New Orleans Introduces Upgraded and New Event Facilities – Trade Show Executive
June 5, 2026
Excerpt from article:
TSE also toured the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center (NOENMCC), which is in the middle of a $763-million renovation.
This project has introduced a new pedestrian park, fresh exhibit hall lighting, updated restrooms, new charging stations, state-of-the-art digital signage and a Wonderwall Video Screen, improved technology infrastructure and HVAC upgrades. The NOENMCC has also replaced its 40-acre roof.
Interior renovations, which include the meeting rooms, meeting room corridors, and lobby spaces, annual capital projects, building systems, technology, safety and security updates, F&B renovation, and mixed-use and hotel development, are in progress too.
The NOENMCC has also planned for a ballroom renovation, updates to its grand foyer entrances, theater upgrades, the installation of local art, vertical transportation improvements, exterior facility and campus enhancements, and an upgraded water retention tank.
“We engaged a customer advisory council (CAC),” Elaine Williams, CMP, CEM-AP, CVE, Chief Commercial Officer at the NOENMCC, said. “We took a moment, took a breath and said, ‘You know what, let’s do our own CAC, because we have a lot to do. There were a few years there when we didn’t renovate much.’ We engaged customers from around the country and asked them, ‘What is your ideal arrival experience for your attendees? What do they like when they’re sitting in the meeting room and what do they want to see?’ That feedback guided everything we’ve done.”
Also, the facility will soon be next to a new, 1,000-room headquarters hotel that has a projected Q4 2030 opening. It will feature upscale, state-of-the-art amenities and be located directly across the street from the NOENMCC’s Hall C.
“We need it — it’s transformative,” Williams explained. “What we’re looking to do is have a headquarters hotel that you can almost consider connected … There were a lot of intentional studies on this, and one of them was with PCMA.
“They engaged their membership to discover if the industry thought that New Orleans needed a headquarters hotel … 82% of meeting planners said that they would consider bringing their meeting to New Orleans if there was a headquarters hotel connected to or in close proximity to the center. The projected opening is in 2030 and the projected shovel in the ground is later this year.”