Walter E. Washington Convention Center

The Walter E. Washington Convention Center located at 801 Mount Vernon Place NW in Washington, DC is the nation's capital's first convention center as well as its second largest building, and it definitely shows!

My first time visiting the Walter E. Washington Convention Center was this past December for the ASAE Technology Conference and I was extremely shocked at how centralized the convention center was to the downtown Washington, DC area as well as the short walk from many of the surrounding hotels such as the Washington Plaza Hotel.

Walking towards the Walter E. Washington Convention Center you are in awe as you see that it is comprised of at least 80% windows. A spectacular view and it even gets better when you walk through the entrance. There are three tremendously large floors above you, accessible via stairs or escalators. I thought it was very unique at how they had constructed the escalators on either side of the large, long staircases that were centered throughout the levels. There was no searching for stairs or escalators; there is one entrance and one exit to them from every floor.

The convention center can hold over 40,000 people and the scale that it is built in truly reflects the array possibilities. Each floor seemed to have at least twenty conference rooms with the ability to seat an easy 200 people per room. Each conference room was set up with round banquet tables with crisp, clean white table clothes and comfortable chairs. The presenter's area had a large view screen that could be seen at any angle of the room clearly.

There are a total of five exhibit halls on two different levels of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. The exhibit hall I had seen was one of the largest I had ever seen. Even with over 100 exhibitor stations set up, there was still so much space to host an eating area with over 50 tables, a buffet line of hot and cold food items, as well as several merchandising spaces. The exhibit halls are equipped with their own restroom facilities.

Speaking of restroom facilities, they were everywhere! There was no problem locating a restroom during the break times. A complimentary coat check in area is also available on the third floor, which was very nice for freeing up some bag room after touring the exhibit halls!

The convention center also houses its own security staff that patrols the entrances, checks badges at all conferences, and also responding to medical emergencies. A medical area was set up in one of the exhibit halls.

There were a few small dining kiosks located by the exhibit hall on the third floor; however they were closed at the time I was there. More than likely because the conference that I was attending provided lunches in the exhibit hall as well as coffee and tea kiosks throughout the center.

There was really no way you could get lost or turned around. Signs and banners hung from the ceiling with arrows distinctly pointing to where specific rooms' names could be found. If that wasn't enough, there was three to five convention center staff that were scattered about each floor ready to give out location information.

Several information kiosks were set up on every floor that would answer general information regarding room locations, parking facilities, and other questions related to the Washington, DC area and the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

If you couldn't walk to the convention center, the closest parking facility is right across the street from the center. Parking seemed to fill up very quickly and the cost was $15 for about eight hours.

All and all, this facility is beautiful, well secured, thoughtfully laid out, and a stress free location to have or attend your next conference.