The party scene at this summer’s national political conventions might not be as lavish as in years past because of new ethics rules, but that’s just created more opportunity for politically connected entrepreneurs in Denver and Minneapolis-St. Paul to help companies and interest groups get the most out of their entertaining.

Companies “want to interact and have face time and policy discussions with legislators who weigh in on their industry,” says Elizabeth M. Palmquist, a former aide to Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts who now lives in the Denver area. Palmquist started 2008 Convention Connection last year, she says, to capitalize on her knowledge of a city that, she suspects, most Washingtonians won’t know well when they arrive for the week of Aug. 25.

It’s becoming a crowded field, though. A number of other convention-specific event planning firms have sprung up in recent months, particularly for the Republican convention. Take ’08 Events Unlimited, which is organizing parties surrounding the GOP gathering that officially opens Sept. 1, Labor Day. The firm is a partnership of Monica Notzon, a Washington political fundraiser, and Erich E. Mische, a former chief of staff to Norm Coleman, the former St. Paul mayor who’s now a senator.

Notzon says the firm is consulting for a number of corporations and groups, among them the Bipartisan Policy Center — directors include former senators from both parties — GOPAC and former New York mayor and Republican presidential aspirant Rudolph Giuliani.

Former Republican Rep. Vin Weber of Minnesota has created another firm offering GOP convention event planning, Twin Cities Strategies. Meanwhile, Darrell Henry, a Washington campaign consultant, has teamed with two members of the Minneapolis St. Paul Host Committee — Steve Knuth, a government relations consultant in St. Paul and former aide to New York Rep. Jack F. Kemp, and Scott Cottington, a Minnesota-based political consultant — to form GOP Convention Strategies. The firm is organizing one of this year’s hot tickets, a blowout at the Minneapolis nightclub Epic for Mississippi’s Haley Barbour and his fellow Republican governors.

“You can do a lot of work in and around the conventions with market promotion that drives a message,” says Henry. “We’re telling people that if you just want to throw a party, hire a party planner. If you want to do a political event, that’s where we come in.”

An affiliated firm, DNC Convention Strategies, is run by Denver Host Committee member David Kenney, a former adviser to the city’s Democratic mayor, John Hickenlooper.

Representatives of these firms say business has been brisk, despite new ethics requirements that bar organizations employing lobbyists from hosting events honoring specific members of Congress and new gift rules that prohibit members or staff from taking pretty much anything of value without paying for it.

Palmquist says her principal client, a pharmaceutical company that provides drugs used with organ transplants — she declined to be more specific — has teamed up to host an event with a local foundation interested in encouraging organ donations. Teaming with nonprofits and charities may be one way to keep the party going, if the groups don’t employ lobbyists. Also exempt from the rules: political fundraisers.

But Palmquist says another client has opted to host a few small policy panels, rather than one big party, and she expects that others may follow that model. “Everyone wants more return on investment, and you can get to the right legislators just as well having serious policy discussions.”

But convention-goers beware: The new rules might put the kibosh on some of the big concerts of years past, as Notzon has discovered. She says she was recently warned that a band she’s booked may be able to play only three songs before it becomes officially a concert — for which congressional aides would be required to purchase tickets.

“The question for us has been, ‘How do you create a less lavish event that’s still really fun?” says Notzon. “If someone has to have a cheese cube instead of a steak, how do you have fun with a cheese cube?”