The meeting on the venue calendar
The Henry Schein National Sales Meeting runs 2 to 4 February 2027 at the Indiana Convention Center. The venue lists a forecast attendance of 2,000 and assigns the meeting to Exhibit Hall A-B.
2 February 2027 is a Tuesday. 4 February is a Thursday. A Tuesday arrival and a Thursday release is two contracted nights per room, and those two nights are Tuesday and Wednesday.
Two nights per room
Two thousand delegates across two nights is 4,000 delegate-nights. The room count follows from how many delegates share a room. The venue publishes attendance and no room count, and the organiser publishes no block figure.
Ask the organiser for the delegate-to-room ratio before anyone sizes the block. A sales meeting pairs attendees in standard rooms, and a ratio the organiser states in writing is the figure a hotel will hold a block against.
The shoulder nights
Monday 1 February sits before the block. Thursday 4 February sits after it. Ask the hotel to price both nights separately from the contracted rate.
The pattern carries no Friday, Saturday or Sunday night. Ask for the midweek rate on its own terms. Ask what the Thursday night costs a delegate who stays one more night.
The Monday shoulder suits a set-up crew and delegates arriving from the west coast. The Thursday shoulder suits anyone the meeting releases late.
The cut-off
The venue listing carries no cut-off date for this meeting, and the organiser’s own site carries no page for the February 2027 meeting.
Put the cut-off in the block agreement. Ask for the date, the release mechanism and the notice the hotel gives before it drops rooms. A two-night block with a late cut-off leaves the hotel little room to resell, and the hotel prices that risk into the rate.
Attrition on a two-night pattern
Ask whether attrition is measured on rooms or on room-nights, and ask for the percentage in writing. The two measures diverge on a two-night block. A delegate who drops the Tuesday night leaves the room count intact and the room-night count short.
Ask whether the block carries a minimum stay and whether that minimum forces a third night. Ask what happens to the attrition calculation if the organiser adds a Thursday night after signature.
The group
Henry Schein describes itself as a products, services and technology platforms company for healthcare customers. Its corporate site states 94 years in business, more than 25,000 Team Schein Members, more than 1 million customers and more than 300,000 products across its distribution centers. The company reports operations or affiliates in 34 countries and territories, sales of $13.2 billion in 2025, and membership of the Fortune 500 and the S&P 500 index. The corporate site runs a dental business and a medical business.
The venue names the meeting and the forecast attendance. The organiser publishes no agenda, no delegate mix and no room count for the meeting.
Downtown inventory around the dates
The convention center publishes 7,100 hotel rooms downtown and 4,700 rooms connected to the building by skywalk. The building sits at 100 South Capitol Avenue, and Exhibit Hall A-B sits inside that footprint.
Ask the hotel which skywalk-connected properties sit in the block. The skywalk removes weather from the walk between the room and the hall on a February morning, and that line belongs in front of delegates.
The venue calendar puts the Indiana Health and Safety Conference & Expo at 850 attendees on 7 to 10 February, the Indiana Green Expo at 2,000 on 8 to 10 February and the Core-Mark Expo at 1,500 on 10 to 11 February. The American Football Coaches Association Annual Convention follows on 14 to 16 February with 7,000. Ask the hotel what that run of groups does to the Thursday shoulder night and to the rate a delegate pays for it.
What to put in the request for proposal
Ask for the cut-off date and the release mechanism. Ask for the attrition basis and percentage. Ask for Tuesday and Wednesday on one rate line, and ask for Monday and Thursday on a second line.
Ask for the room types, the rate, the destination fees, the parking charge and the breakfast terms. Ask for the meeting-space ratio against Exhibit Hall A-B and for the food and beverage minimum. Ask how the hotel handles a delegate who extends into Friday 5 February, and whether that night prices off the group rate or the transient rate.
