Centers of attention: roles of collegiate conference centers come into focus - includes list of members of Assn. of Conference and Events Directors International for Collegiate Conference and Events Professionals - Cover Story

Twenty years ago, a college might have rented out dormitory space to church groups in the summer to keep the buildings in use and to make a little money on the side. Today, renting out space to host conferences and meetings has become a big business for colleges and universities.

The scope of the business is being determined by a study sponsored by the Association of Conference and Events Directors International for Collegiate Conference and Events Professionals (ACED). Jill Lancaster, the association's executive director, expects the dollar amount to be surprisingly large.

"There are still church groups that want dorm rooms in the summer, but the services they are offered are more extensive," says Lancaster. Such services include sophisticated classroom space with advanced technology, auditoriums, theaters and athletic facilities.

"What better place to conduct a conference than a college campus," says Michele Nichols, publisher of The Guide which lists hundreds of campus and university meeting facilities. `They are inspirational, refreshing. It's a great match.'

The need for campuses to have conference centers has been recognized for some time. For more than forty years, Kellogg has given development grants to promote continuing education on college campuses. Michigan State University was the first, in the early 1950s; Tuskegee University the last, in 1994.

Few colleges have stand-alone conference centers on campus, but almost all have some facilities that are available to groups to rent.

"I can't think of a college or university that doesn't make its facilities available in the summer in order to make money," says Connie Gilmore-Boaitey, the incoming president of ACED.

The very existence of ACED serves as a testimony to the growing nature of the business. Twenty years ago, eleven people whose jobs were to facilitate conferences on campuses formed the organization. Today membership tops 450, which doesn't even count those people whose primary jobs are housing or student affairs but who manage conferences on the side.

For most colleges and universities, the point of hosting conferences is not primarily to make money but rather to provide a service to the university community -- faculty members who want to sponsor a symposium in their field, for example, or alumni groups looking to reconnect with their university.

Georgetown University associate vice president of auxiliary services Margie Bryant lists "a chance to make money" as priority number three on her school's list of reasons for opening its conference center. Service and education are more important, she said.

Nevertheless, Georgetown's center makes "in the millions" for the the university -- housing everything from academic conferences and conventions to alumni and family weekends, weddings, and parents of sick children at the university hospital.

Acknowledging that institutions have begun to realize that their facilities can be profit centers, Gilmore-Boaitey said, "Most colleges use the money to go back into facilities. It buys beds and paint and carpets and helps keep down the cost of tuition. "

Her college, Westmont, is a small Christian liberal arts college. When she began, perhaps 2,000 people would stay at the college in the course of the summer. This year, she will play host to 8,000 visitors. The college plan is that revenues from hosting these visitors will pay to build a stand-alone conference center that will serve the needs of the university faculty as well as host church school groups and others.

Gilmore-Boaitey, who believes that more and more groups will want to use campus sites for their meetings, said, "We have access to technology that you wouldn't have access to at a hotel."

One of the most advanced facilities on any campus is the Penn State's Scanticon Conference Center Hotel built and managed by Scanticon International. In fact, Penn State University has two conference centers -- its older, renovated Nittany Lion Inn and the $3 million, "five star" conference complex. The Scanticon center has 150 guest rooms, 38 meeting rooms, and another 25,000 square feet of banquet and exhibit space.

Scanticon International had an arrangement with the university wherein Scanticon made money based on the number of paying customers the center hotel brought in, said the university's financial services coordinator Joe Doncsecz.

But after two years of operation, the university has announced that it will take over the running of the conference center in order to take advantage of "cost efficiency opportunities." The team that has managed the Nittany Lion Inn will run both as of May 5.

Colleges and universities are still searching for the best way to manage these facilities. Some are turning over management to private companies (see related story). Others, like Penn State and Tuskegee (see related story), are taking back management from private companies. Some of the issues involved have to do with whether campuses think of the conference centers primarily as service centers or profit centers.

Scheduling conferences is one of the ways campus facilities differ from regular hotels or conference centers.

"Our academic classes have first priority," says Karen McDonald, university conference and facility use manager at University of North Carolina-Charlotte. "Once our course schedule is completed, then student organizations are able to reserve their space. Once they reserve their space, it's open to university departments. Then we open it up to off-campus groups for conferences or seminars."

As a result, McDonald said she cannot confirm space until a few months before groups need it -- something that would prevent a large group from meeting on campus.

UNC-Charlotte does not have a standalone conference center. What it has is typical of many campuses -- meeting and classroom space and residence halls in the summer. Its goal is to provide those to the campus and surrounding community and cover its own costs. Even so, it brings in about $1 million in revenue.

"Our long term plan for the year 2010 includes a proposal for a conference center," McDonald says.

McDonald sees a big future for campus conference centers "primarily because of the downsizing of organizations. They are looking for ways to save money. They have to have meetings, but they have to have ways to save money."

The summer is, for obvious reasons, the busiest time for college conference centers. Campuses are relatively empty, hosting only summer classes. And according to Lancaster, one of the biggest moneymakers for colleges is high school cheerleading camps.

"Some folks in academe say, `we don't need people cheerleading outside the windows in summer classes.' But they are high school students and the recruitment possibilities are enormous," said Lancaster.

