Convention Centers in Louisiana Guide

Louisiana gives trade show and expo organizers three kinds of space: the large convention halls in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, an exposition center in Gonzales between the two cities, and hotel and casino ballrooms that suit conferences with an expo attached. Below are Louisiana convention centers and event venues that already have ready-made floor plans in Map D's Venue Library, grouped by city and linked to their venue pages so you can open a plan and start your booth layout. First, here is how to choose the right one for a trade show, expo, festival or market.

Dimensions in this article come from the plans drawn in Map D's Venue Library, not from official venue specifications, so confirm every measurement, column, door and utility location with the venue before you sell a single booth.

How to Choose a Louisiana Venue for a Trade Show or Expo

The right venue fits your booth count, your exhibitors' freight and your attendees' travel at a cost the show can carry. Work through these points before you shortlist, and keep notes per venue so you compare the same things.

1. Size the Show Before You Tour

Count the booths you expect to sell by size, then add aisles, registration, food, a stage or demo area, lounges and storage. A planning assumption many organizers use is that booths take a little under half of the gross hall area once those are added, but your ratio depends on the layout and the fire marshal's rules. As a rough example, a plan of about 265 x 335 feet is close to 89,000 square feet gross, so at that assumption it leaves roughly 40,000 square feet for booths before you subtract columns. Run your own numbers with the exhibit hall size calculator, which turns a booth mix into the space you need.

2. Convention Hall, Exposition Center or Ballroom

• Convention center hall: Concrete floors, high ceilings, docks and utility access. Best for large booths, heavy equipment, boats, vehicles and shows where a contractor handles freight.
• Exposition center building: Often a large open floor with drive-in doors, which suits consumer expos, home and garden shows, gun and hobby shows, craft markets and equipment displays. Ask whether the building is air-conditioned on your dates.
• Hotel or casino ballroom: Carpeted, with airwalls, lower ceilings, a food and beverage minimum and often a room block. Suits association meetings and conferences with a tabletop or sponsor expo attached.

3. Load-In, Freight and Contractors

Ask how freight reaches the hall, whether docks or drive-in doors serve your space, how long the move-in window is and where exhibitor trucks and trailers wait. Downtown New Orleans venues share streets with hotels, tourists and parades, so ask about marshaling yards, truck routes and any street closures on your dates. Large halls usually work with a general service contractor for freight, carpet and furnishings; our list of questions to ask a general service contractor helps you compare bids.

4. Power, Internet and Utilities

Find out where floor ports, utility boxes or power drops sit, which services are exclusive to the venue and how exhibitors order power and internet. Mark the power locations on your plan before you number booths, because exhibitors who need power will ask for booths near it, and the venue will charge for long runs.

5. Aisle Widths, Columns and Fire Code

Columns, exits, airwall tracks and fire equipment decide where booths can go. Mark them on the plan first, check your trade show aisle widths, and review the fire marshal floor plan requirements before you submit the layout. If the hall has a column grid, our guide on how to plan booths around columns shows ways to turn them into usable booth corners.

6. Season, Heat and Hurricanes

Louisiana summers are hot and humid, and the Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30. Many organizers favor the cooler months for events with outdoor registration, food trucks or overflow space. If your dates fall in hurricane season, plan for it in the contract and in your exhibitor terms: who decides to postpone, how much notice exhibitors get and what happens to booth payments. In New Orleans, also check the city's festival and Carnival calendar, because big public events can push up hotel rates and fill the streets around downtown venues.

Questions to Ask a Louisiana Venue Before You Sign

Use this short list on site visits, and see our full list of questions to ask an event venue for contract terms and costs.

1. What are the exact usable dimensions of the space we would rent, and can you send a current CAD or PDF plan?
2. Where are the columns, exits, airwalls, utility ports and fire equipment, and which areas must stay clear?
3. How does freight reach the room, where do trucks wait, and how long are the move-in and move-out windows?
4. Which services are exclusive to the venue (electrical, internet, food, cleaning, security), and what do they cost?
5. Is the space air-conditioned on our dates, including move-in days?
6. What happens to our contract if a hurricane or a storm closure cancels or moves our dates?
7. Are move-in and move-out days charged, and is there a food and beverage minimum or room block?
8. What other groups or city events are on our dates, and how will docks, parking and signage be shared?

New Orleans Convention Venues

New Orleans is the usual choice for national and regional shows in Louisiana, with a riverfront convention center and large hotel ballrooms nearby. The library has several listings for the convention center, so check which hall or room your contract names before you open a plan.

