Convention center guide

Las Vegas Convention Centers: An Exhibitor's Guide

The LVCC, Venetian Expo, Mandalay Bay, Caesars Forum and the big resort ballrooms — what to know about exhibiting in Las Vegas.

By Michael Flavin Last updated October 10, 2026

Please note: Venue rules, rates, labor requirements, and deadlines change often and vary by show. Always confirm details in your show’s exhibitor manual and with the show’s general contractor before you plan or budget.

Las Vegas is a little different from other convention towns. Besides the city’s convention center, several resorts on the Strip run convention centers of their own, and some of them are bigger than the main convention center in most cities. Here’s what I’d want to know before I booked travel or shipped a booth to Vegas.

Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC)

The Las Vegas Convention Center is run by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA). It’s a 4.6 million-square-foot facility with about 2.9 million square feet of exhibit space and 225 meeting rooms (more than 390,000 square feet). The campus has four halls: North, Central, South and West. The West Hall and the Central Hall each have their own grand lobby and registration area, so check which hall your show is in.

Getting around the campus is easier than it used to be. The Vegas Loop at LVCC uses Tesla vehicles in underground tunnels for free rides around the campus, with five stations, including one at the Central Plaza that connects to Encore. The Las Vegas Monorail also connects directly to the convention center (LVCC Facility Guide).

Venetian Expo

Las Vegas, Nevada

This is the building the old version of this guide called Sands Expo. It’s part of The Venetian Convention & Expo Center, which has 2.25 million square feet of meeting and convention space in total. Expo Halls A, B, C and D are contiguous and combine for 655,600 square feet, and Hall G adds another 380,000 square feet on its own.

Know this before you plan: The Venetian doesn’t let outside suppliers in for its exclusive services. Catering, cleaning, rigging, lighting, internet and telecom, electrical and plumbing all go through the venue (Venetian exhibitor FAQ).

Mandalay Bay Convention Center

At the south end of the Strip, Mandalay Bay has a 2.1 million-square-foot convention center with 1 million square feet of exhibit space. MGM finished a $100 million remodel of it in May 2024 (MGM Resorts).

Caesars Forum

Caesars Forum opened in March 2020 in the center of the Strip. It’s a 550,000-square-foot conference center, all on one level, with two 110,000 sq ft pillarless ballrooms (Forum and Summit) and a 100,000 sq ft outdoor event space called Forum Plaza. It has direct access to about 8,500 hotel rooms at Harrah’s, The LINQ and Flamingo (Caesars Forum fact sheet).

Other Las Vegas venues I’d keep on your radar

Las Vegas at night

ARIA. 500,000 square feet of meeting and convention space in the middle of the Strip (MGM Resorts).
Wynn and Encore. Wynn lists 300,000 square feet of event venues across the two resorts, including outdoor space (Wynn Las Vegas). Encore is also on the Vegas Loop, which makes it handy for LVCC shows.

Shows at this venue

International Roofing Expo (IRE): Feb 16-18, 2027, Las Vegas Convention Center (West Hall)

Local labor rules and EACs

Who does what. Nevada is a right-to-work state, but union crews are still a big part of trade show work here. The LVCC’s Facility Guide makes the show’s official service contractor responsible for resolving union jurisdiction disputes. Each resort venue sets its own rules, too. The Venetian, for example, keeps electrical, rigging, cleaning and more in-house.

What you can do yourself at the LVCC. The LVCC’s hand-carry policy lets you carry your own materials into the hall as long as you don’t use dollies or other material-handling equipment, and the carrying has to be done by full-time employees who can show proof of employment. You have to load and unload from the parking lots, not the curb. Only personally owned pickups and passenger vans can park in the lots for hand-carry, so no rentals. Anything bigger has to go through the show’s contractor. Anything beyond hand-carry, like what your staff can build in the booth and which tools they can use, is set by your show, so check the exhibitor manual.

Using your own exhibit house (EAC). At the LVCC, any exhibitor-appointed company working your booth needs an annual LVCC EAC permit ($250 a year). It also needs certificates of insurance for $1 million in general liability, $1 million in auto liability and Nevada workers’ comp, plus a Clark County business license and ESCA worker badges. Show management has to turn in its list of EACs 30 days before the first move-in day, so your show’s own EAC deadline will land before that. The LVCVA has an EAC permit application on its website.

Exhibitor need-to-knows

My exhibitor logistics 101 guide covers the basics that work the same in most buildings, like the advance warehouse, material handling, targeted move-in, hotel blocks and hiring local staff. Here's what's specific to Las Vegas.

