Washington D.C.’s Renaissance Hotel, in the heart of downtown and convenient to almost everything in the district, is a very popular venue for conventions, conferences, trade shows, meetings, and retreats. With over 64,000 square feet of meeting space, including 36 meeting rooms and a Grand Ballroom with more than 19,000999 square feet and a seating capacity of 2,500, and all the exhibition space you could possibly need, what else is necessary?

All of the meeting rooms and public areas are wired, as are the guest rooms.

The venue offers complete AV and teleconferencing capabilities, and the hotel furnishes an event services manager, on duty 24 hours.

Computers and printers, copy and fax services are also available at the Renaissance.

Got packages?  This venue can take care of those, too, whether they’re coming in or going out.

The hotel can also furnish your conference people with walkie talkies.

As for location, downtown D.C. is as handy as it gets.  The Renaissance is next door to the Washington Convention Center and only a few blocks from the Metro. The Renaissance also offers complementary use of the vida Fitness Center and aura Spa.

The Renaissance is a Marriott, and you can use your rewards here.

The hotel is smoke-free, and no animals are allowed except for service animals.

Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown Hotel
• 999 Ninth Street NW
• Washington, DC 20001 US
• Phone: 1 202 898 9000
• Fax: 1 202 289 0947
• Sales: 1 202 898 9000

The beautiful Walter E. Washington Convention Center is brand new as far as the usual D.C. building is concerned, but its history is long and interesting.

The city’s first convention center was built in 1874, and a second floor was added in 1893.  This conference hall served D.C. for a little over fifty years!  The present Washington Convention Center opened in 2003.

Click here to see the center’s interactive map.

I have been on a speaking run here in the first 5 months of 2009 and it looks like that trend may continue.  I sometimes submit myself as a speaker and other times I am asked by event planners to come and speak to their attendees.  As an event organizer myself I know how it is to get a large number of submissions of speaking ideas and proposals and to have to pour through them to make a decision on what speaker might best fit.

I recently received an announcement by for a call for speakers:

Event Technology Expo (ETE), the National Expo and Conference addressing all aspects of Technology for Tradeshows, Meetings/Conventions, and Special Events, has issued its call for speakers for the upcoming national event. The show will be returning to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, September 9-10, 2009, as a co-located event with HSMAI’s Affordable Meetings® National.

In order to get the instructions on submission you can go to their site.  The submissions are open until May 25, 2009.  If you are a person that is comfortable speaking in front of an audience, it might be a good idea to submit your own speaking proposal to an event that is in your genre or niche.  It is a good way to help build your own personal brand and get you in front of the people that could help you and your business.

Tags: ETE, Washington DC, Events, Trade Shows, Conventions

I’m always on the lookout for convention news or event planning or trade shows related to what is on my mind at the time.  What is on my mind recently is the holidays.  So let’s look at what we find when looking for Holidays and Conventions.  What stood out to me when I looked at the results was something that was put on by the Washington DC Convention and Visitors Authority called Holiday Homecoming.  This site has every holiday covered from Hanukkah, to Kwanzaa and Christmas.  Obviously, being our nation’s capital they have to cover every base, they do well and they have a listing of every type of event known in each area.  They tell you how to get around, and how to plan for the events, and most information you’ll need for the holidays.  Check out the site that Washington DC Convention and Visitors Authority has put together for the holidays.

I’ll be traveling to Boston this weekend to attend a conference where I am a speaker.  Technically the conference is not during the holiday, but I have to get there during the holiday weekend.  As I have mentioned before I am a procrastinator of the worst order, so therefore, my travel plans were late in the making.  The result this time is I will be taking a flight in the middle of the night.  Literally, my flight leaves at 11:59 p.m., one minute before midnight.  I guess it is not too bad because I can sleep a little bit on the flight.  The three hour layover in DC may not be too fun, but at least I can get into my room in the morning and have the day to decompress before the conference begins in Boston. 

The holiday travelers wreak havoc on the business traveler during these times.  They also contribute to massive problems whenever there is bad weather.  I have been watching weather patterns just to make sure.  Of course, I cannot control the weather, but I could travel around them I suppose.  I may have to post to this blog from an airport next week, I hope it is not because I am stuck somewhere and can’t get home.  I get these thoughts running through my head that I will be living out a nightmare like the movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles or like the mom from Home Alone.  I’ll make sure we keep you up to date on the travel situation.

