What to Expect (Overview of the Conference)

NGAUS Conference Information Sheet – Baltimore, Maryland 09-12 September 2016

What to Expect (overview of the conference) This is kind of a day by day blow of the highlights of each day, you can refer to the schedule of events for more detailed info on the schedule, attached to this is the event schedule and the business meeting schedule (realize this may change before the conference but changes shouldn’t be too drastic).

Friday, September 09, 2016 Friday is the day most personnel will arrive. The highlights of this day are the golf tournament and company grade / warrant officer mixer This year the company grade / warrant officer mixer will be held at the Power Plant Live http://www.powerplantlive.com. This is a great opportunity for company grade personnel to socialize with other states company grades and share ideas, stories and fun. The golf tournament is also this day at the Sparrows Point Golf Course http://www.sparrowspointcc.org.

06:30 to 1400 NGAUS Golf Tournament 1930 to 2330 Company Grade / Warrant Officer Mixer

Saturday, September 10, 2016 0800 to 1115 Officer Professional Development – First Session First Business Session - this is where all attendees gather to get NGAUS reports, listen to guest speakers and share information. There are usually 4000-5000 personnel in attendance here and being that we are a 100% state in membership we always sit in the very front. The opening ceremony of the first business session if 1200 to 1700 very cool, one of the things they do is a parade of flags where each state’s flag is walked across the stage while a member of the state delegation talks about their state, one lucky member of our delegation will get the opportunity to excel in front of 4000-5000 personnel. The Governors reception – is an informal chance to socialize 1830 to 2100 with attendees of the conference, food and beverages are provided. Sunday, September 11, 2016 0800 to 1200 Second Business Session 1100 to 1300 Spouses’ Brunch – Location – Hilton Baltimore Key Ballroom 1130 to 1430 Retired / Separated Luncheon and Caucus 1200 to 1400 Warrant Officer Luncheon and Caucus Officer Professional Development – Company Grade 1300 to 1615 Caucus/Elections) Second Session Hospitality Night - This is where we get together as a group and visit the other state’s hospitality rooms; this is a great time to let our hair down a little bit and socialize with everyone. The company 1800 to 2300 grade officer grant recipients in the delegation will develop an operation order and brief this order to the delegation based off intent provided by the Adjutant General.

Monday, September 12, 2016 Army and Air Separate Sessions – this is where each service 0800 to 1000 gets together to discuss their separate issues. 1030 to 1130 Third Business Session 1330 to 1630 Officer Professional Development – Third Session States Dinner – This will be a formal event. Army will wear ASU or Dress Mess and Air will wear Service/Mess Dress. All attendees 1930 to 2130 will be here for a formal dinner, it is located in the Baltimore Convention Center

Uniform / Clothing Attire – Uniform for the Business Sessions will be Class B for Business Army and Blues for Air or your INGOA Polo with kakis or slacks. I Meetings would like to have everyone wear their INGOA polos to the First Business Session when we conduct the State Roll Call. States Dinner Attire – Army: ASU or Dress Mess, Air: Service/Mess Dress Weather / Time Zone Highs in the mid 80’s and lows in the 70’s, with an average Weather humidity of about 70% Time Zone Eastern Time Zone

Transportation Civilian air prices range from $250-$350 round trip (as of 06 June 16). The Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall International (BWI) Airport is the closest commercial airport. It handles most To and From the commercial carriers. A free shuttle will be provided between BWI Conference and official conference hotels downtown on main travel days, Sept. 8, 9, and 13. Taxis, paid shuttles and trains are options on other days. Amtrak offers a 10% discount off the best available rail fare to Baltimore between 04-15 September. To book your reservation call Amtrak at 1-800-872-7245 or contact your local travel agent. Reservations cannot be booked via Internet. Please be sure to refer to Convention Fare Code X44B-950 when making your Amtrak reservation. This offer is not valid on the Auto Train and Acela Service. Fare is valid on Amtrak Regional for all departures seven days a week, except for holiday blackouts. Offer valid with Sleepers, Business Class or First Class seats with payment of the full applicable accommodation charges. In the event that there is no shuttle from the hotel to the convention During the center the INGOA will have a support vehicle to transport Conference personnel from the convention center to the hotel and back as we well as other transportation.

Hotel Information The Iowa delegation Hotel is the Radisson Baltimore Downtown Inner Harbor. All rooms have been reserved under the Iowa Block (we have Radisson 40 rooms available). Standard room guest rates are $158 plus 15.5% tax Baltimore = $182.49 per night. Hotel Amenities: The Radisson offers a free Downtown Inner continental breakfast each morning, Bar, Lounge, Coffee Shop, Gym, Rooftop Pool, Complimentary Internet Email the INGOA Secretary to Harbor reserve your room at [email protected]. Hospitality Room Located in the North Tower on the 22nd Floor our hospitality room will be open from Thursday afternoon 08 September thru Monday evening 12 September. Hours of operation will vary each day but will definitely be open in the morning for a continental breakfast and evening for sandwiches, snacks and beverages. INGOA will provide Club Lounge all different kinds of beverages, to include OJ, pop, milk, coffee, liquor, beer and non-alcoholic drinks. We will have bagels and doughnuts in the morning and cold cut sandwiches, chips, peanuts and other snacks in the evening.

Grant Recipients Seven grants are available and are restricted to the grades ofWO1, CW2 and O-1 to O-3 and also restricted to new grant recipients, past NGAUS conference grant recipients are not eligible Selected officers should expect to pay for travel costs and $182 a night for hotel room (selected officers are encouraged to share a room to save money). Food and beverages during the conference is mostly covered at OPD Grant events and in the hospitality room. However, officers should be Recipients prepared to cover some costs of meals. Conference registration cost is covered by INGOA for the military member, if you bring a guest, there will be a $165 conference registration fee. The INGOA President will meet with the grant recipients prior to NGAUS and Friday 09 September prior to the Company grade / warrant officer mixer to cover what events they are required to attend.

Miscellaneous Information For the most part food and beverages are provided unless you want something different or want to go out to eat or on the town. Out of Pocket You may want to have some $ set aside for souvenirs (nick Costs knacks, shirts, etc).

Each individual will get a goody bag; we will have the bags ready NLT Friday noon. They will contain your tickets to the states dinner, tickets to the company grade mixer, state pins (described Goody Bags below), name badge (this must be worn to get into the business sessions and other events), area information and other goodies. Each state brings pins to trade; it is big business for the spouses. Make sure to bring them with you everywhere you go as folks will ask for State Pins them.

In the convention center there will be hundreds of exhibitors, they will have booths set up, they will all have great information to Exhibitors share and many of them will have a lot of neat give a ways, make sure to make time to visit the exhibits.

We will bring a small variety of INGOA shirts with us for you to purchase and wear to the different evening activities. Please contact our INGOA Shirts ED – Joe Robinson for more information about our INGOA Polos

Camera and/or video camera, Military Formal uniform, Class B or equivalent uniform, Business Casual and your INGOA Shirt. Shorts and Packing List running Gear (great fitness center at the hotel). Swimming suit (very nice pool on the roof of the hotel)

If you have any Jamie Clasen, INGOA President, ingoa- questions please [email protected], (515)-979-1886 contact