It was an interesting experience this week.  I requested rooms for 150 people and was quoted over the rack rate + catering.  We began to drill down with this as a group.  One member stated less than $300 Iinclusive of catering) on a conference call as we were all listening.  They acquiesced.  We got the room rate to $159 (from $249), then I went to work on the convention facility.  We negotiated the room rate to $159, the meeting room rental from $5000/day to $1000.  We were able to achieve free internet access for all of the hotel rooms (usually $11.99 per).

Bottom line, use your skills.

Hopefully, you have found this helpful.  It saved us thousands.