As meeting and event professionals look ahead to 2026, Chicago remains a top-tier destination for conventions, trade shows, and meetings of all sizes.
McCormick Place Convention Center
At the heart of the city’s meeting ecosystem, Chicago’s dynamic McCormick Place convention center remains the industry’s gold standard. The largest and most flexible convention center in North America, McCormick Place offers 2.6 million square feet of exhibit space and hosts hundreds of national and international events each year.
Here is what meeting planners should know when considering McCormick Place for their 2026 events.
A global leader: 2026 Centers of Excellence honors
McCormick Place has entered 2026 with significant momentum, recently securing two prestigious honors from EXHIBITOR magazine’s Centers of Excellence Awards.
- Top 25 Worldwide: McCormick Place was named one of the world’s top 25 convention centers, representing the industry’s highest-performing facilities.
- Best Facility (Over 1 Million Sq. Ft.): Receiving an additional distinction, McCormick Place was recognized as a premier venue for large-scale events.
The EXHIBITOR Centers of Excellence Awards honor top trade show and event venues based on exhibitor and organizer feedback, operational excellence, service quality, and event execution. Each year, only 25 venues worldwide are recognized, making McCormick Place the top venue in the global events industry.
McCormick Place has also been awarded GBAC STAR accreditation, the gold standard in establishing a comprehensive system of cleaning, disinfection, and infectious disease prevention.
Culinary innovations: Catering at McCormick Place
One of the most important aspects of the meeting experience? The menu. In 2026, attendees expect food to be more than a break in the schedule — they are looking for sustainable, personalized options that reflect the local culture.
Here are just some of the culinary innovations that you can expect at McCormick Place:
Eco-conscious menus
Planners and attendees are increasingly prioritizing sustainability. McCormick Place has shifted from “disposable luxury,” which offers convenience at the expense of the environment, to Circular Elegance. This redefines luxury as a closed-loop system where nothing is wasted, and every element is designed to be reused, recycled, or returned to the earth.
New menu items:
- Regenerative Charcuterie: Artisanal cheeses sourced within a 100-mile radius, served with preserves made from upcycled orchard fruit and honeycomb from our West Building rooftop garden.
- Roasted Heritage Carrots: Miso-glazed carrots set atop a creamy, locally farmed white bean puree.
- Grilled Salmon: Chimichurri Sauce, Roasted Cherry Tomatoes, Asparagus
- Mushroom Stem “Meatballs”: Sprouted grains and upcycled mushroom stems with a rooftop tomato reduction.
Global and local flavors
Meeting attendees want experiences that authentically reflect the local dining culture. In Chicago, that means cuisines that represent our 77 diverse global neighborhoods.
New menu items:
- An immersive culinary journey through the authentic flavors of Chicago’s diverse neighborhoods
- Pilsen/Little Village: Mini Al Pastor Tacos with smoky charred pineapple salsa and hand-pressed tortillas.
- Devon Street Chaat Bar: A build-your-own “Chaat Stop” featuring vegetable pakora and samosas in bamboo boats, finished with tamarind, mint, and mango chutney.
- Humboldt Park: Pressed-to-order Mini Jibaritos featuring crispy plantains, garlic-marinated skirt steak, and “piquante” aioli.
Plant-forward and whole ingredients
Plant-based is not going away, but the focus is shifting from substitutes toward plant-forward dishes that stand on their own.
New menu items:
- Blistered Shishitos: Miso-lemon glaze with a wasabi pea crunch.
- Kimchi Fried Potatoes: Smashed baby Yukons with kimchi-cashew aioli and fresh scallions.
- Salt-Roasted Golden Beets: Creamy tofu “ricotta,” shaved fennel, and blood orange.
- Hen of the Woods “Wings”: Crispy hand-torn maitake mushrooms with a smoky maple-chipotle glaze.
Sustainable events made easy
As one of the largest green-certified convention centers in North America, McCormick Place weaves sustainable practices into each and every event within its walls, from the new campus composting program to the largest farm-to-fork rooftop garden in the Midwest.
Last year, the Events Industry Council (EIC) announced that Chicago’s McCormick Place has achieved Gold Level Certification to EIC’s Sustainable Event Standards. The certification recognizes McCormick Place’s continued leadership in environmental and social responsibility.
Sustainable initiatives at McCormick Place include:
- An on-site non-profit partnership committed to food rescue
- 100% of electricity usage offset with certified wind renewable energy certificates
- Catering that incorporates eco-friendly packaging and prioritizes local sourcing
- Campus composting and AI-guided waste sorting technology
Leverage McCormick Place’s on-site sustainability team
Make sustainability part of your event strategy, not an afterthought. Our on-site sustainability team partners directly with planners to integrate practical, high-impact solutions — from waste diversion and food recovery to energy efficiency and sustainable sourcing.
With experts embedded on campus, you get hands-on guidance that simplifies execution, delivers measurable results, and helps your event meet its sustainability goals without added complexity.
Community impact on campus
McCormick Place is dedicated to being a responsible and involved member of the Chicago community. This means fostering meaningful connections and strengthening relationships with staff, partner organizations, event professionals, visitors, and residents through a variety of on-campus programs and outreach efforts.
Here are just a few of the ways that McCormick Place is giving back and connecting to the neighboring communities:
Community non-profit partners
UNITE HERE (UHCHI)
UHCHI delivers hospitality-focused job training programs that help cultivate new talent for the industry and guide participants into union career paths. Many program graduates go on to build successful careers at McCormick Place.
Chicago Botanic Garden
The Chicago Botanic Garden’s Windy City Harvest Apprenticeship offers a nine-month urban agriculture program that utilizes McCormick Place’s Rooftop Garden. The initiative emphasizes experiential learning, advances sustainable urban farming practices, and contributes to a more environmentally conscious local economy.
Fight2Feed
A fully volunteer-led organization, Fight2Feed utilizes donated supplies, storage space, and kitchen facilities at McCormick Place to repurpose surplus event food into wholesome meals for community members facing food insecurity.
Supplier diversity
The Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority (MPEA), owner and operator of McCormick Place, is strongly committed to supplier diversity. Each year, it invests more than $24 million with Minority-Owned and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (M/WBE) and offers educational training sessions to support MBE/WBE certification efforts.
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