From left, Informa Markets North America President Nancy Walsh, LVCVA Board of Directors Chairman John Marz, Informa CEO Charlie McCurdy, Congresswoman Dina Titus, D-Nev., Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak, Clark County Commission Chairwoman Marilyn Kirkpatrick and LVCVA CEO and President Steve Hill take part in the ribbon cutting for the Las Vegas Convention Center West Hall and kick off for the first day of the World of Concrete Tuesday, June 8, 2021, in Las Vegas. (Sam Morris, LVCVA/Las Vegas News Bureau)

All eyes were on the Las Vegas Convention Center’s (LVCC) new $1 billion, 1.4 million square-foot West Hall expansion as the World of Concrete opened last week. The show, the first truly major convention and trade show to take place at the new West Hall facility, kicked off with a ribbon-cutting ceremony led by city and state officials, as well as leaders from the show’s organizer, Informa Markets, followed by a rush to the expo floor.

The city reopened to 100% capacity on June 1, just in time for WOC’s debut at LVCC, which with the expansion now is the second largest convention facility in the U.S.; the West Hall’s 600,000 square feet of exhibition space includes 328,000 square feet of column-free space, the largest of its type in North America. Las Vegas, a top meetings and trade show destination, now has 14 million square feet of total meeting and event space.

“This convention reinvigorates our commitment to be bold in how we envision the future of infrastructure and recovery of our state and this is only the beginning,” Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak said during the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “We are back in Las Vegas and there is no better or safer place to come to have a convention than Las Vegas.” The LVCC was awarded the  Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC) STAR facility accreditation by ISSA, the world’s leading trade association for the cleaning industry and considered the gold standard for safe facilities. Health and safety also remain a top priority throughout the destination with a variety of stringent Vegas Smart health and wellness guidelines in place to keep visitors safe, from arrival to departure.

“We are excited to welcome our convention customers back to Las Vegas and to our new West Hall, reigniting the meetings and convention industry,” said Steve Hill, LVCVA president and CEO. “Today is not only a great day for our city, it’s a great day for the meetings and conventions industry across Las Vegas and across the United States.”

WOC attendees also were on hand for the debut of the $52.5 million Las Vegas Convention Center Loop, the underground tunnel developed by Elon Musk’s The Boring Company designed to shuttle convention attendees throughout the 200-acre campus in all-electric Tesla vehicles. The Loop connects the West Hall to the LVCC’s North and South Halls via two one-way tunnels.

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The next big show for the city, at least in meeting planner terms, comes June 15–17 as Meeting Professionals International’s World Education Congress (MPI WEC), an education and networking conference for meeting and event professionals, comes to another new Las Vegas facility, the 550,000-square-foot CAESARS FORUM. Last fall, ConferenceDirect’s Annual Partners Meeting (APM) was the first major event to be held at CAESARS FORUM.