Venue Glossary

Each event type has unique facility needs. Certain events require large amounts of contiguous space, while others require many smaller meeting rooms. Often, a single event will use many different types of spaces, such as large exhibit halls, banquet facilities, breakout meeting rooms, and theater seating. The diverse nature of this industry and the characteristics of various event types require a variety of facility types. Several key venue types of public assembly facilities are summarized below.

Conference/Convention Center: Conference centers provide a specialized combination of meeting spaces, high-tech amenities, and services in support of training and education initiatives. On a larger scale, convention centers combine the meeting capabilities of a conference center with exhibit space.

Stadium: Typically used for sports such as baseball and football, concerts and other large-scale entertainment events, stadiums are open-air venues with elevated seating on one or more sides of a playing surface. For entertainment events, the stage is usually set up on part of the playing surface, with the rest of it sold as seating.

Arena: Similar to stadiums but generally smaller and indoors, arenas are typically used for entertainment events, as well as sports such as basketball and hockey.

Indoor Sports Complex: A mixed-use facility that is designed to host a variety of sports and other events. They may be built as a home venue for a specific team in a specific sport, but are designed to be easily configurable to accommodate different sports, concerts, conventions and other gatherings.

Theater: Theaters range in size and stage type, but traditionally include a state with an opening that faces an audience chamber with fixed seats. The typical scale for Broadway plays or musical productions is 1,000 to 2,000 capacity. These venues are equipped to support a wide variety of performances, including plays, musicals and dance, and smaller-scale operas, and can also host other entertainment such as concerts, comedians or lectures.

Performing Arts Center: A performing arts center combines several venue types (theaters, clubs, etc.), usually including a large performance theater that is equipped to support a variety of Broadway, concert and dance, one or two smaller venues for more intimate dance and music performance, often in the form of a Black Box for flexibility, one or more rehearsal spaces, and a variety of other spaces designed to host catered events, art gallery shows, and community activities and outreach.

Exposition Hall: These facilities focus exclusively on produce and consumer shows that require little meeting space. Pure exposition halls generally exist in markets that have other convention and/or meeting venues available or in situations where the private sector has responded to a lack of supply by developing an inexpensive facility.

Multipurpose Events Center: Event centers, or arenas, are used as multipurpose facilities to host a wide range of events, from small to mid-size conventions and trade shows, to sporting events, concerts and banquets. These facilities typically host many more locally oriented events than dedicated exhibit and ballroom space within convention centers. Event centers also incorporate breakout and meeting rooms, and often have a full commercial kitchen to cater banquet events.