Chicago: One Beautiful City for a June Conference

The Ballroom: As far as IRCE 2008 is concerned, what makes this state-of-the-art conference center the perfect venue is that its 100,000-foot carpeted ballroom (the second largest in the U.S.) is located directly across the concourse from its massive exhibit space. It means that the all IRCE conference and workshop sessions (held in a ballroom that will be configured in three largest meeting rooms) will be held on the same floor as the 130,000-square-foot IRCE Exhibit Hall.

The Exhibition Hall: The Exhibition Hall at McCormick Place West is located directly across the main concourse (right) from the Ballroom where all IRCE conference sessions are held. The space is so large that it can contain the IRCE 447-booth Exhibit Hall and the 3,700-seat luncheon hall, where attendees will be served a sit-down lunch on Day One of the Main Conference (June 10) and a box lunch on Day Two of the Main Conference (June 11). Sit-down workshop lunches will be served in that portion of the ballroom not used for workshop session on June 9 and 12.

Transportation Center: McCormick Place West is the easiest of the McCormick Place facilities to reach from downtown Chicago. A unique enclosed transportation center provides parking stalls for up to 16 buses right outside the main entrance on the ground floor of McCormick West, where IRCE 2008 hosts will escort arriving passengers to the escalators taking them to the conference registration desk. IRCE will run free shuttle buses every 15 minutes to and from the four downtown conference hotels during peak morning and afternoon periods. Those buses will take the Express Bus Route that provides for a 10-minute non-stop trip through Grant Park from downtown Chicago to the Transportation Center at McCormick Place West.

This map of the McCormick Convention Center shows the convenient location of McCormick Place West for vehicles coming from the downtown hotels to the North and from all expressways via I55.

Parking: Those traveling to IRCE 2008 by car will find the trip to McCormick West just as convenient. From any downtown hotel, a 10-minute drive south down Michigan Ave. to Cermak (22nd St) and a left on Cermack one block will bring you to the 2,200-car parking garage located directly across the street from McCormick Place West. Attendees traveling by car to IRCE using expressways should follow these directions to Parking Lot A adjacent to McCormick Place West:

Amenities: The brand new McCormick Place West has many amenities not found in older convention facilities. There's a roof-top garden, a perfect place for informal meetings at breaks; a food court with seating for 600 and a 250-seat restaurant, ATM machines and wireless Internet service throughout. And to vastly increase the convenience of returning from IRCE 2008 to your home, McCormick Place West offers a new Baggage Airline Guest Service (BAGS), which allows attendees to check their luggage at McCormick Place West on the morning of the last day of the conference, pick up a boarding pass for their flight and have their luggage transported to O'Hare and put on their flight home.

Art Institute of Chicago: Chicago is home to one of the world's great art museums. The Art Institute of Chicago houses more than 300,000 works of art spanning 5,000 years of art making. Its treasures include such important American works as American Gothic (Grant Wood) Nighthawks (Edward Hopper) and its Impressionist collection is one of the best in the world, including 30 works of Claude Monet and important works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Paul Cézanne. The museum also houses an impressive collection of sculptures from around the globe and a world famous photography exhibition. Located at Michigan & Adams, the Art Institute is within walking distance of all IRCE downtown Chicago hotels.

Chicago River/Lake Tours: One of the most popular tours for Chicago visitors is a scenic boat ride along Chicago's beautiful lakefront or along the Chicago River, which offers spectacular views of the city's skyline, one of Chicago's prized assets. These so-called architectural river tours also provide visitors with a visual architectural history of Chicago—home to America's first high-rise office structures. Most boat tours board at the foot of the Michigan Avenue bridge.

Magnificent Mile: It gets that names because the one-mile of Michigan Avenue running from the Chicago River to the Oak Street Beach contains some of the most expensive real estate in the world and because it is one of America's most famed shopping districts, featuring the outlets of retail icons known the world over. It's also known for some of Chicago's most famous buildings, including the Wrigley Building, Tribune Tower and the historic Water Tower, the only structure left standing on the north side of the river after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

Museum Campus: A spirited walk or short cab ride from Chicago's downtown hotels is the city's unique Museum Campus, which includes three world-class museum attractions: The Field Museum of Natural History (which includes "Sue," the world's most largest and best-preserved T-Rex), the Shedd Aquarium (the world's largest indoor aquarium, famous for its Beluga whales), and the Adler Planetarium. All three museums are located near to each other, making a visit to all three possible on the same day.

Millennium Park: One of Chicago's newest attractions is the 25-acre Millennium Park located on Michigan Avenue, just south of the Chicago River. An award-winning center for art, music, architecture and landscape design, the park features the work of world-renowned architects, planners, artists and designers, including the Frank Gehry-designed Jay Pritzker Pavilion, the most sophisticated outdoor concert venue of its kind in the United States; the interactive Crown Fountain by Jaume Plensa; the contemporary Lurie Garden designed by the team of Kathryn Gustafson, Piet Oudolf and Robert Israel; and Anish Kapoor's hugely popular Cloud Gate sculpture that resembles an oversized reflective bean.

Navy Pier: Built in 1914 and totally rebuilt in 1995, Chicago's Navy Pier is the #1 tourist attraction in the Midwest, a diverse assortment of amusement rides, theaters and other entertainment spots, bars and restaurants, shops and, of course, a long dock where the city's largest cruise ships are moored. At night, the Pier offers some of the most spectacular views of the Lake Michigan shore line with the lighted Chicago's skyline as a backdrop.

Wrigley Field: The Chicago White Sox are the official baseball team of the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition, but since the South Siders aren't in town during the 2008 conference, IRCE attendees who want to sneak in a game during their visit can take the short ride on the "L" from downtown Chicago to historic Wrigley Field to see America's most beloved ivy wall and watch the Cubbies play the visiting Braves from Atlanta.