The City Is the Venue

Some congresses now spread across a city's buildings and streets, and planning one means drawing the walk between venues as carefully as the rooms.

This guide shows how to plan a congress spread across several buildings in one city. It treats the walk between venues as part of the plan. You get a transfer-time matrix, rules for placing sessions across venues and a checklist for the city partners who make the streets work.

The ICCA Congress in 2025 was designed so delegates would see a city, not just the route from the hotel to the hall. So the congress spread across the city. A multi-venue conference trades one hall for many buildings. It also moves the hard problems outdoors, into streets, weather and time.

The city as the venue

The congress met in Porto from November 9 to 12, 2025. The program put its five afternoon content tracks in venues across the city. The track on impact and sustainability, for one, was set for the Porto Cruise Terminal. A TTG MICE preview said the commute to each venue promised to be "a destination experience."

The gains are real. Delegates see more than a hotel corridor. Each venue can suit its theme. Local partners get a part in the event. The costs are real too. Every move takes time, every street needs signs, every venue has its own rules, and rain can stop a program. Inside each building, conference space planning still applies. The steps below plan the space between the buildings.

Walking time sets the break

In one building, the break is set by coffee. Across a city, it is set by the longest walk anyone has to make. Work it out door to door, not on a map.

Start with a planning speed. US traffic engineers time crossings for people walking at 3.5 feet per second, about 1 meter per second. A group of delegates in a new city walks no faster. They talk, stop and look around. So plan on 1 meter per second, which is 60 meters a minute.

Then add the fixed times. People need time to leave a full room, to wait at crossings, to pass a badge check and to find the next room. Here is a worked example. Two venues sit 900 meters apart, so the walk takes 15 minutes. Add 5 minutes to empty the room, 3 for crossings and 5 to get in and sit down. The real transfer is 28 minutes. A 20-minute break will not cover it.

Build a transfer-time matrix

A transfer-time matrix puts every move in one table. List the venues down the side and across the top. In each cell, write the door-to-door minutes, with the fixed times included. Here is an example for four venues.

• Venue A. Venue A: 0. Venue B: 14. Venue C: 28. Venue D: 20.
• Venue B. Venue A: 14. Venue B: 0. Venue C: 18. Venue D: 24.
• Venue C. Venue A: 28. Venue B: 18. Venue C: 0. Venue D: 12.
• Venue D. Venue A: 20. Venue B: 24. Venue C: 12. Venue D: 0.

Fill it by walking every route yourself, on the same weekday and at the hour of the break. Use a stopwatch. Time the step-free route too, since it is often longer, and keep it in a second table. Add a third table for rain if any leg has no cover.

Sequence sessions across venues

The matrix shows which moves are cheap and which are costly. These rules keep the costly ones rare.

1. Keep each track in one venue for a half day, so people move at lunch or not at all.
2. Schedule moves only at long breaks, never between back-to-back sessions.
3. Hold the plenary moments at the venue with the lowest average transfer time from the others.
4. Serve food at the destination, so people move first and eat on arrival.
5. Stagger session ends by 5 to 10 minutes between venues that share a route, so groups do not meet at the same crossing.
6. Start the day near the hotels and end it near transport.

Wayfinding in the street

Inside a venue, signs confirm what the space already shows. In a street, the space shows nothing about your event. So the route needs markers at every point where a delegate must choose a way.

Give each venue a color, and use it on the route markers, the venue door and the program. Put staff at the busiest crossings during each move. Print the route map on the back of the badge, so it still works when phones die. Light the routes for evening moves.

Signs and staff on public streets usually need permission. That is one reason the city must be a partner from the start.

Weather, access and each venue's rules

Plan the weather before it arrives. Choose covered routes where they exist. Set a trigger time, such as an hour before the move, for switching to the rain plan. In heat, plan shade and water along the route.

Plan access as part of the route, not as an extra. Every transfer needs a step-free route that has been timed. A shuttle on call helps delegates who cannot walk the distance.

Each venue also brings its own rules. Load-in times, curfews, security checks, capacity, in-house AV and catering rules all differ. Keep one production schedule across all venues. Draw every venue's floor plan at the same scale, with the same version number.

A checklist for city partners

A multi-venue congress needs the city on its side. Bring this list to the first meeting with the convention bureau, the venues and the city.

• Permits for route signs and staff on public streets.
• Traffic support at the busiest crossing during each transfer window.
• Extra public transport or delegate passes, if a leg needs them.
• Shuttles for long legs and for step-free transfers.
• Toilets and water points along the routes.
• A medical point and an emergency plan for each route, with one number to call.
• Notice to shops and cafés on the route, with the time of each move.
• A lighting and safety check of every evening route.
• One shared sheet of venue contacts, load-in windows and curfews.

Draw the walk as carefully as the rooms

Put the routes on the city map with the same care as the room plans. If the walk works, the city becomes part of the program.

Frequently asked questions

What is a multi-venue conference?

A multi-venue conference spreads its program across several buildings, often in one city. Sessions, meals and receptions happen in different venues, and delegates walk or ride between them. It shows people the city, but it adds transfer time, wayfinding in the street and a new set of rules at every venue.

How long should breaks be between venues?

Set each break from the longest transfer it must cover. Divide the walking distance in meters by 60 to get minutes at a slow group pace. Then add time to empty the room, cross streets and get into the next room. Walk the route first and time it.

How do delegates find their way between venues?

Give each venue a color and repeat it on route markers, the venue door and the program. Put markers at every turn and staff at busy crossings. Print the route map on the badge, so delegates can still find their way when a phone runs out of battery.

Who should organizers work with in the host city?

Start with the convention bureau, which knows the venues and the city offices. Then bring in the venues, the transport operator and the city's traffic team. Shops and cafés on the routes should know the time of each move, since crowds will pass their doors.

Each venue in a citywide congress needs its own plan, drawn to the same scale and kept in step. Monet lays out every room from a venue plan and a brief in minutes, and re-runs its crowd flow and exit clearance checks after each change.