Convention Centers in Oregon With Plans

Oregon gives trade show and expo organizers three kinds of space: the convention center and hotel halls in Portland, fairgrounds and events centers in the Willamette Valley and beyond, and smaller convention centers in Bend and on the coast. Below are Oregon convention centers, expo buildings and event venues that already have ready-made floor plans in Map D's Venue Library, grouped by area 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 an Oregon 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 314 x 200 feet is close to 63,000 square feet gross, so at that assumption it leaves roughly 28,000 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, Fairground Building or Event Center

• 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.
• Fairground or events 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 about heating and how the building handles rain at the doors.
• Hotel or conference center: 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 Mountain Passes

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. For Bend, Redmond and coast venues, exhibitors may cross mountain passes or coast range roads, so give them a move-in window with slack in it and tell them where to check road conditions. 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 and Weather

Western Oregon is wet through much of the cooler half of the year, so plan covered queues, a coat and umbrella area and mats at the doors, and expect freight to arrive in the rain. Central Oregon and the mountain passes can see snow in winter. Summer and early fall suit outdoor festivals and markets, but summer can also bring heat and wildfire smoke in some years, so have an indoor fallback and a plan for air quality alerts for any outdoor area.

Questions to Ask an Oregon 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, are the docks covered, 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 heated and cooled on our dates, including move-in days?
6. How do you handle snow, smoke or weather delays, and who decides if the event is postponed?
7. Are move-in and move-out days charged, and is there a food and beverage minimum or room block?
8. What other groups are on site on our dates, and how will docks, parking and signage be shared?

Portland Convention Venues

Portland is the usual choice for statewide and national shows in Oregon. The library has several listings for the Oregon Convention Center, drawn for different halls, so check which hall your contract names before you open a plan.

• [Oregon Convention Center](/venues/oregon-convention-center-portland/), Portland: the first drawn plan spans about 198 x 198 feet, and the venue page lists more plans for the building, so pick the one that matches your halls.
• [Oregon Convention Center A/A1](/venues/oregon-convention-center-a-a1-portland/), Portland: the drawn plan spans about 314 x 200 feet.
• [Exhibit Hall E, Oregon Convention Center](/venues/exhibit-hall-e-oregon-convention-center-portland/), Portland: the drawn plan spans about 210 x 190 feet.
• [Hyatt Regency Portland & Oregon Convention Center](/venues/hyatt-regency-portland-and-oregon-convention-center-portland/), Portland: the plan titled "Exhibit Hall D" spans about 199 x 221 feet.
• [Double Tree by Hilton, Portland](/venues/double-tree-by-hilton-portland-portland/), Portland: the drawn plan spans about 117 x 309 feet, a long shape that suits two or three rows of tabletop exhibits beside conference sessions.

Hillsboro and Washington County Event Centers

• [Westside Commons](/venues/westside-commons-hillsboro/), Hillsboro: the drawn plan spans about 259 x 188 feet.
• [Wingspan Event and Conference Center](/venues/wingspan-event-and-conference-center-hillsboro/), Hillsboro: the drawn plan spans about 261 x 190 feet. A second listing, Wingspan Event & Conference Center, has a plan of about 262 x 190 feet, so check which one matches your space.

Willamette Valley Fairgrounds and Events Centers

Fairgrounds and events centers host consumer shows, hobby and gun shows, vendor markets and regional expos that need drive-in access and simpler rules than a convention hall.

• [Oregon State Fairgrounds](/venues/oregon-state-fairgrounds-salem/), Salem: the drawn plan spans about 356 x 262 feet, and the venue page lists more plans. The library has further Oregon State Fairgrounds listings, including the Jackman Long and Columbia hall buildings (about 581 x 334 feet) and the Jackman Long Building (about 358 x 243 feet), so check which building your contract names.
• [Lane County Events Center](/venues/lane-county-events-center-eugene/), Eugene: the drawn plan spans about 138 x 226 feet, and the venue page lists a second plan.
• [Valley River Inn](/venues/valley-river-inn-eugene/), Eugene: the drawn plan spans about 145 x 98 feet, a size for a conference with a tabletop expo.
• [Douglas County Fairgrounds](/venues/douglas-county-fairgrounds-roseburg/), Roseburg: the drawn plan spans about 216 x 198 feet.

Central Oregon and Coast Venues

• [Riverhouse Convention Center](/venues/riverhouse-convention-center-bend/), Bend: the drawn plan spans about 194 x 137 feet, and the venue page lists a second plan.
• [Deschutes County Fair and Expo Center](/venues/deschutes-county-fair-and-exposition-center-redmond/), Redmond: the drawn plan spans about 135 x 171 feet.
• [Seaside Civic and Convention Center](/venues/seaside-civic-and-convention-center-seaside/), Seaside: the drawn plan spans about 260 x 194 feet, a coast option for association meetings and regional shows.
• [Clatsop County Fairgrounds](/venues/clatsop-county-fairgrounds-astoria/), Astoria: the drawn plan spans about 430 x 324 feet. Confirm with the venue which buildings and outdoor areas the plan covers.

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, coat check, 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 fairground buildings, how much it costs to rent a fairground. Planning elsewhere on the West Coast? See the companion lists of convention centers in Washington State and convention centers in California.

Common Mistakes When Picking an Oregon Venue

• Using the headline size of a building instead of the hall you will actually rent.
• Opening the wrong listing when a venue has several plans drawn for different halls or buildings.
• Leaving covered queues, mats and coat space out of a wet-season layout.
• Setting tight move-in windows for exhibitors who must cross mountain passes in winter.
• Comparing hotel space 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.