Conference Management and Publications, NEH

Providing government travel services, contract negotiations, and designing publications.  

Over a 3-year period, Cygnus supported 6 regional meetings to orient new members of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) State Humanities Councils and 3 national meetings for state council chairpersons and executive directors, with participants traveling from all 50 States, the DC, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Meetings were held around the country at sites including San Francisco, CA; Dallas, TX; Richmond, VA; Philadelphia, PA; and Tempe, AZ. 

Cygnus staff handled all of the logistical aspects of these conferences, including researching host cities and facilities, conducting site inspections of all hotels under serious consideration, and negotiating contracts with the hotels selected by NEH. The contracts covered all parameters and costs for lodging, meeting rooms, equipment, and an extensive set of catered functions, including receptions, dinners, lunches, and breakfast meetings. Cygnus staff members attended each conference to provide the on-site assistance required to ensure successful arrangements for the participants and reimbursed conference participants promptly following each meeting.

We ensured that all transportation arrangements were made predominantly through the designated Government Travel Management Center, or as needed through our own travel agent. Cygnus staff served as liaison with participants to be sure they made travel arrangements in a timely manner.  Quality control was performed upon receipt of the participants’ tickets from the Government Travel Management Center to ensure that the travel dates and fares were correct. Tickets were sent via certified mail with return receipt requested, and each ticket was tracked to be sure it was received. Both Our staff provided participants by telephone and in writing, information they needed about lodging, meals, travel, reimbursement, and other meeting-related concerns, as well as information on local cultural events and restaurants.

Cygnus also prepared a substantial amount of orientation and training material. The publications support provided to NEH included:

  • Compiling material provided by the client;
  • Designing the format and layout for all materials;
  • Typing, editing, and proofreading the text; and
  • Reproducing, assembling, and mailing the materials to participants.

We created an attractive 4-color design, incorporating the NEH logo for the cover, spine, tabs, divider pages, and name badges used at the meetings. In addition to materials distributed in advance of the meetings, Cygnus typed, edited, proofread, reproduced, and assembled numerous other materials that were distributed on-site.

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