John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center

I came here for a conference in Oct 2015 and it’s fairly average overall. It’s easy to navigate and there’s no real downsides; the rooms were adequate for the conference and the poster hall was fine (though kind of tucked out of the way from everything else). It’s easy to get to the convention center via a mall and from nearby hotels and there are many restaurants located nearby (within and outside the attached mall). It’s an okay place for a conference, but it didn’t wow me with anything and the Wi-​Fi is nothing to write home about.

I was here for a conference a few weeks ago, and found it to be A-​OK. Nothing special, but nothing too bad.
Pluses:
— It’s pretty easy to navigate
— Connected to the Pru and the shops. Very convenient. It was pouring outside and coming from Back Bay, I never had to go outside. Fantastic!
— The security guards are very pleasant for sitting there all day and getting stupid questions (I asked some of them). Big difference from most other guards in the area.
Not-​so-​pluses:
— The WiFi was pretty weak. Clearly not intended to support the amount of people that come to a conference.
— The staff here doesn’t know the area. I asked what the best low-​cost restaurants were in the area, and after four of them not having a clue, I just went out to the Shops and asked the help desk there, and got alot of help fast. I don’t expect the staff at Hynes to know everything, but I expect them to be not quite so clueless.

Huge place set for conferences. I visited a conference on the 3^rd floor and I was amazed by the vastness of the place and great décor. This place can easily hold 3 or 4 big conferences. There is valet parking available but expensive for a day. The staff is generally friendly as well.

I’ve been here twice. Once I don’t really count as it was the end of some –con where people were dressed up and my friends and I went to see them. I’m told that they’re watching our reactions just as much though. But I digress.
Came here for real for craftboston and it was a great venue on our end – lots of space to walk around, good check in and coat check area. Talking to the vendors was another problem though – I guess it was really hard for them to get their stuff in the room. And sometimes cards didn’t go through. I never had that problem though.

This was a great convention location. The rooms were comfortable. Wi-​Fi was free. The staff was friendly and helpful.

After spending 8 straight days at the Hynes while working a convention, I grew to love the place! It’s huge, but the signage is clear, the center is bright, clean and airy. The security guards are very friendly and good at what they do (shout out to James — you’re the best!). It was a nice bonus that the Hynes is connected to the Pru shopping mall, including an excellent food court, so we weren’t stuck eating at the same places every day. Also, Trader Joe’s was right across the street in case you just can’t stomach another fast food or hotel meal — another bonus!

This place is HUGE! The layout is a bit confusing at first but by the end of your conference you get used to it. I also noticed a lack of benches to sit at which was kind of annoying during breaks. It was very clean though and the staff are very friendly and helpful.
The convention centre is attached to a mall with a food court. Beware though that if there’s a conference the food court will be PACKED! For the conference I was at everyone usually just hit up the food court for lunch so seating was a hot commodity. If you’d prefer a sit down place there are tons of restaurants nearby. The location is definitely one of this place’s best points. It’s also conveniently located near two T stations so if you’re not staying at one of the hotels within a stone’s throw of the convention center it’s not a problem.

Great location for a conference. The staff here are wonderful and the spaces are big and clean. Free passwordless wifi too. However, the bathrooms are atrocious — they are small, always had a line out the door, and have very little ventilation which is awful for events where they are constantly in use.

Great location, nice building. I especially enjoyed the big windows to look out over downtown on breaks. I stayed down the street at the Westin during my visit — very easy to get back and forth. Location is a real bonus — Hynes is surrounded by several restaurants, shops, historic sites and local attractions. I’m not sure about the age of the facility, but it is very well maintained and for me, a great place to attend a conference.

I came here for a convention, and was pleasantly surprised. It was so easy to get around, and the place is huge! It’s attached to the Sheraton Hotel, and a really nice shopping mall with a bunch of restaurants. We stayed in the Sheraton, so it was nice to be able to get to the convention early in the morning right from our hotel just by taking an escalator. Everything was very clean, the staff was friendly, and the security was great. There is definitely plenty of space for other speakers/​sessions as well. I would definitely come back here for another event!

