Congresses, conventions, annual company meetings, trade shows and large product launches can all be held at the Centre de Congrès de Lyon, from a committee of 50 people to an audience of 4,500 in the main amphitheater. The building stands in the Cité internationale, in the 6th arrondissement of Lyon, between the Rhône and the Parc de la Tête d'Or.
Seminars and company events
The center offers about 24,000 m² of modular space under one roof. Organizers can combine a plenary session in one of the three amphitheaters with breakout sessions in the 35 meeting rooms, which are equipped for groups of 50 to 450 people, and an exhibition or sponsor area on the same site. Wi-Fi and 4G coverage run through the whole building. The venue is owned by the Métropole de Lyon and run by GL events, whose teams also supply audiovisual, IT, decoration and catering services. Exhibitors can order fitted stands, furniture, AV equipment, internet, power supply and rigging from the roof structure through the center.
Rooms and capacities
The largest room is L'Amphithéâtre 3000, inaugurated on June 1, 2006. Its seating forms a hemicycle open over 180 degrees toward the stage, a layout drawn from Gallo-Roman theaters, so that no seat sits far from the speaker. It seats 2,750 in its classic configuration, 3,100 when fully seated, and up to 4,500 with seated and standing areas combined. The stage covers about 1,000 m², with an opening of up to 30 m and a rear stage for unloading sets directly onto it. Two further amphitheaters seat 900 and 300 people. The exhibition hall offers 8,400 m² on a single level, without pillars and with daylight. The halls take floor loads of up to 400 kg/m², and the theoretical rigging height is 5.5 m.
Accommodation
The center has no bedrooms of its own, but the Cité internationale holds about 500 hotel rooms: a Crowne Plaza with 156 rooms, a Marriott with 200 rooms and a Montempô aparthotel with 104 studios. Around 1,000 more rooms lie within a 10-minute walk, which makes it simple to house a large delegation close to the plenary hall.
Catering
Catering is provided in-house as one of the services sold with the rooms, from coffee breaks to receptions and pre-show cocktails. Delegates also have about ten restaurants, brasseries and sandwich shops on the Cité internationale site for lunch outside the program.
History and setting
The building was designed by Renzo Piano, the architect of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, as part of the Cité internationale, a long complex of hotels, offices and venues set along the river. The Parc de la Tête d'Or lies next to the site, and the Rhône runs in front of the entrance, with a boat landing for shuttles to the city center and La Sucrière.
Getting there
Lyon-Saint Exupéry airport is less than 30 minutes away by the Rhônexpress rail link, and Lyon-Bron business airport about 20 minutes. Three TGV stations serve the city: Lyon Part-Dieu, Lyon Perrache and Lyon Saint-Exupéry. TCL bus lines C1, C2, C5, C23 and 70 stop at the site, which also has five Vélo'v bike stations and two taxi ranks, one at the main entrance and one at the amphitheater. Three car parks, P0, P1 and P2, hold more than 3,000 spaces within a few minutes' walk of the doors.
