New Orleans is unusual among major convention cities in that one building does most of the work. The Ernest N. Morial Convention Center handles the overwhelming majority of trade shows and conventions that come here, which makes planning considerably more predictable than in cities where a dozen halls compete.
But "most" is not "all," and the venues that are not the Morial behave nothing like it. An exhibit designed for a ground-level contiguous exhibit hall does not simply relocate into an arena or a hotel ballroom. This page covers what actually changes.
The Morial is over a million square feet of contiguous exhibit space across twelve halls, and it is one of the largest single-floor convention facilities in the country. The word that matters there is single-floor.
Everything is at grade. Freight comes in through ground-level docks directly onto the exhibit floor — no elevators, no lifts, no crate-size limits imposed by a service lift, no long hauls between levels. Install runs faster here than at multi-level venues and material handling is more straightforward. If you have exhibited at a venue where freight moved by elevator to an upper hall, the difference will be obvious.
The halls run in a long line rather than a block, which affects traffic. Attendees move linearly through the building, so your position along that line matters more than it would in a square hall. Corner and cross-aisle positions near hall entrances see disproportionate traffic.
Ceiling and rigging. Ceiling heights support standard island structures and hanging signs comfortably. Rigging is available with organizer approval and engineered drawings. Available rigging points and permitted loads vary by hall and by exact location on the floor, so if your booth carries a hanging sign or a two-story structure, confirm the specific hall before the design is finalized.
Height rules. Standard show regulations apply — inline booths capped at eight feet on the back wall with three-foot side rails, islands permitted substantially higher with the limit set by the show. Fire clearance, aisle-line compliance and covered-ceiling rules are enforced. We prepare and submit the drawing package for approval as part of the rental.
Freight and target times. Move-in runs on assigned target arrival windows. Freight that arrives outside its window waits while your install crew stands idle, and the work compresses into overtime hours. We plan the target time from the start of the project and route the shipment to hit it.
General contractor. Freeman, GES and Shepard all work this building depending on the show. Each has its own exhibitor kit, its own forms and its own advance-order deadlines. We work with all three and we order against the advance rate.
The Superdome hosts large-scale events and conventions that include exhibition components, and it is a fundamentally different environment from a convention hall.
Load-in is stadium-style. Access routes, floor protection requirements and staging areas are dictated by the event rather than by a standard exhibitor kit, and they change from event to event. Floor loading limits apply in ways they do not on a purpose-built exhibit floor. Rigging capability is event-specific and frequently restricted.
Practically: booths here need to be designed for a defined load-in path and a compressed install window, and they need to stand on their own without assuming a hanging element will be permitted. Confirm every constraint with us before design begins — assumptions carried over from the Morial do not transfer.
The Smoothie King Center hosts mid-size conferences and events with exhibit floors, typically on the arena floor and concourse.
Load-in is arena-style through a limited number of access points, which constrains crate dimensions and install sequencing. Exhibits need to break down into components that fit the access route. Ceiling and rigging capability over the arena floor differ from a convention hall and are event-dependent.
The upside is scale: exhibit floors here are smaller, which means less competition for attention and a higher chance that every attendee walks past your booth.
The Hyatt Regency New Orleans, Sheraton New Orleans, New Orleans Marriott, Hilton New Orleans Riverside and the Higgins Hotel all host association meetings, corporate events and smaller exhibitions in ballroom and meeting-room space.
These are finished environments, not warehouse halls. That changes several things at once. The build standard is higher because the surrounding finishes are already premium — a booth that reads as industrial on a concrete floor looks wrong on ballroom carpet. Floor protection is usually required. Install windows are often restricted to avoid disrupting other events in the building. Ceiling heights are lower and rigging is limited or prohibited entirely.
Exhibits for hotel space should be designed to work at ground level without hanging elements, with finishes appropriate to the room. We build specifically for these environments.
A regional facility serving local and state-level shows and events. Straightforward access, moderate ceiling heights, limited rigging. Well suited to inline and small island builds.
Hosts regional events and expositions. Arena-style load-in with the same constraints as the Smoothie King Center — plan for a defined access route and component-based breakdown.
Ceiling height sets how tall your structure and hanging sign can be. It varies by venue and sometimes by hall within a venue.
Rigging availability and load limits determine whether you can hang anything at all. The Morial supports it with approval. Arena and hotel spaces frequently do not.
Freight access drives your install timeline more than anything else. The Morial's ground-level docks are the best-case scenario in this city. Arena and hotel load-in are slower and impose crate-size limits.
Floor protection and finish standards matter enormously in hotel ballrooms and not at all on a convention hall floor.
Target move-in times are assigned at the Morial and missing yours costs you hours and overtime labor.
Advance-order deadlines for electrical, rigging and material handling are set by the general contractor and are typically several weeks before move-in. Identical service costs materially more after the deadline.
For every rental we provide, venue coordination is part of the job — drawing submission and organizer approval, engineered and stamped drawings for hanging structures and double-decks, rigging plans, freight routing and target-time scheduling, advance ordering of electrical and material handling, and on-site install and dismantle by our own crews working alongside the official contractor.
You should not have to learn the difference between Morial Hall B and a Hyatt ballroom. That is our job.
Call (504) 208-2737 with your show name, venue and booth number. We will confirm what that specific room permits, what the rigging situation is at your location, what your realistic install timeline looks like, and what the booth costs delivered and installed.
Call (504) 208-2737 for New Orleans exhibit rentals.