Conference attendees don't always get a chance to sightsee. So for a kickoff party at a corporate conference in Washington, GEP Destination Management recreated the city's museums and monuments in a 50,000-square-foot hotel exhibition space. The March 25 event, called "A Night at the Museum," presented the National Mall and five Washington museums for 3,000 guests at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland.
"It was second best to going there," said Lauren Beegal, the firm's regional director of operations. The displays and artifacts weren't the real things, but they were close enough that some guests wondered if a replica of the Hope Diamond was authentic. "The level of detail was there," Beegal said. GEP designed the event and turned to Design Foundry to construct the pieces.
The museum vignettes had exhibits paired with themed interactive elements. The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum section, for instance, featured a replica of the Wright brothers' plane and a flight simulator for guests. For the Newseum, guests could test their skills as a TV reporter and choose from several prepared scripts. Each had lighting, seating, and linens that matched the theme.
Green turf carpeting ran down the center of the space to create the National Mall, with models of the Washington Monument and the United States Capitol building anchoring it. Rented foliage and park benches added to the scene.
