WASHINGTON — With a powerful roster of speakers headlining CUNA's Governmental Affairs Conference this year, a new location, and the backdrop of a Presidential campaign, participants can expect a truly educational event.
Opening session attendees will hear from retired General Colin Powell, and Chris Matthews, host of Hardball, will be a Wednesday's luncheon speaker. Returning speaker and humorist Dave Barry will be wrapping up the program.
The Congressional congressional contingent of speakers includes House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Ranking Member Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.); Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.); House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.); Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.); Representative Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.); and Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.). NCUA Board Members Chairman JoAnn Johnson, Rodney Hood, and Gigi Hyland are all scheduled to make remarks as well.
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CUNA is also expecting to host the traditional surprise speaker during the conference on Tuesday morning, according to CUNA Senior Vice President of Communications Mark Wolff, who coordinates the entire event.
On Wednesday morning, CUNA expects that guests from the Hill will discuss prominent upcoming issues that will be prominent on the Congressional congressional calendar this year including CURIAthe Credit Union Regulatory Improvements Act.
Topics in the break out sessions will range from using the New Media in Political Advocacy, to UBIT, the unrelated business income tax, to federal responses to the mortgage meltdown. The sessions will be led by the CUNA executive staff–Mark Wolff, Richard Gose, Lilly Thomas, Ryan Donovan and Mary Dunn.
Capitol Hill visits are once more the centerpiece of the conference, according to CUNA. For several years they were moved to the end of the conference so the visits would occur when more members of Congress were in town, but it was always a rather anticlimactic way to end the GAC after such visits, Wolff said. He said feels that the move to our the new location has solved the problem by shifting events up a day. Now Hill visits are on a Wednesday afternoon, when Congress is in session and legislators are in town, and the GAC runs through Thursday.
According to CUNA sources, CUNA will host the GAC in the Washington Convention Center this year. Previously, the GAC has been held in the Washington Hilton, however record ever-increasing attendance with an estimated 4,500 delegates at GAC for 2008 dictated a move to the Washington Convention Center.
Dan Mica, president/CEO of CUNA noted that CUNA has made special provisions to remember its Hilton traditions. Said Mica, "In trading spaces we have not forgotten our roots. We have made every attempt to preserve the creature comforts that GAC participants came to expect at the Hilton–intimate gathering spots, convenient meeting locations, easy access to refreshments and more. It is the new, improved version of the GAC, but with the elements of history and success of past GACs built right in."
Jill Tomalin, CUNA Senior Vice President, Association Services noted, "from a meetings-planning standpoint, managing the transition to the Convention Center has been a huge endeavor. Housing, staging, transportation, amenities, convention center d?(C)cor, signage–all must be handled differently than what we've done for the past 30 years. Nonetheless, she said, "We fully expect, and are making every possible effort, to ensure our attendees have a terrific experience in this first GAC at our new locale."
According to CUNA, a high-tech message center in the main foyer outside our sessions (the L Street Bridge area) has been added. This means that attendees can read, send, reply or forward messages to other attendees' systems. An electronic board will notify participants when they have a message waiting.
There will be no shortage of entertainment at GAC, with the band America opening Sunday with a headline concert.
A gala reception and dance the evening of the Hill visits is also planned. That evening, CUNA says, the delegates will be able to talk informally to each other about how their Hill visits went using the feedback they received from members of Congress. The final closing general session is on Thursday morning. Presenters will also include Marie Osmond and Robert Klein.
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