Colorado used to be host to The International Golf Tournament every year and it was played at a very exclusive golf course called Castle Pines.  Not only was the course itself very exclusive, the neighborhood was like trying to get into Fort Knox.  It was nearly impossible to drive past the gate of this guarded community.  So what happens when you have to have 50,000 people attend the golf tournament?  I myself had attended the tournament and can remember parking in a horse pasture a few miles away from the gate.  How did we reach that elusive community?  We were moved there by a specialty company that specializes in moving people at events.

This special type of company is what we are featuring in this week’s Friday Feature.  I had a chance to speak to the CEO of The Convention Store, Inc., Elaine Curl and I learned a number of very interesting facts about the ability to move lots of people from point A to point B in the area of conventions, trade shows and other events.  Other events to the people at The Convention Store include very important gatherings such as Presidential Inaugurations and of course my favorite events, sports gatherings, such as the Ryder Cup!

It was clear after speaking to Elaine Curl of The Convention Store that she is truly and expert in her field of Transportation Logistics and Design Management, or in other words she can do a great job of moving lots of people and doing it securely and safely and with little hassle to the passengers as possible. Elaine tells me that transporting people is like”

“Creation of a beautiful dance, or like choreographing a wonderful production of a dance in a Broadway show.”

Truly this is the case since they can choreograph moving 10,000 people in 45 minutes!  Try to wrap your mind around the logistics of that and you will understand why it is imperative to have experts such as those as Elaine and her company The Convention Store.  Thinking just about the issues of safety and security alone can make my head spin, but The Convention Store is equipped with the expertise to make this a very easy proposition for your convention or trade show or other events as I spoke about above.  I asked about their experience, and it is clear they are an industry leader with 24 years of experience. 

Showing a bit of her human side Elaine quipped that she has gone as far as printing up T-shirts that had on the front:

“We Have Told A Million People Where to Get Off!”

We had a good laugh and then she also showed her professional side  when she revealed a very impressive list of clients and people they have served all over the country and in Canada, including of course, the Clinton Administration with its inauguration, The PGA, Baltimore Airport, Dulles International Airport, and National Education Association to name just a small list.  

After speaking to Elaine I got a feel for her hands on approach to every contract they fulfill, down to her inspecting every driver roster, vehicle maintenance logs, and visits to every bus maintenance facility they use for fulfilling the needs of their customers.  She has a huge responsibility with her choreography , but after 24 years, they are not only on top of the game, they love to play it.  I for one know where to find my next vendor for convention transportation.  You might check out The Convention Store yourself and find out if they can dazzle you as they have me.  Just take a moment to read about the people they have served and the opinions of that service. Good luck Elaine with your future and if ever I need to move 10,000 people in 45 minutes, I’ll definitely look you up!

I was running through my inbox last night and as I scanned the content of a few emails at a time, something caught my eye as it related to some event planning opportunities.  There is a group that I follow and a terrific organization that puts on a convention  each year, and in fact has split the convention into two parts, one being business and the other its flagship event, BlogHer.  The convention I refer to is the folks at BlogHer.org.  I thought I would help them spread the word that there is a need for them to have some event planners nd perhaps if you are looking for an opportunity they have some work:

Speaking of having a full roster…

As you may have heard, in addition to our BlogHer Business event in New York (April) and our Annual Conference in San Francisco (July), we are embarking on our first BlogHer road show — the “Reach Out Tour” in October of 2008.

And we would like a little help from our community.

Specifically, we are looking to hire local event planners to help with some of the on-site conference elements in each of our Tour cities. So, if you have prior professional experience as an event planner and are local to one of our Reach Out Tour stops, please contact Kristy. Don’t forget to include your contact info., relevant background info., and resume.

As a reminder, our Reach Out Tour stops are:
Boston
DC
Greensboro
Nashville
Atlanta
New Orleans

Thanks in advance

I can remember when this group was a small handful of people thinking that it would be cool to put together a conference like this and I’m glad they have made it happen.  If you are an event planner and have a need to get your services noticed, this group is definitely the group to unite yourself with in being noticed.  If you live any any of the cities they are planning their events, give them a line and see if you can help them out.