin Convention Center is a LEED Gold-certified facility. Going green is a big deal at the Austin Convention Center. That’s why in 2011, the facility was awarded LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED, which stands for “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design,” is the most widely used green building rating system in the world. It evaluates a building’s environmental footprint in terms of resource consumption, waste management practices, and overall operational efficiency; three areas that the Austin Convention Center certainly excels in. Some of the convention center’s environmentally friendly practices include diverting 2,200 tons of waste from landfills over the past four years and recycling 205,000 pounds of old carpet. The facility is also powered by 100% renewable energy from Austin Energy’s Green Choice Program.