480+ corporate events · 5 years
Plan corporate events in Washington, DC around the convention center, the Mall and the city's big conference weeks. Racing simulators, AI photo booths and AV come with the operators who run them.
The building you pick decides who carries our gear inside and how guests reach you, so we start every DC plan with the venue.
Walter E. Washington Convention Center
The 2.3 million sq ft center fills a superblock at Mount Vernon Square, between 7th, 9th and N streets NW, with a Metro stop at the door. It also holds the largest art collection of any U.S. convention center, which makes a good backdrop for a reception in the concourse.
Marriott Marquis Washington DC
The convention center's headquarters hotel has 1,175 rooms and over 100,000 sq ft of meeting space. Its ballrooms suit the client dinner after a show day.
Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center
It hosts more than 1,200 events a year in two large ballrooms and on the 4-acre Woodrow Wilson Plaza. The city's largest parking garage sits underneath, which helps with our van and with guests who drive.
National Building Museum
The Great Hall measures 316 by 116 ft, with columns 75 ft tall, and it has held inaugural balls. A gala here needs a quiet station plan, so we place simulators along the side arcades.
Gaylord National Resort
At National Harbor in Maryland, it has 2,000 rooms and 537,430 sq ft of meeting space under a 19-story glass atrium on the Potomac. A multi-day conference can stay in one building from the general session to the closing party.
DC's biggest weeks follow Congress and the federal budget year, and hotel blocks fill fast around them.
DC's exhibit labor rules leave your own staff little time on the floor. Plan around them, and setup day goes to schedule.
Booth setup
Carpenters Local 491 install booths, pipe and drape, and signs. Your staff can set up a 10 by 10 booth or smaller. On a larger booth, two of your full-time employees get one hour on move-in and one hour on move-out without carpenters.
Tools and freight
Exhibitors can't use power tools or stand on ladders. You can hand-carry small items in one trip, without a dolly. Teamsters Local 639 unload everything else through the general contractor.
Power
Electricians make ceiling drops and connect floor boxes. You may plug in your own equipment if it needs no hardwiring or 220 V, so we fit the setup to your booth and confirm space and power with you before the electrical order goes in.
Hours
Straight time runs 8 AM to 5 PM, Monday to Friday. If your show moves in on a weekend, check the overtime rules in your show kit.
The National Mall
The National Park Service permits more than 4,000 activities a year on the Mall. A special event may need liability insurance that names the United States of America as additional insured. We send our insurance documents to the venue or agency on request.
Union labor and our crew
We have two bases, Los Angeles and Orlando, and work across the U.S. We hire the union labor your venue requires and run the stations ourselves once they're placed.
The DC metro is 6.3 million people in three jurisdictions, and each area has its own venues and rules.
Running a series up the I-95 corridor? We also plan corporate events in Philadelphia and New York corporate events.
DC events serve government, the companies that sell to it and the associations that speak for whole industries.
Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems, SAIC, Leidos and CACI have offices near the Pentagon. Their booths at AUSA need a draw that fits engineers and officers: a flight or racing simulator with a timed leaderboard works.
Trade and professional groups such as AUSA, which has its headquarters in Arlington, hold annual meetings, awards dinners and Hill days. An interactive station in the expo hall keeps members at sponsor booths between sessions.
Amazon's HQ2 and the AWS Summit draw vendors who sell to agencies. For them we build a branded activation with AI photo booth portraits and lead capture.
Merck, Pfizer, Novavax and MedImmune work near NIH in Maryland. Their events are scientific meetings and staff appreciation days, where a VR station or a photo booth fits between talks.
Pick one service for an AUSA booth or combine several for a conference at National Harbor.
A photo booth fits a gala in the Building Museum's Great Hall or an association reception at the Marriott Marquis. We bring AI and 360 photo booths: the AI photo booth prints branded portraits and collects contacts, and the 360 booth gives guests a slow-motion clip to post.
Summer days in DC are hot and humid, so plan it indoors from June to August. A simulator tournament in a hotel ballroom or at a Navy Yard event space works all year. See our team building programs.
Your AV plan follows the venue: many hotels have an in-house AV team, and we work next to it. Our AV rental for corporate events covers sound, screens and a technician. For agencies that stream a session to field offices, we also run hybrid event production.
At a convention center show, we add registration staff and booth hosts next to the operators at each station. See how our event staffing works.
Racing simulator rental in Washington, DC fits a defense booth at AUSA or a sales kickoff at National Harbor. VR rental, flight and surf simulators come from the same fleet, with one quote for all of it.
Only a 10 by 10 booth or smaller, or a larger one inside the one-hour window from the union rules above. Send us your booth size, and we'll mark which tasks go to Carpenters Local 491 and which our operators do at the station.
Yes, most organized events need a National Park Service permit, with the insurance terms from the rules above. Permits go first come, first served, so apply as soon as you have a date.
Check the week against cherry blossom season, from mid-March into April, and the big shows: TRB in January and AUSA in October. Hotels fill and roads slow down then. A late-spring or early-fall date is often easier.
July averages about 80 °F, and the heat index can approach 100 °F, with frequent afternoon thunderstorms. Book shade and a covered fallback for a summer event.
Yes. Our corporate event planning in Washington, DC covers the venue, from the Reagan Building to the Gaylord at National Harbor, a program timed around Hill days or a show week, production and the interactive, with one quote. We also take a single sponsor reception during AUSA.
For a holiday party, the Building Museum's Great Hall or a venue at The Wharf works well. For a corporate retreat near Washington, DC, we look at National Harbor or Virginia hotels and plan the sessions and an interactive evening.
Yes. As a DMC in Washington, DC, we book hotels near the convention center or at National Harbor, plan transfers from Reagan National and add a group dinner at The Wharf. For TRB or AUSA, we also build and staff your booth, with the interactive station on the same floor plan.
Every DC event gets a custom quote. It depends on the stations and hours, and on the building: labor and electrical orders at the convention center, or the permit terms on the Mall. Read how we quote, then send us your date.
Send the date, the venue and your guest count. We'll check the venue and our calendar, and we'll reply right away.
Share the event type, the date, the venue or neighborhood, the guest count and your budget. For a convention center show, add the hall and your booth size. Or call +1 213 912 1010
