Meetings Return to San Francisco’s Moscone Center

San Francisco welcomed three conventions to Moscone Center in September, marking the first conferences after it was closed to events in March 2020. San Francisco Mayor London N. Breed greeted the first group to hold an event at Moscone Center with a ceremonial ribbon cutting for the Exhibit Hall at California Dental Association’s “CDA Presents The Art and Science of Dentistry.” The event took place September 9 to 11 and hosted 3,000 attendees and 600 exhibitors.  

Dreamforce 2021 kicked off on September 21. Its “Dreampark” transformed one block of Howard Street, between Moscone North and South, and the three-day conference included entertainment by the Foo Fighters and speakers, such as Will Smith, Jane Fonda, Nice Nailantei Leng'ete and Salesforce Chair and CEO Marc Benioff.  

The American Society for Surgery of the Hand (ASSH)—the first group to confirm at Moscone Center in 2021—held its 76th Annual Meeting from September 30 to October 2 with over 1,200 surgeons. 

San Francisco says it has led the U.S. in preventing the spread of COVID-19 through effective safety protocols, and over 80 percent of eligible residents have been fully vaccinated. Attendees of indoor meetings of 1,000 or more people are required to show proof of vaccination and follow masking guidelines. Ninety-seven percent of attendees felt totally safe. 

Looking forward, the Moscone Center will close the year with SEMICON West 2021, from December 7 to 9, and the Cannabis Business Summit & Expo from December 15 to 17.   In addition, the San Francisco Travel Association has booked over 30 events at the Moscone Center for 2022 and will kick off with J.P. Morgan 2022. The annual healthcare conference will take place January 10 to 13, 2022 at The Westin St. Francis San Francisco on Union Square. Later, in June 2022, Moscone Center will host Meeting Planners International’s Annual WEC for meeting and event planning professionals. It had previously hosted WEC in 2015, and the 2022 gathering celebrating MPI’s 50^th anniversary will showcase the convention center’s expanded facilities to approximately 2,000 attendees.  

In January 2019, the Moscone Center celebrated the completion of a $551 million expansion program that added 157,000 square feet of space to create 504,914 square feet of contiguous space, including a new 49,776 square feet column-free ballroom. In addition, there are 25,000 square feet of secure outdoor terraces with views of Yerba Buena Gardens and the South of Market neighborhood.  

Meetings fuel San Francisco’s $10.3 billion tourism industry. In 2019, Moscone Center hosted 49 conventions and spending by the convention and meetings industry accounted for $1.9 billion, more than 18 percent of the total tourism spending in San Francisco.  

The San Francisco Travel Association is the official destination marketing organization for the city and county of San Francisco. Tourism is its largest industry.  More than 25.8 million people visited the destination in 2019, spending more than $10 billion. More than 82,500 jobs are supported by tourism there. 

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