Plan Your Event
Stay on top of things. Right where you belong.
Ready to get started? While many details go into planning a successful event, we like to break down the initial phase into three easy steps:
- Set the Date
- Reserve Your Space
- Develop a Budget
We offer a variety of planning tools and checklists to help you prepare for your event.
Set The Date
Summer Season
During the summer months (following Commencement in May through August 1), we have much more flexibility and availability for special events. Additionally, planned breaks (Fall Break, Spring Break) are typically good times to find availability on campus.
Academic School Year
During the academic year, meeting space and event facilities are at a premium and availability is much more limited.
Some clients choose to have their entire conference off-campus but utilize our expertise in meeting management and registration services, others choose to combine off-campus meeting sites with on campus special event spaces to add variety and flair for their guests.
Ask us about what the possible options may be for your group depending upon the time of year you are planning to meet.
Reserve Space
After narrowing down your choice of possible conference dates, contact us to 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.
Develop a Budget
You have conference dates and meeting space confirmed, now you need to figure out how much to charge your guests.
While our office does not create or manage your conference budget, we can provide you with some materials and direction to assist you in your planning. Facility fees, printing, postage, 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 working on logistical details and program content.
- Budgeting checklist (pdf)
- Sample budget (xls)
- Negotiating techniques (pdf)
Registration Services: Let us do the work for you!
This is where Conference and Event Services steps in to make your 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, passing the responsibility on to your already busy staff, or putting your faith in a company you found on the web with whom you have no history. We specialize in registration services and logistical details – that leaves you plenty of time to concentrate on your program content.
Our rates are affordable, valuable, and completely worthwhile. We look forward to speaking with you more about how 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 you're hosting your event on campus or across the country, let our office take care of the following:
- Create an electronic registration system
- Collect and process registration fees
- Prepare name badges and registration materials
- Follow-up on outstanding balances
- Process vendor payments
- Provide on-site staffing to support registration and other conference logistics
Our registration services packages are designed as an economical and reliable way of eliminating worries and time so that you will be able to 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 College, 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
