When meeting objectives call for facilities that promote concentration, communication and learning, a planner’s best site choices may be on university and college campuses.
A burgeoning crop of conference centers that are popping up on college campuses across the country are among the best training sites anywhere. Because universities are in the business of adult learning, they now have some of the best tech-equipped facilities in anyone’s portfolio.
These college facilities offer knowledgeable on-site conference staff people and audiovisual technicians. And, to top it off, they’re affordable.
With more organizations catching on to their advantages, campus centers are in high demand these days. At the same time, some facilities give priority to the college’s internal business.
Because of these considerations, short lead times don’t always work, and the best season for finding space is outside the main academic year, May through August.
Adult Learning ABCs
A recent U.S. Department of Education study reveals that environment alone can affect potential learning by as much as 25 percent. Another consideration to keep in mind is that adult learners are different from children and adolescents, say experts like former meeting planner Judy Sunvold, CPP, manager of conference services at Chicago’s Loyola University.
“Adult learners have unique needs,” Sunvold says. “They require educational formats that are quite different from what they had in their younger years in traditional school systems. Adult learners actually have shorter attention spans than younger learners, due in part to more distractions in their lives.”
University conference centers are therefore often the best-equipped sites to achieve what Sunvold calls the “3 C’s” of learning-oriented meetings: comfort, conference services and clarity.
Good Value
Along with creating optimal learning environments, campus centers also offer attractive pricing and all-inclusive packaging.
“University conference centers tend to be more affordable than venues that are open to a lot of transient business,” says Chuck Salem, president of Unique Venues, a site selection firm in Johnstown, Pa. “They must have top-of-the-line AV and technologies built in because universities demand it. Along with all that, you typically can get between 15 and 20 percent savings over what you would get in a hotel.”
He adds that many centers offer overnight accommodations or partnerships with nearby hotels.
“And contrary to popular perceptions, the on-site F&B is often excellent with choices for every budget,” he says.
Donna Cicinelli, communications coordinator for the Chicago Department of Environment, agrees. She planned a conference of 230 attendees last year at The Calumet Conference Center on the Perdue University campus.
“The Calumet center offered full service on AV, meals, signage, and so on for a very reasonable price,” Cicinelli says. “About the only thing we had to do was put together the agenda, get the speakers and track RSVPs. They were even able to record the sessions. The on-site staff can give support at any level.”
Indeed, Calumet General Manager Ed Mamrilla says his center “provides Chicago services at Indiana prices,” because it’s 25 miles from downtown Chicago, 15 minutes from O’Hare International Airport and priced affordably.
“Our only business is meetings and our dedicated conference facility makes for a very private environment in a woodland setting,” Mamrilla says. “We offer a meetings package for those who want it that even includes transportation, sleep rooms and F&B for about half what the same services would cost in Chicago.”
Ken Gay, director of the Continuing Education Conference Center on the St. Paul campus of the University of Minnesota, notes that campus centers have all-inclusive expertise that treats adults like adults, and frees planners to concentrate on meeting content, not the logistics.
“I would say university venues like ours have the best in customer support, because we remove a significant portion of the logistical chores from the planners so they can focus on their program,” Gay says. “Hotels, on the other hand, want you to select menus and customize other details for which they charge you. Our food service package is about $18 per day, and includes a buffet lunch, breaks, and continuous beverage service throughout the day.”
Location, Location
When it comes to convenience, it’s hard to beat facilities like Northern Kentucky University’s Metropolitan Education & Training Services Center (METS), according to Rick Watkins, area manager for the Kentucky Division of the Emergency Management Association. The center has served his constituency in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana.
“We needed to get representatives in the TriState region into a facility for bioterrorism exercises,” he says. “The METS Center provided the location and all the communications media we needed. The training rooms and technologies are excellent. It was important for us to record actions for instant replays during the sessions, and they have those capabilities.”
Now in its fourth year of operation, The METS Center is not only within a day’s drive of 50 percent of the U .S. population; it’s also located near a major airport, says Mark Wallisa, the facility’s general manager.
“From the beginning, the community wanted a facility that would support an objective to grow the regional economy,” he says. “There was also a mandate for a high-tech center.”
He adds that meeting planners were consulted about design, and one of their criteria was for a location near a major airport.
High-Tech Elegance
Also highly accessible, Endicott House on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) campus in Cambridge, Mass., is not only near Logan International Airport and a mile from Interstate 95, it is also halfway between Boston and Providence, R.I.
The historic French Tudor-style mansion and 25 acres of gardens were donated to the university about 50 years ago. Interior renovations have produced not only elegant meeting spaces with hand-painted ceilings and Oriental rugs, but also the high-tech amenities one would expect from MIT. A conference center is adjacent to the mansion, and both buildings have sleeping and meeting rooms.
“We have one-stop pricing that removes the guesswork,” says Jennifer Sylvia, director of sales for Endicott House. “Planners may choose between complete meeting pricing and day meeting packages.”
All-Inclusive and Affordable
The UMUC Conference Center by Marriott on the University of Maryland campus has a seven-mile proximity to the nation’s capital, as well as 237 guest rooms, 39,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 750-seat auditorium, and IACC membership.
The high-tech center, which is a member of the International Association of Conference Centers, is the first LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)-certified hotel and conference center in the country.
“If someone is looking for a true educational environment, we have it here,” says Michael Castaldi, director of sales and marketing for the center. “We have various computer labs with Internet services that are run through the university system.”
Like most university conference centers, the Maryland facility offers complete meeting packages that include sleeping rooms, audiovisual equipment, continuous breaks, and three meals daily. Day packages without sleeping rooms are also available, and some centers offer flexible pricing for groups who may want to dine off-site during a multiday meeting.
