It’s early August in the back of Commander Commons on West Campus.  Chairs are a little more worn, hard drive space is a little more full, desks are a little more littered and staff is a lot more tired. All signs of a fruitful summer conference season.

Conference Services just wrapped up its 19th  summer of one-stop-shop logistical and residential service for thousands of guests from around the world. 

The small office across from the new West Village hosted 7,068 visitors in just a 10-week span.  This includes 69 summer programs and over 500 intern lodging guests.  It also created customized conference registration portals and provided on-site registration services to hundreds more.

Most summer programs need more than just lodging.  Fortunately, brokering services of all types is a specialty at Conference Services.

In addition to managing groups inside 32 residential buildings, this summer, Conference Services coordinated the sale of over 600 parking passes and 60-plus bus loops.  It prearranged over 73,000 meals.  It coordinated 316 meeting space reservations. It also brokered the sale of recreation services, technology amenities and upwards of 600 BuzzCards. 

The staff at Conference Services has not forgotten their business is located on a campus of higher learning.  Therefore, they employ college interns, student managers and student conference assistants.  In summer ’17, the conference unit hired two interns, seven student managers and 27 conference assistants.  This provides students experiential education. It is an opportunity to hone their skills in a safe environment, while the hierarchy structure affords an opportunity for promotion.

There is always a lot packed in to each successful summer at Conference Services.  Based on a few tired eyes in Commander, satisfied smiles on guests and a little extra green throughout campus budgets, many would say this conference season was no different!