Meetings on the Hill

Many Washington, DC residents are familiar with the complexities of planning events on Capitol Hill (a.k.a. "The Hill"); however, if you are new to this city or planning an event on the Hill, there are certain nuances to keep in mind.

Planning events on Capitol Hill can be tricky because there are so many pieces to juggle that are unique to the government. For example, setting up meetings with representatives can be challenging because you have to find the proper contact information for your Senator or Congressman, submit an official letter, and make follow up phone calls. One of the best ways to actually get a meeting is to directly contact the Legislative Assistant.

In order to reserve a room for the event, your space must be sponsored by a Congressman or Representative. You’re most-likely to get a response from the offices of one of the congressman you previously contacted to set up a meeting.

Luckily, the only catering company allowed on Capitol Hill, Capitol Host, is easy to work with and professional. Once you know the date and location of your event, give them a call and they will walk you through all the important steps to fulfill your catering needs.

The biggest concern is security. Everything that you will bring in to either the Capitol building or one of the House or Senate offices, you’ll have to take through security. The Capitol building is extremely strict and does not allow food or drink. You should confirm first that anything you bring with you (example: signs) are allowed inside. Also, when considering the start time of your event, allow at least half an hour for guests to get through security because the lines can often be long.

With thoughtful and careful planning, the Hill can truly serve as a memorable venue for your next meeting or event.

Meeting planning in a minute

Meeting planners are often faced with pulling rabbits out of hats, creating magical atmospheres all the while not spending a dime in the process. Another characteristic is to produce a last minute meeting. What’s one to do when the agreement with a new client is signed on a Friday, and wheels up for a trip across the country needs to occur the following Tuesday – all of this prior to having any background details on the meeting that will take place later that week on Thursday? At The Event Planning Group, LLC, we know this challenge all too well and offer these tips on short lead time events:

Keep it simple. This means keep the agenda uncomplicated by forgoing complex general sessions or multiple breaks. Get your content and messaging solid rather than focus on the bells and whistles.

Seek help. Short lead times require all hands on deck, and if you happen to be the only hands on the deck, seek outside resources such as independent planners that can provide some quick assistance, and often have available resources to tap quickly.

Be creative. If you need to choose a venue in a short time frame, consider locations that have complete meeting packages (cmp) where the food, audio visual, breaks and other amenities are already included.

With simplification, innovation and focus, meetings in a minute not only can be done, but they can be done very well.

Government spending's (or lack thereof) impact on meetings

It's no secret that the government seems to be in a continuous review of all expenditures large or small. This presents unique challenges for government meetings given they typically operate on lower budgets overall. For those who plan and attend government-sponsored meetings, you know the challenges all too well in producing a successful program.

Often, many government meetings are not able to offer food for their attendees. In this instance, the planner typically will try to choose a hotel that is nearby plentiful eateries. And hopefully the hotel is not too far off the beaten track due to some hotels in more progressive locations often will not offer the government per diem rate. So what's a planner to do? It seems that relationships will be a large part of your success.

It's pretty hard to approach a hotel with offering next to none sleeping rooms (which is how they make most of their money), no food and beverage (which is additional revenue) and oh by the way, they will host upwards of 500 people -- which means you may take most of their space. So it's clear why this type of meeting may not be as attractive to a hotel. But the government is still a good customer and often can fill gaps as needed, AND is often the entity that helps keep hotels going when other business drops off. So on both sides of the aisle -- planner and hotelier -- there has to be a give and take in order to arrive at the best deal. Regardless of our progressive state of technology that seems to breed less human interaction, there will always be a role for phone-to-phone and face-to-face relationships. As government planners, we've found this to be our saving grace in successfully booking and managing these type of programs.

What kind of experiences have you had with this sector?