Savannah Convention Center venue planning in Savannah

Verified Savannah Convention Center facts

• The February 2025 expansion brought the facility to 660,000 total square feet.
• Visit Savannah states the center now includes 200,000 square feet of exhibit space and a new 40,000-square-foot ballroom.
• The current profile lists 27 meeting rooms, five executive board rooms, a 367-seat auditorium, a 900-space garage, and ferry access to River Street.

An island venue reached by ferry or bridge

Attendees can walk River Street and cross by the passenger ferry, while trucks and larger deliveries use the bridge and island road instead.

Planning both paths matters, because a schedule built only around the ferry will not account for how freight actually arrives.

Exhibit hall behavior next to the Westin

With the Westin next door, a program can pair convention-center floor space with hotel meeting rooms and guest blocks without moving off the island.

That pairing works well for a conference that mixes a general session with an exhibit floor, since the two functions can run in parallel rather than competing for the same room.

Dock and freight sequencing on Hutchinson Island

Freight bound for the island needs a clear arrival window, since the bridge and connector road are shared with regular island traffic, not a dedicated show-only route.

Sequencing trucks in advance, rather than letting exhibitors arrive on their own schedule, keeps the island road from backing up during move-in.

Why the water crossing changes the schedule

A downtown hotel program can lean on foot traffic from River Street; a convention-center program has to plan for a crossing, whether by ferry or vehicle, on every leg of the day.

That difference shows up most in staffing plans, where a crew working split shifts needs a reliable way back and forth rather than a five-minute walk.

Multi-day conference support versus single-day expo work

A multi-day conference can absorb a slower island-based load-in because the schedule has room to spread setup across more than one day.

A single-day expo has less room for error, so freight sequencing and ferry timing need to be locked well before the event, not adjusted on the fly.

What to confirm before locking the floor plan

Confirm dock access hours, the split between ferry-based and vehicle-based arrivals, and whether the Westin's meeting space is part of the booking or a separate contract.

Those three answers shape the floor plan more than the exhibit hall's dimensions do on their own.

Hurricane-season timing for a coastal exhibit hall

Savannah's coastal position means the June-through-November hurricane season is a real planning variable for any island-based load-in, since a passing storm can affect ferry service or bridge access even when the exhibit hall itself stays dry.

Booking outside the peak of that window, or building a flexible move-in day into the contract, gives an organizer room to adjust if coastal weather turns during setup week.

Spring and fall generally offer the most predictable weather for a multi-day convention, which is part of why those seasons stay busiest on the center's calendar.

Labor and production rules on a state-adjacent island

Georgia is a right-to-work state, and Savannah does not operate under one citywide union labor agreement the way some larger convention markets do, so exhibitor labor rules are set by the specific show's general service contractor and the venue together.

An exhibitor planning their own booth labor should confirm those rules through the show's exhibitor kit rather than assuming a blanket policy applies to every event held at the center.

Questions about Savannah Convention Center