Three buildings, two expo halls under a city street, and a freight route that punishes the unprepared.
Every design decision at RSAC is a Moscone decision first: which hall, how high, what can hang, how the crates get in and how long the labour takes. This is the building as we know it from installing security booths there year after year — written for the exhibit manager who wants to plan the space, not read the venue brochure.
Moscone is three connected pieces on either side of Howard Street in SoMa. The North and South buildings hold the exhibit halls, which sit below street level with lobbies, registration and meeting space above them; Moscone West, across the street, is where the conference programme and keynotes run. RSAC uses all three: the expo fills North and South, and the sessions that drive traffic to the expo happen in West.
The larger of the two expo halls and, for most editions, the one attendees enter first from registration. Long sightlines, heavy aisle traffic near the entrances, and the busiest freight docks in the complex.
Connected to South below Howard Street, so attendees move between the halls without going outside — but they choose which to walk first, and the second hall gets the second half of their day. Position near the connection or near an entrance matters more here.
No expo floor, but the keynote schedule decides when the expo halls flood and empty. Staff your booth and book your meetings around West’s programme, because that is where your buyers are when they are not in your aisle.
Traffic at RSAC is driven by the programme in Moscone West, so an aisle that is quiet at 10am can be impassable at noon. Booths near the hall connections and the main entrances catch every wave; booths in the far corners catch the people who came looking for them. Both can win — but they need different designs, and the difference has to be decided at space selection, not at the drawing stage.
Both halls have ceiling heights that permit substantial structures, but the height you may build is set by RSAC’s exhibitor rules for your booth type — inlines are capped low with setback rules on the sides, islands may go higher, and anything enclosed or covered needs its own approval. We design to the rule for your position, then confirm it in writing before fabrication.
Anything overhead is hung by the venue’s exclusive rigging provider, from approved hang points, on an advance order that includes sign weight, motors and a certified drawing. Hang points are not everywhere. If the sign is central to your design, confirm the point exists at your position before you draw the booth around it.
Enclosed meeting rooms, ceilings and canopied demo theatres are common in security booths and all of them trigger fire-marshal review — sprinkler coverage, egress, materials. The approval is routine when filed early and a rebuild when filed late. We include the covered-structure package with the layout submission.
Moscone’s docks serve halls below grade in one of the densest neighbourhoods in San Francisco, so the general contractor controls arrivals tightly. Trucks are marshalled away from the building and called to a dock on a target time; freight moves down ramps and through the halls to the booth in the order the contractor sets. A truck that arrives outside its window waits, and waiting in San Francisco is billed.
Shipping to the contractor’s advance warehouse removes the dock lottery: the freight is already inside the system when move-in opens, and it is usually the cheaper drayage class.
Ramps, corners and the walk to a far position all limit crate size. We build in components that move through the building without special handling, which is a separate, expensive line.
Everything comes off the truck in the sequence it goes up. On a floor where labour is billed by the hour, unpacking is a cost centre.
Empty crates are tagged and removed to storage and return on a schedule after close. Outbound carriers must be booked and labelled before the show opens or the freight sits — at your cost — until someone claims it.
Moscone runs on contracted union labour and the general contractor decides which tasks exhibitor staff may perform themselves; plan on your team not building, wiring or moving crates. Rates are among the highest in the country and overtime windows arrive early in the day. None of that changes; what changes is how many hours it takes.
| Building reality | Design consequence |
|---|---|
| Two connected halls, walked one after the other | A message readable from the connection route; position decided by neighbours, not square footage |
| Height set by booth type; rigging by hang point | Confirm the sign’s hang point before the design depends on it; tall elements only where the rule allows |
| Below-grade halls, controlled docks, timed arrivals | Modular components sized for the route; advance-warehouse freight; packed in install order |
| Bright, evenly lit halls | Dark-environment demo rooms and command-centre builds need their own ceilings and lighting — and fire-marshal approval |
| Expensive union labour by the hour | A pre-built, photo-verified structure that goes up in hours; nothing solved for the first time on the floor |
| Traffic driven by the keynote programme in Moscone West | Enough demo positions and seats for the wave, and a private room for the conversation that follows it |
The booths we have built to these constraints are in the RSAC booth design gallery; the deadlines that go with them are in the planning guide. Every design is priced for San Francisco on the San Francisco booth rentals page.
Tell us your hall and position. You’ll have concepts designed to that space, one fixed price and every venue-billed line back within 24 hours.
Or call us directly — (800) 379-8451
