FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 19, 2008

WASHINGTON, DC CONVENTION OUTLOOK: SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER, 2008

(Washington, DC)  As the summer heat cools, DC’s fall convention calendar is warming up.  In the next two weeks, DC will play host to two major gatherings attracting more than 23,000 African-American leaders and professionals, leading off a fall convention calendar that also includes major medical, military and international events.

“Traditionally, the fall months have always seen a boost in the convention and meetings arena and this year is no exception,” said Bill Hanbury, president and CEO, Destination DC. “We’ve got several high profile groups meeting in DC this fall, starting this week with the National Black MBA Association.”

Among this month’s largest gatherings, the National Black MBA Association kicks off its 30th Annual Conference and Exposition today at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, continuing through Sept. 20:
    
     • Billed as the largest development and networking event for black professionals, the conference draws more than 15,000 industry experts, recruiters, community leaders, students and movers-and-shakers from leading corporations like Target, McDonald’s, PepsiCo, ExxonMobil and TimeWarner and top universities, plus notables like Kareem Abdul-Jabar and Colin Powell.
     • Attendees will stay in 22 DC hotels, using as many as 5,000 rooms on the busiest night and generating nearly $18 million in delegate spending for the official conference events alone. Each night, corporate sponsors and chapters will hold some 60-70 receptions at various locations throughout the city.
     • Thousands of professionals and recruiters from leading corporations will gather at the Career Fair, which runs tomorrow, Thursday, Sept. 18 and Friday, Sept. 19, from 9 am- 5 pm at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.  In addition to networking opportunities, the Career Fair also includes a full slate of professional development workshops on public speaking, social networking and other topics.

Next week, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation convenes its annual meeting, running Sept. 24-27. Official events taking place at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center include more than 70 workshops that will attract more than 8,000 attendees, generating approximately $10 million in delegate spending.  When the official sessions conclude, DC’s restaurants, clubs and unique spaces will make way for star-studded receptions, concerts and other special events.

October brings the return of the annual meeting of the Association of the U.S. Army. Running Oct. 6-8, the convention draws more than 20,000 attendees, including soldiers, reserve officers, guard members, retirees, family members and civilians, plus headlining speakers like  Honorable Pete M. Green, Secretary of the Army, General George W. Casey, Jr., Chief of Staff, United States Army and Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  The meeting kicks off with the running of the U.S. Army “10 Miler” race on Oct. 5, which starts and finishes at the Pentagon, sweeping past notable sites like the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol Building.

Another high-profile fall gathering, the Oct. 10-13 Boards of Governors Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group draw thousands of international officials and media to DC to discuss economics and finance issues impacting each organization.

DC’s calendar of upcoming conventions includes high profile health and bioscience conventions where attendees gather to share cutting-edge research findings through lectures, symposia and workshops, such as the Cardiovascular Research Foundation, which expects to draw 12,000 attendees to the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics Annual Meeting, Oct. 13-15. Another significant fall medical gathering, the American Society for Microbiology and the Infectious Disease Society of America anticipate more than 12,000 attendees at the ICAAC (Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy) /IDSA Joint Meeting, taking place Oct. 25-28. 

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About Destination DC:  Destination DC, the lead destination marketing organization for the nation’s capital, is a private, non-profit membership organization of more than 1,000 businesses committed to marketing the area as a premier global convention, tourism and special events destination with a special emphasis on the arts, cultural and historic communities. Destinationdc.com.