A one-day convention in Madrid brings the leadership message, a guest speaker, group work and a close with awards into a single day. We propose a convention venue next to Barajas and IFEMA so the team can arrive by high-speed train or by plane in the morning and travel home the same afternoon.
When is one day enough?
One day works when the goal is to deliver a clear message and get the team aligned: the January kick-off, the mid-year sales conference or the annual distributor meeting. It also works when the budget or the calendar leaves no room for a hotel night.
Madrid helps. It sits at the centre of Spain's high-speed rail network and has the busiest airport in the country, so a team spread across Spain can arrive first thing and be home by night. What we set out here is an indicative sample programme: we adjust it to your arrival times, your content and the size of the group.
Why the Madrid Marriott Auditorium?
The Madrid Marriott Auditorium Hotel & Conference Center handles the whole day under one roof. According to its website, it has 869 guest rooms, 56 event rooms and a 2,100 m² auditorium for up to 2,000 people theatre style. The plenary, breakouts, lunch and drinks all take place in the same building, with no transfers in between.
Location is the other reason. The hotel is on Avenida de Aragón, about 5 km from the airport according to the Madrid Convention Bureau, and very close to IFEMA MADRID. With flights landing before 08:30, the group is registered in time for the opening.
If most people come by train, it is worth looking at the Castellana axis: the NH Collection Madrid Eurobuilding or the Meliá Castilla are closer to Chamartín and the centre. We compare them against your list of departure cities in our guide to the best convention hotels in Madrid.
How does the programme scale from 150 to 1,500 people?
| Attendees |
Plenary |
Breakouts |
Close |
| 80 to 250 |
Hotel function room, theatre style |
4 to 8 small rooms |
Drinks in a function room or dinner in the centre |
| 250 to 800 |
Auditorium with partial stalls |
Divided function rooms and mid-sized rooms |
Drinks in the hotel |
| 800 to 1,500 |
Full auditorium |
Breakouts in time blocks or parallel plenaries |
Drinks by zones with several bars |
| More than 1,500 |
Palacio Municipal de IFEMA MADRID |
Rooms in the Palacio |
Adjoining space or the exhibition centre |
With large groups, the bottleneck is not the room but registration and lunch. We open more desks, stagger entry to the dining area and set up several buffet lines so the break does not eat into the afternoon.
Logistics: arriving by train, plane or car
We cross-check the travel list with your company's travel agency and organise pick-ups in time slots at Atocha, Chamartín and the Barajas terminal, with our own staff at each point. From the stations it is about 30 minutes by coach to the venue, depending on traffic, and from the airport between 10 and 15.
For those making their own way, the Airport Express bus links Barajas with the centre in about 40 minutes, and anyone driving from nearby cities receives access and parking directions with their registration. On the way back, staggered coaches leave at 19:30 to reach the last trains and evening flights with time to spare.
What changes with the season
A one-day indoor programme works all year round. What most affects the date is the IFEMA trade show calendar: during the weeks of major trade shows, hotel rates in the area go up and the access roads get congested. In July and August the Madrid heat suggests holding the closing drinks indoors, and in December it pays to book early because it coincides with company Christmas dinners. We go through it month by month in our guide to the best time for events in Madrid.
Budget: what it depends on
We do not publish fixed prices because every convention is different. The cost items of a one-day programme are:
- Venue: hire of the auditorium and rooms, plus set-up and breakdown hours.
- Day delegate package: welcome coffee, breaks and lunch per person.
- Technical production: stage, screens, vision mixing, live streaming and interpreting.
- Content: speaker and host fees, videos and awards.
- Closing drinks: catering, drinks and music.
- Transfers: number of time slots, vehicles and pick-up points.
We go into detail in how much a convention in Madrid costs.
Who organises it
ECM is MC Group's brand for corporate events in Madrid. The team has more than 20 years of experience producing conventions, congresses and brand events, and has organised more than 100 corporate events in Madrid, with dedicated staff and event planners in the city. If you want to see how we approach the content, take a look at company conventions.
If you need more than one day, see the 2-day programme or the 3-day programme with a gala. And if you would rather leave the city without going far, the convention in Aranjuez and Chinchón is less than an hour away. All the options are in convention programmes.
Tell us about your convention and within 24 business hours we will send you a proposal with venue, agenda and an itemised estimate.
Sources
- Marriott: Madrid Marriott Auditorium, events
- Marriott: Madrid Marriott Auditorium, rooms
- Madrid Convention Bureau: Madrid Marriott Auditorium Hotel & Conference Center
- Madrid Convention Bureau: Palacio Municipal de IFEMA MADRID
- Madrid Convention Bureau: Casino de Madrid
- esMADRID: getting around Madrid