• [Ernest N. Morial Convention Center](/venues/ernest-n-morial-convention-center-new-orleans/), New Orleans: the drawn plan spans about 340 x 478 feet. The venue page lists more plans for the building, so pick the one that matches the halls you rent.
• A second listing for the same building, [Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Halls H, I, and J](/venues/ermest-n-morial-convention-center-new-orleans/), has a plan titled "Halls H, I, and J" of about 1,028 x 538 feet, which covers several halls together. Trim the canvas to the space you will actually use.
• [Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Meeting Rooms](/venues/ernest-n-morial-convention-center-meeting-new-orleans/), New Orleans: the plan titled "Rooms C1-C2" spans about 290 x 91 feet, a long, shallow space for a poster session, sponsor showcase or tabletop expo next to the main hall.
• [Hilton Riverside, Grand Ballroom](/venues/hilton-riverside-grand-ballroom-new-orleans/), New Orleans: the drawn plan spans about 361 x 278 feet. The library also has the Hilton New Orleans Riverside Grand Salon (about 307 x 183 feet) and other Hilton Riverside listings, so check which room your contract names.
• [Hyatt Regency New Orleans](/venues/hyatt-regency-new-orleans-new-orleans/), New Orleans: the drawn plan spans about 149 x 203 feet. A separate listing, Hyatt Regency, L3, Storyville Hall, has a plan of about 181 x 207 feet.
• [Marriott New Orleans, Grand Ballroom](/venues/marriott-new-orleans-grand-ballroom-new-orleans/), New Orleans: the drawn plan spans about 117 x 268 feet, a long shape that suits two or three rows of tabletop exhibits.
• [Sheraton New Orleans Hotel, Napoleon Room](/venues/sheraton-new-orleans-hotel-napoleon-room-new-orleans/), New Orleans: the drawn plan spans about 196 x 260 feet.
• Smaller New Orleans plans include Westin Canal Place (about 179 x 106 feet), The Westin New Orleans (about 146 x 118 feet) and Astor Crowne Plaza Ballroom D (about 52 x 72 feet), sizes for a sponsor lounge or small tabletop expo.

Baton Rouge and Gonzales Venues

Baton Rouge and the Gonzales area between Baton Rouge and New Orleans host state association meetings, consumer shows and regional expos that may not need a downtown New Orleans hall.

• [Raising Cane's River Center, Exhibition Hall](/venues/raising-cane-s-river-center-exhibition-hall-baton-rouge/), Baton Rouge: the drawn plan spans about 265 x 335 feet. The library has two more listings for Raising Cane's River Center, with plans of about 392 x 241 feet and about 328 x 420 feet, so pick the one that matches your space.
• [Lamar Dixon Exposition Center, Trademart Building](/venues/lamar-dixon-exposition-center-trademart-building-gonzales/), Gonzales: the drawn plan spans about 138 x 181 feet, a size for a consumer show, craft market or hobby show with vendor rows.
• [L'Auberge Casino & Hotel](/venues/l-auberge-casino-and-hotel-baton-rouge/), Baton Rouge: the drawn plan spans about 239 x 236 feet. A separate listing has a ballroom foyer plan of about 196 x 68 feet, useful for registration or sponsor tables.

How to Start a Layout From a Venue Library Plan

Starting from a drawn plan saves the hours it takes to trace a hall from a PDF. Each venue page in the Map D venue directory shows the plans drawn for that building, their dimensions in feet and a preview.

1. Open the venue in the directory and choose the plan closest to the space you will actually rent.
2. Select Use This Floor Plan Free and create a free account; the plan opens in the editor as your canvas.
3. Check the drawing against the venue's current plan and fix walls, columns, doors and service areas.
4. Block out registration, food, lounges, stages, exits and fire equipment clearances before adding booths.
5. Lay booths and aisles in standard sizes and number them in a logical order.
6. Price booths by size and location, mark sponsor and premium spots and hold booths for returning exhibitors.
7. Send the layout to the venue and the fire marshal for review before you open booth sales.

Once the layout is approved, exhibition management software keeps one version of the map that exhibitors, staff and attendees all work from, with booth sales on the same plan. For costs, see how much it costs to rent a convention center and, for hotel events, how much it costs to rent a hotel ballroom. Planning elsewhere in the South? See the companion lists of convention centers in Texas and convention centers in Tennessee.

Common Mistakes When Picking a Louisiana Venue

• Using the headline size of a building instead of the hall you will actually rent.
• Assuming the drawn plan matches the room today without asking the venue for a current plan.
• Booking hurricane-season dates without clear postponement terms for the venue and for exhibitors.
• Missing a city festival or parade on your dates that fills hotels and closes streets near the venue.
• Comparing ballroom rental to convention center rent without adding food and beverage minimums and service charges.
• Selling booths before the fire marshal has reviewed the layout.

Where Map D Fits

Map D is floor plan and booth sales software for organizers. You open a venue plan, then add booths, aisles, sponsor areas and labels in the editor. When the layout is ready, a paid plan lets you publish an interactive map, share it with exhibitors and sell booths online, with no Map D transaction fees on booth sales. Map D does not book venues, quote rates or replace the venue's official plan, so keep the venue and the fire marshal in the loop on every revision. To see it with your own show, request a demo or build a free floor plan.