Grace Oliver, event manager, Destination Nashville, left, and Elissa Myers, president and CEO, Electronic Retailing Association, Arlington, Va., get acquainted at the opening night reception at the National Museum of Women in the Arts during the Global Event Partners Retreat held in June in Washington, D.C.

The GEP Retreat attracted 250 meeting planning and destination management company executives for an imaginative mixture of education, networking, and play. The three-day event, co-hosted by the J.W. Marriott and Williard Inter-Continental Hotel, is sponsored by Washington, D.C.-based GEP, a partnership network of 48 destination management company members, based all over the world.