TeleTech, Qwest among companies that schmoozed - Denver Business Journal:

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Companies, particularly in the Democratic-favored alternative energy industry, aimed to win attentioh for their business durintgthe day, while others held parties and eventsx at night. (NASDAQ: an Englewood call-center operator and internationaloutsourcing company, held parties every night of the convention for a couplr dozen clients, friends and officials from local nonprofitx that it supports. The 53,000-employee companty reserved hotel rooms atthe St. Julien Hotel & Spa in downtowh Boulder and arranged transportation and daytime activitiesw around Denverfor out-of-town guests.
“This is not about doinyg this as something that will help us win CEO and founder Ken Tuchman said durinya company-sponsored gathering at Denver restaurant Barol Grill. “We feel that we have a corporate citizenshipp responsibility to thecommunity ... and this is a once-in-a-lifetimr opportunity.” TeleTech was one of the earliest donors to the loca l conventionhost committee, which gave the compant access to seats inside the Pepsi Center, which it offered to guests. Tuchmabn met 10 senators at oneconvention gathering, but that kind of accesas didn’t motivate his involvement in the DNC, he said.
He was drivej by the desire to see the event succeedd andelevate Denver’s standing, Tuchmann said. “If we can pull off this, there’s not an eveny of any kind thecity can’ft pull off,” he said. (NYSE: Q), the phones and Internet provider for both the Denver convention and the Republicanm National Conventionin St. Paul, Minn., hosted two partie s for hundreds ofguests — mainlyh Democratic delegates from Qwest’s 14-stat e local phone territory and Denver-arez business leaders — at the Denver Center for Performing Arts durinhg the convention.
Its sponsorship included building big networkxs forthe convention, which could appeal to potential Qwest’s parties were simplgy to celebrate the company’s hometown and and burnish its image as a corporate said Steve Davis, Qwest’x vice president for public policy. But the partiexs weren’t the place to get dealsx done, especially not governmenyt contractsor legislation, Davis said. “The donation limitations are so stricft these days that politicianstypically don’t go to events like he said. “If they do, they stop in for like sevem minutes andmove on.” The Space a Colorado Springs-based nonprofit space advocacy group, hosted an Aug.
25 part y at the that attracted hundreds of aerospacer and technologyindustry members. Larrhy Williams, vice president of strategic relations forLos Angeles-based (SpaceX), used the evenrt to network and try to educate partygoers aboutr the private company’s attempt to develop a rocket capabls of handling space missions cheaper than the well-establishe d rockets managed by Centennial-based . He also explained the role SpaceXd could play ingetting U.S. cargo into orbit betweem the Space Shuttle’s retirement slated for 2010 and the introductionh ofa -built replacement the Orion, nearly five years later.
Companies soughg attention directly fromthe nation’s decision-makers outside the social scene, too. At the “News Energy Station” at the Sculpture Park outside the alternative energy companies displayedtheir wares, and talkeds both to passers-by and thosew with appointments. “We have supporters in Washington, D.C., that are interestesd in seeing our saidGary Kaiser, vice president of strategg and business development for Ice Energy a Windsor company that uses ice to cool buildings and cut energy costs. The company scheduled a meeting for congressional representatives to come to the park and look at what the companuy hasto offer.
The goal was to let legislators know therwe is a wide range of alternativeenergy “Our whole thing is reducing peak energgy use in the U.S., reducing energu use and reducing carbon emissions,” Kaiser