Planning a meeting, need some advice.

I have never been to Vegas before and am tasked with planning my companies activities surrounding an IT conference. It is going to be at Mandalay Bay and I am trying to schedule a happy hour or after-hours networking event for potential customers. I am planning on advertising it through twitter for a few weeks before the conference.

So here is my dilemma:

My company nixed the idea of getting booth space because it was too expensive. Mandalay's meeting rooms are reserved for companies that are getting booths. Where can I go nearby to host this? I have emails out to Excalibur and Luxor with no response yet and I have a sinking feeling they are going to tell me that all the rooms are reserved as well.

Are there any bars/restaurants near the southern end of the strip that you would recommend reserving space at and why? Do casinos ever let you reserve space for a business meeting (20-40 people is my goal) without springing for a huge catered ballroom? Does anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks in advance.

Look at some of the restaurants nearby (including in the Mandalay) and ask about private dining rooms. You may be able to get into a room if you guarantee 40 customers. I know the Foundation Room has private spaces but that may be too expensive.

I really like the Burger Bar in the passage between the Mandalay and Luxor. I don't think they have any private area, so you'll just need to reserve normal tables for a large group. The House of Blues also rents itself out for private events, but it sounds like your group wouldn't be large enough.

Sounds like you are going to be out in the cold as far as that Trade Show is concerned. Your best hope would be to host a Hospitality Event (with stated Time) at a physically nearby but non-tradeshow related location. Function room of a restaurant just might be best but alot of conventioneers get confused as to Hospitality rooms where they can wander in and out and some sort of presentation where they have to arrive at a certain time and remain.

Will your company be making short presentations or one lengthy one at this Space?
Is it going to be IT related or will you make it some sort of Free Massage event or Special Cocktails event?

If all the exhibitors are offering some special events... what will your company offer?

Tram to Excalibur, happy hour at Dick's Last Resort? The servers will really help break the ice.

I really don't know what the competition is planning. The conference is supposed to be the largest IT expo in the world and I am sure that heavy hitters like Intel and Cisco are going to be competing in the after-hours market in addition to the massive expo booths they have. My draw was going to be some discounts on our product and possibly a cheap drink special if I could work it out with the bar ahead of time. I was planning on doing a short presentation and handing out lots of brochures/marketing slicks. We do server colocation, so our technical specs do 80% of the selling.

I am trying to keep the budget low because my pitch to the owner of the company is that one closed deal will cover the cost of me in Vegas for a week. I think foundation room might be too much and I don't want to get tied into paying for a large crowd to drink at bar prices. My idea was somewhere where I could provide the appetizers and alcohol like a meeting room, but based on the responses so far I might look more towards getting a room at a bar nearby.

How walk-able is the area around there? If I get a couple liquored up CIO's to commit to an event at a local bar will it be an outrageous walk?

Thanks for the input so far... I am going to reach out to these places tomorrow.

Dick's Last Resort looks awesome. I might try and trim down to 20 (website says 20 person max).