The Clinton Global Initiative
CWA has been actively involved with the Clinton Global Initiative, its growth, and its various iterations since its inception in 2005. Serving as an Executive Producer, Chris Wayne has been responsible for all aspects of event production, logistics and conference support. While we are proud of the accolades that the conference has received over the past few years, we are most proud of the impact that the meeting has had on bettering the lives of millions of people around the world - a direct result of the basic underlying idea of the event: commitment to action.
Annual Meeting
CWA scope of service includes all logistical coordination of activities during the Annual Meeting immediately surrounding President Clinton, other Heads of State, dignitaries and VIPs. CWA also oversees all design, implementation and coordination of sessions on and off site in New York City, including the opening reception at MoMa. CGI was recently named by BizBash as the top Political, Legal and Diplomatic event of the year.CGI Asia
As Producer of the CGI Asia, CWA designed and implemented the first foreign meeting of the CGI series. CWA served as the liaison between CGI and the Hong Kong Government, and also was tasked with logistics and coordination on site with the hotel, technical vendors, labor and other local business entities.CGI U
During the inaugural meeting of the CGI U, the university counterpart of Annual Meeting, CWA expanded our services to include management of travel arrangements, ground transportation and hotel accommodations for the nearly 1000 student attendees in New Orleans, Louisiana. Our team was also responsible for the coordination and execution the of the CGI U day of service, where 1000 students were transported to the lower 9th ward to participate in a rebuilding project for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.White Oak
CWA also serves as the producer and consultant behind CGI’s annual retreat for top level working group chair and advisors, which occurs annually at the White Oak Natural Conservatory in Yulee, Florida. CWA is tasked with designing and implementing an intimate atmosphere to foster thoughtful debate and analysis of the goals and programs of CGI for both the immediate future and the long-term. Our team also serves as the logistical coordinator of the event, arranging flights, ground transportation, and lodging for high-level guests invited to the retreat annually.
The Wall Street Journal CEO Council
With the global financial markets in crisis, the U.S. health care system under stress, and increasingly difficult challenges emerging in energy and the environment, America faces urgent issues that require action. On November 17-18, 2008, The Wall Street Journal convened nearly one hundred CEOs of major global companies for a working session to focus on the key priorities facing President-elect Obama and the new Congress as they take office during tumultuous economic times.The proceedings opened on the evening on November 17, when U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr. and two of his predecessors—Robert E. Rubin and Lawrence H. Summers—met with the group for dinner to address the subject that is at the top of everyone’s agenda: the global economy. On November 18, the CEOs divided into four “task forces” to address key issues facing the new administration: finance and the U.S. economy; energy and the environment; health care; and America’s role in the global economy. These task force discussions were facilitated by the Journal's top editors, while the participants also met with leading policymakers in each of the four areas.
Each task force utilized a unique piece of software developed in house by CWA and a state-of-the-art audience response system to craft and rank a set of priorities for the new administration in their policy area. We then brought all the CEOs together, and using the same software and ARS voting system, ranked the policies and priorities across the board. The results were then presented to incoming White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel as the top five priorities for the business community to the incoming administration.
In addition to the programmatic elements of the CEO Council, CWA was also responsible for comprehensive production services, including event development and planning, on-site vendor management, detailed stage and set design, scripting and show flow, sound and lighting, video segment production, event graphics and multimedia elements.
By building an event that allowed the great minds of the business community to participate and engage through technology and discussion, the Wall St. Journal and CWA succeeded and creating a unique, memorable and impactful event for our attendees and the media.
Campus Progress
CWA is currently in the second year of a partnership with Campus Progress, the youth outreach division of the Center for American Progress, to design, produce and implement their annual conference in Washington, D.C. The Campus Progress National Conference is the nation’s largest gathering of progressive young people, who come to DC each summer to discuss the issues facing our nation. Serving as the general producer and conference planner, CWA handles all logistical and production aspects of this large conference.For the 2009 Campus Progress National Conference, CWA managed travel and lodging for 1,000 attendees; in addition to the production and logistics of the conference. Our team has worked to develop a streamlined system for travel booking for major conferences that has been used for major clients such as Campus Progress, CGI U and AACTE. We also have developed a successful system for event registration, that uses one database spanning from initial registration to on-site credentialing. The end result is an efficient process that captures all the necessary information needed by the client while minimizing the time required of the attendees.
CWA also played an integral part in modernizing the program for the Campus Progress National Conference, including applying creative thinking to make the conference more interactive for attendees. CWA brought on their top-notch team of graphic designers to incorporate video elements, and fostered debate, discussion and networking among the attendees to help improve the conference over years past. CWA’s involvement helped the 2009 conference garner the most press attention the group has ever received, as well as the most positive feedback from attendees in its six year history.
National Clean Energy Summit
In August of 2008 CWA was brought on to produce the inaugural National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Summit is a partnership between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, The Center for American Progress, T. Boone Pickens, and the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. CWA drew upon their experience in producing large-scale content heavy events, and helped the coalition develop a compelling program for the media while creating a forum for the free and open discussion of policy ideas.The event, which was attended by some 2000 individuals from around the country, and covered in over 150 media outlets, was entirely designed, produced and implemented by the CWA team. Our challenge was to create a venue in which participants could discuss complex topics ranging from cap-and-trade policy to tax incentives for renewable energy investments, while reaching out effectively to a broad and diverse audience – including the media, policy and opinion makers, current and potential member organizations, and the general public. The solution was to create a visually enabled set that manifested the central themes of the National Clean Energy Summit and projected the strength and innovation of the participants and their organizations. By weaving together state-of-the-art presentation elements and new audience participation technology, we produced dialogue sessions and accompanying video content that explored in depth issues of importance to our participants and the general public.
The National Clean Energy Summit, called for by Senator Harry Reid, featured remarks from President Bill Clinton, Secretary of Energy Dr. Steven Chu, former Arizona Governor and Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, T. Boone Pickens, Utah Governor John Huntsman, and many other high profile members of the political and environmental communities. The success of the event has paved the way for Summit to become an ongoing program, which CWA has been brought on to produce including the National Clean Energy Project of 2008 and the National Clean Energy Summit in 2009.
