Plan Your Event

Set The Date

Summer Season & Academic School Year

During the summer months (late May - August 1,) we have the greatest availability for special events. During the academic year, availability is much more limited. Fall Break, winter break, and spring break are typically good times to find event space on campus, although we are only able to offer housing in the summer. Some clients choose to have their academic year event off-campus but utilize our expertise in registration services. Others choose to combine off-campus meeting sites with on-campus special event spaces to add variety and flair for their guests.

Reserve Space

After narrowing down your choice of possible conference dates, inquire about availability. While every effort is made to confirm meeting space as early as possible, please recognize that, as a college campus, there are priorities in scheduling that dictate confirmation dates. If your group will be affected by these deadlines, our office will discuss the options with you in order to assist you in your decision making process.  The site inspection checklist (pdf) can remind you of things to consider as you evaluate which site would be best for your group. 

Develop a Budget

While our office does not create or manage your conference budget, we can provide you with some materials to assist you in your planning. Facility fees, printing, honorariums, speaker fees, taxes and gratuities, service charges, and possibly even travel expenses for keynote speakers are all items to consider. You will find find some tools here on our website, but feel free to ask questions of our staff as well. Once you have your budget in place and set the registration fee structure for your attendees, the next step is to open registration for your event and begin work on logistics and program content.

• Budgeting checklist (pdf)
• Sample budget (xls)
• Negotiating techniques (pdf)
• Meeting promotion and publicity checklist (pdf)

Registration Services: Let us do the work for you!

This is where Conference and Event Services steps in to make life easier. Most group leaders don’t have a full staff to assist in planning their conference.  Avoid hiring additional staff to handle the registration process for your conference or putting your faith in a company you found on the web with whom you have no history. We specialize in registration services – that leaves you plenty of time to concentrate on your program content.

Rates are affordable, valuable, and completely worthwhile. We can ease the burden and anxiety that might be associated with the daunting task of planning and hosting a conference for your association. Whether hosting your event on campus or across the country, let our office:

• Create an electronic registration system
• Collect and process registration fees
• Prepare name badges and registration materials
• Process vendor payments
• Provide on-site staffing to support registration and other conference logistics

Our registration services packages are an economical and reliable way of eliminating worries and saving time so that you can concentrate on other important program details. For more information, fill out our inquiry form.

How Groups are Classified

Institutional determination of a group's status is based on the following criteria:

Internal

• Schools, departments, official university organizations, programs and projects conducting official university activities
• Finances related to the conference and payment for services are received from a university E&G account
• At least 90% of the attendees are affiliated with the University, and
• A fee is not being charged for the conference

University-Sponsored

• Professional conferences hosted by schools or departments, where more than 10% of the attendees are not affiliated with the university
• Conferences where a fee is charged to attendees
• Grant-funded programs
• Community partners, defined as events that contribute to the College's mission

External

• Off-campus, non-affiliated groups
• Businesses, profit organizations, non-university agencies