I can’t tell you how many times I have worked at this convention center. It is what it is, but the nice thing about it is the close proximity to the food court at the Prudential center. Oh! And crumbs is right there too. Good location in Boston, if you don’t want food court food you can step right outside and there’s a million restaurants.

Went there for the AWP 2013 conference. This place was HUGE. It’s great that it’s connected to so many other buildings and is in a prime location for bars/​restaurants and a Trader Joe’s across the street!!!
Lots and lots of rooms, the windows towards the front are gorgeous. Everything is clean, beautiful and modern. I guess the only downside is that what’s sold inside is pricey (expected) and the bathrooms are pretty small.
Otherwise, it was a lovely place to attend a conference.

Eh… it was good and bad. I attended a conference here in October 2012 and while there were things I liked about it, there were things that were really annoying, too!
The Good: The size was large enough that multiple talks could occur at once (even for different conferences). The main hall is huge and could accommodate a LOT of people, and there were overflow rooms with screens set up so you could still watch a lecture if the main room was full. The sound and screens used were very high quality, so you almost didn’t notice you were watching a screen instead of a real person. The location is also convenient, attached to the Sheraton and the Pru, so food and shopping options, as well as accommodations, are easy to come by. There were also always friendly staff members present to help you find where you needed to be or answer questions. I was impressed with how quickly and specifically they could answer questions about individual conferences!
The bad: The bathrooms! Granted, women FAR outnumber men in my field, but there were always very long lines for the bathrooms! It felt like there should be many more stalls for the capacity of the Center. Also, like any convention center, the rooms were always freezing, even when wearing a sweater. Also, most of the rooms had the screens placed a little too low. I’m very tall so I usually sit near the back of the room, and even I had trouble seeing the screens over the people in front of me. (Oh, and a helpful tip for convention goers: if you don’t want people squeezing past you to get to their seats, don’t sit on the VERY END and leave the whole row open!!)

Recently went back to the convention center and it’s been then I remembered it. I love the fact that it is connected to the Copley Mall, I came all the was from Malden Station and never had to go outside once I got on my train, love all the inside connections. Multiple exhibit halls that have a variety of speech options. Cant wait for the next conference.

**STARS: 3.5**
This place is huge!!! I would assume that depending on what company throws an event here… then it all depends on how organize everything could be.
I was here for HOW Design Live 2012 and it was a great convention! It was well-​organized… staff were stationed at every room /​ballroom. Signage directing you to where the rooms were well placed.
Last… the bathrooms were clean and huge.
Definitely looking forward to another design convention here!

Boston, why are your roadways so ridiculous.
Not a bad place as an exhibitor.
We got to drive right under the place to unload our stuff, elevators took us just steps away from where we needed to be.
A negative is that we had difficulty finding parking, there should be some spots or lots reserved for exhibitors. The roadways were unusual and making a wrong turn was a nightmare. It took forever waiting in traffic just to get back to the same place.

I came for a convention (AAHPERD) and due to the mass power outage in Boston, I didn’t get to go to ANY events here due to safety concerns. BOO HYNES! BOO!

Nice convention center with plenty of water fountains and bathrooms.
Several conference room facilities everywhere of all sizes.

I’ve been to several conventions in my lifetime, running the gamut from good to great. The Hynes is a massive facility with clearly laid out pathways and spacious rooms. The staff were pleasant and it was easy to find my way around.
There are several hotels nearby within walking distance. I didn’t rent a car which was quite freeing after I saw the fees to park plus the MTBA station is quite close. The Centre has a large food court. I didn’t partake of any of it. Hot table food just didn’t seem tasty to me. We were unaware that there was a shuttle during lunch for restaurants in the area. We’ll utilise this the next time we’re in Boston for PAX East.

I think the B.A.A. read my review, because the Boston Marathon Expo has been at Hynes the last three years in a row instead of alternating with the World Trade Center. Yay!