Major Events Division

Major Events Division

The primary mission of the Major Events (ME) Division is to logistically support Presidential, Vice Presidential, and Secretary of State -hosted major international multilateral summits, ministerials, peace talks, and other international conferences held both in the United States and abroad. Major Events is responsible for creating, staffing, and executing the foundational infrastructure and logistics platform upon which these major events take place. When the President, Vice President, or Secretary of State announces that the United States will host a major international meeting such as a summit, ministerial or conference, the Assistant Chief of Protocol for Major Events assigns an experienced planning team and manages the coordination of event details both within the Protocol Office and with stakeholders within the Department. For large summits, the division also works with the host city of a summit along with the White House and other agencies in their coordination efforts. The Major Events Division staff have a long history of planning large-scale events for the White House and Department of State and are uniquely trained to manage these specialized requirements. No other office in the U.S. government has the same capabilities, staff preparedness, and support infrastructure to build what is necessary to host a large-scale diplomatic event for the federal government. Key logistical elements the Major Events team executes for summits and ministerials are: • Inter and Intra-Agency Meeting and Communications Coordination • Production Contract Management • Event Budget Management • Press Logistics Management • Simultaneous Interpretation Management • Transportation Management • Airport Operations Management • Credentials Management • Website and Event App Management • Graphics Design • Hotel Accommodations Coordination • City Host Committee Coordination • Security Liaison • Event Execution. In addition to Major Events, the Division also manages the Department’s Conference Tracker and Approval System (CTAS) for registration and approval of all conferences hosted by the Department’s bureaus or posts abroad. CTAS is both a regulation of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and a legal mandate. The Division’s CTAS administrators are responsible for generating annual reports to the OMB and the Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) on the Department’s conference spending. The Division manages the conference database and identifies those conferences that warrant review and Department approval. It also advises Department conference organizers on registration and reporting policies, designs and coordinates the technical elements of the registration site with its IT development team, manages the data collected, and updates the Department’s Comptroller on conference spending. If you would like more information on what we do, please send an email to MajorEventsDivision@State.Gov.