Miami Beach Convention Center events list expands

The Miami Beach Convention Center, which stands strong in its 1.4-million-square-foot space surrounded by must-visit destinations such as the Miami Beach Botanical Garden and the Holocaust Memorial, will be adding new events such as Cosmoprof, Florida Huddle/Florida Encounter and 3Step Sports Volleyball Tournament in the year ahead.

“We’re very happy and blessed and lucky to have so many different events coming into the building,” said Freddie Peterson, the center’s general manager. “Cosmoprof in 2024, it’s coming into the building Jan. 23-25. That is one of Informa Markets’ events. This is going to become an annual for us.

“Cosmoprof, there is one in Las Vegas and they’re also going to be launching here a brand new piece of business for us, super excited for that.” Mr. Peterson said.

“On the tourism and hospitality front, we have Florida Huddle/Florida Encounter. When you talk about tourism, hospitality and everything that means here for us, another wonderful event for us.

“We’re starting to see an uptake on sporting events coming to the venue, so with that, 3Step volleyball tournament, that’s in early February, and then RacquetX, another piece of business towards the end of March,” he said.

All these events fall under one of the seven verticals that the center focuses on: health and medical, arts and culture, tech IT, sports, education, finance, and special events, Mr. Peterson said. All work cohesively to attract business to the center.

One of the largest upcoming events planned for the center is Art Basel from Dec. 4-8 with a forecasted attendance of 77,000, according to Ariane Hiltebrand, the convention center’s director of marketing and external relations.

The Discover Boating Miami International Boat Show is another large event taking place Feb. 14-18 with a forecasted attendance of 100,000.

“The Miami International Boat Show is the largest Boat Show on the planet, very international as well,” said Mr. Peterson. “So as far as the attendance numbers, this is according to what we get from the customer, that is the largest event on the attendance side forecasted. The other [of the largest events] is obviously Art Basel Miami Beach. I believe they’ll be celebrating 21 years with us this year.”

There will be more large events such as the Original Miami Beach Antique Show taking place Jan. 10-14, with a forecasted attendance of 12,000; the Jewelers International Showcase taking place March 17-19, with a forecasted attendance of 10,000; Seatrade Cruise Global taking place April 8-11, with a forecasted attendance of 10,000; and Florida Supercon, July 12-14, with a forecasted attendance of 20,000.

In 2018, the new look for the Miami Beach Convention Center was unveiled after its $640 million renovation. The center houses events on all scales year after year, and all are equally important, said Mr. Peterson.

“On average, we do over 60 events annually, 20 of which are annuals that we host here,” he said. “Of that 20, we have two companies that have, I think, a combined nine annuals. Reed is one company. They have three annuals with us, and then Informa Markets has usually about six or seven annuals with us.”

“We’re always out there looking for new business,” Mr. Peterson said, “but we also have those 20 that we partner with, and they’re all equally important, no matter how small, medium. large, or supersized, as they say.”