These are the practical things I'd want to know before exhibiting in Las Vegas. Where I could check a venue- or city-specific detail against an official source, I’ve linked it. The rest is general advice that works in any convention city.

Advance warehouse or direct to show?

At the LVCC, freight goes through your show’s contractor. Anything bigger than what fits in a personally owned pickup or passenger van has to be unloaded by the show’s contractor, per the LVCC Facility Guide. The resort venues (Venetian Expo, Mandalay Bay, Caesars Forum) each have their own receiving rules, so follow your manual to the letter.

Material handling (drayage) and how to cut it

In Vegas, the hand-carry rules I covered in the labor section above are your best drayage saver at the LVCC: full-time employees can carry materials in by hand, and lightweight luggage carts and pop-up displays in rolling cases are allowed. Hand trucks, dollies and four-wheel carts are not.

Move-in and move-out

I couldn’t find a building-run marshaling yard in the LVCC’s Facility Guide, so truck check-in and staging are set up by your show’s contractor. Your manual will have the address and the targeted schedule. When a big show is moving in, the wait at check-in can be long, so plan for it.

Peak seasons and big annual shows

Vegas is busy year-round, and when a citywide show is in town, hotel rates jump all over the Strip, not just near the convention center. The big ones to plan around include CES in January, the NAB Show in April and the SEMA Show in November. If your show overlaps one of them, book your room the day housing opens.

Hotel strategy

For the resort venues, staying in the same resort or the one next door is the whole point. You can walk to your booth. For the LVCC, look for a hotel near the Las Vegas Monorail or the Vegas Loop (see Getting there below), because cabs and rideshare lines get long when a big show lets out. The Strip looks walkable on a map, but the casinos are huge, and walking between them takes longer than you’d think.

Neighborhoods for client dinners

Most client dinners happen on the Strip near your hotel, and that’s fine. If you want to get away from the casino floor, I’d look at Downtown and the Fremont East area, or Chinatown along Spring Mountain Road. Visit Las Vegas has ideas by area. Book early during big shows, and plan on traffic.

Last-minute printing and supplies

The LVCC has four FedEx Office business centers: near the main entrance of Central Hall, in the Central Hall Concourse, in the South Hall Lobby and in West Hall across from W2. They do signs and graphics, banners and grand-format printing, copying, business cards, packing and shipping and office supplies, and they’re open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week, with hours that can change by event (LVCC Facility Guide). The resorts have their own business centers.

Wi-Fi and internet

At the LVCC, Cox Business is the exclusive provider of internet, voice and cable TV, with wired and wireless networks (LVCC Facility Guide). The LVCC doesn’t publish exhibitor internet prices in its guide, so get the current rates from the order forms in your exhibitor manual. At the resort venues, the property’s own provider handles it.

Food sampling and outside food

The LVCC’s food and beverage division (operated by Sodexo Live!) has exclusive rights to food and beverage in the building, and outside food and beverage aren’t allowed without prior approval. To give away samples, you file a Food and Beverage Sampling/Onsite Preparation form and need approval from both the LVCVA and the food and beverage division. Samples are capped at 3 oz. for non-alcoholic drinks and 2 oz. for food. Anything you didn’t make yourself has to be bought from the exclusive provider, and open-food sampling needs a hot-water hand-washing station and a sanitizing station. Edible CBD products can’t be sold or given away at the LVCC at all (LVCC Facility Guide).

Weather and time of year

Las Vegas summers are very hot, and the air is dry all year. Drink more water than you think you need, especially on move-in days on the docks. Winter evenings can be surprisingly cold. Wind can be an issue for any outdoor exhibit.

Sales tax on show services

Clark County’s combined sales tax rate is 8.375% (Nevada Department of Taxation). The LVCC’s guide also notes that if a show allows retail sales on the floor, the organizer is responsible for following Nevada’s tax collection rules.

Getting there

The LVCC is just off the Strip on Paradise Road. The Las Vegas Monorail runs along the Strip and connects directly to the convention center, and the Vegas Loop connects the halls and Encore. At the resort venues, you’re usually staying in the same building or next door, which is one of the nicest things about exhibiting in Vegas.

Vegas has room for almost any show. Just know which building yours is in, because the LVCC, the Venetian, Mandalay Bay and Caesars Forum all have different rules. When you’re done for the day, Visit Las Vegas is a good place to plan the rest of your trip.

Sources

All convention center guides

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