One Day, 300 Delegates, One Midweek Night
The Indiana IT Symposium runs a single day at the Indiana Convention Center: October 14, 2026, in Sagamore Ballroom 4-5. SIM Indianapolis hosts it. The venue publishes a forecast of 300 attendees, and its page describes the audience as the IT executive community. SIM Indianapolis sets the agenda from a content survey sent to past attendees.
October 14, 2026 falls on a Wednesday. A single-day midweek event produces a block that is small and uneven. Some delegates drive in for the day. Some fly in the night before. A few stay the night of the event and travel home the next morning. The core of the block is one night, and the rest splits across the nights either side of it.
The Minimum Hold for a Regional Executive Audience
An executive audience commits late. A regional programme draws IT leaders from across Indiana, and calendars fill weeks out rather than months. A minimum hold set at the forecast headcount asks the group to underwrite rooms it cannot assign.
Set the hold on the rooms the host can name. Ask each property for its own minimum. Ask whether the minimum counts one night or the room nights across the stay.
groupRooms publishes its platform terms: bookings of 10 or more rooms, free to use, more than 50 hotels per request and a 24 to 72 hour response window. The platform reports 103,857 hotels and coverage across 46 states. Indianapolis carries 273 hotels in its directory.
The venue reports 7,100 hotel rooms downtown, 4,700 rooms connected to the Convention Center by skywalk, 200 downtown restaurants within walking distance, and 15 minutes to Indianapolis International Airport. A 300-delegate block is a small request against that inventory.
Fix the Cut-off
The cut-off is the date by which guests must book inside the block. Unclaimed rooms return to the hotel's general inventory at the hotel's prevailing rates. The group keeps the commitment it signed.
The Blocks glossary puts the cut-off at 21 to 30 days before the event. Take one calendar date for the block in writing.
The venue's own October list carries 14 events in the month. October 14 is the second day of the Best Practices Expo & Conference, which runs October 13 to 15. The Midwest Multifamily Conference opens October 15.
Attrition Sized to One Midweek Night
Attrition prices the gap between committed room nights and the rooms the group picks up. On a one-night block the exposure sits on a single date.
The groupRooms guide puts the common floor at 80 to 90 percent of blocked room nights, and works one example: a 100-room block at an 80 percent floor puts the group on the hook for at least 80 room nights.
Scale that shape to this block. A 100-room single-night block commits 100 room nights, and an 80 percent floor sets the obligation at 80 room nights. Ask what floor the property applies to a one-night executive block, and whether that floor moves against an early rooming list.
Ask for the shortfall to be measured cumulatively across the block. The Blocks glossary describes a rolling schedule that releases part of the block at 90 days out and again at 60 days, and locks the remainder at 30 days, so ask for those review points. Ask what happens to a released room the hotel resells. Ask for a force majeure clause, and ask to audit the final pickup report.
The same glossary describes the cancellation scale: 50 percent of anticipated room revenue at 90 days out, rising toward 100 percent inside 30 days.
No Weekend Night to Trade
The event occupies Wednesday, October 14. The block holds no Friday or Saturday night, so there is no weekend inventory to trade for a rate concession.
The lever is the midweek night itself. A single midweek night at 300 forecast attendees fills rooms the property sells at its published rate on a date with an event on it.
Ask for a flat rate across the night. Ask what the property charges for a second night added either side of the event, and whether the property holds the same rate for a delegate who stays the night before and the night after.
Questions to Put to the Hotel
What is the minimum hold for a one-night block, and is it quoted per night or across the stay? What is the cut-off date for a single-night block? What attrition floor applies to one night, and how is a shortfall measured? What are the rolling release review dates? What rate applies to a night added after the cut-off? How does the property count a delegate who books one night outside the block? What happens to a released room the hotel resells, and what is the force majeure clause?
The host, the date, the venue room and the attendance forecast are published figures. The block you write is your own.