RELATED ARTICLE: Institutional of members of Association of Conference and Events Directors International for Collegiate Conference and Events Professionals (ACED)

ACED is the organization of professional conference organizers on college campuses.

Adrian College Albany Law School Allegheny College American University Anderson University Anne Arundel Community Col. Appalachian State University Asbury Theological Seminary Assumption College Atlantic Community College Augsburg College Augustana College Azusa Pacific University Babson College Ball State University Barry University Baylor University Bentley College Berea College Bethany College Bethel College and Seminary Binghamton University Biola University Birmingham-Southern College Bowie State University Bowling Green State University Bridgewater State College Brown University Bryant College Buena Vista University Butler University California Lutheran University California Maritime Academy California Polytechnic State University California State University, Chico California State University, Monterey Bay California State University, Northridge California State University, San Bernardino California State University, Stanislaus California University of Pennsylvania Canisius College Carleton College Carrol College Case Western Reserve University Cedar Crest College Centenary College Central College Central Connecticut State University Central Missouri State University Central Washington University Chadron State College Chapman University Claremont McKenna College Clemson University Coastal Carolina University Colby College Colgate University College of Charleston College of Mount St. Joseph College of Notre Dame College of the Holy Cross Colorado State University Columbia University Concordia College Concordia University Concordia University at Austin Concordia University, Canada Connecticut College Cornell College Cornell University Culver-Stockton College Daemen College Dalhousie University Davidson College Davis & Elkins College DePaul University Dickinson College Drew University Duke University Duquesne University East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania East Tennessee State University Eastern College Eastern Michigan University Elgin Community College Elizabethtown College Elon College Emory University Ferris State University Ferrum College Florida International University Florida Tech Fort Lewis College Franciscan University of Steubenville Franklin & Marshall College Franklin Pierce College Frostburg State University George Mason University Georgetown University Law Center Georgia College and State University Georgian Court College Gettysburg College Gonzaga University Grand Valley State University Grant MacEwan Community Col. Gustavus Adolphus College Hamilton College Hanover College Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Inc. Hawaii Pacific University Heidelberg College Hofstra University Holy Names College Hope College Huntington College Idaho State University Illinois State University Indiana University Foundation Indiana University Kokomo Indiana Wesleyan University Iowa State University Ithaca College James Madison University Johnson State College Juniata College Kalamazoo College Kean College Keene State College Kingsborough Community College (CUNY) Knox College Kutztown University Lake Washington Technical College Lehigh University Lenoir-Rhyne College Lewis University Lock Haven University Longwood College Louisiana State University Loyola College in Maryland Loyola Marymount University Loyola University New Orleans Loyola University of Chicago Luther College Lyndon State College Macomb Community College Marian College Marist College Marquette University Marshall University Mary Baldwin College McGill University Menlo College Messiah College Miami University Michigan State University Michigan Technological University Mills College Milisaps College Montclair State University Mount Allison University Mount Holyoke College Mount Saint Mary's College Mount St. Mary's College New Mexico State University Niagara University Nicholls State University North Carolina State University North Dakota State University North Park University Northeastern State University Northern Arizona University Northern Kentucky University Northwestern College Oberlin College Occidental College Ohio Wesleyan University Oklahoma City Community Col. Oklahoma State University Olivet College Oral Roberts University Oregon Institute of Technology Otterbein College Pacific Lutheran University Potomac State College Princeton University Pt. Loma Nazarene College Queen's University Radford University Ramapo College of New Jersey Reed College Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rhodes College Ripon College Rivier College Roanoke College Rochester Institute of Technology Roger Williams University Rollins College Rutgers College, Rutgers The State University Rutgers, State University of New Jersey Saint Mary's College Saint Mary's University Saint Mary's University of Minnesota Saint Michael's College Saint Vincent College Saint Xavier University Salisbury State University Samuel Merritt College San Jose State University Santa Clara University Sarah Lawrence College Savannah College of Art and Design Scripps College Seattle Pacific University Seattle University Shippensburg University Simon Fraser University Simpson College Sinclair Community College Slippery Rock University Smith College Soka University of America Sonoma State University South Suburban College Southern Connecticut State University Southern Methodist University Southern Oregon State College Southern Utah University Southwest Missouri State Univ. Springfield College St. Albans School (Prep School) St. Andrews Presbyterian College St. John's University St. Lawrence University St. Mary's College of California St. Mary's College of Maryland St. Norbert College St Olaf College Stetson University Stonehill College SUNY at Geneseo SUNY at New Paltz SUNY at Plattsburgh SUNY at Stony Brook SUNY College at Brockport SUNY College at Potsdam SUNY Farmingdale SUNY Fredonia SUNY Institute of Technology at Utica/Rome Sweet Briar College Taylor University Temple University Texas A&M University Texas Christian University Texas Woman's University The Catholic University of America The College of New Jersey The College of Santa Fe The College of William and Mary The Evergreen State College The George Washington University The Johns Hopkins University The Pennsylvania State University The University of Arizona The University of Georgia The University of Iowa The University of Michigan The University of Mississippi The University of Texas Medical Branch The University of Western Ontario Thomas College Tokai University at Honolulu Towson State University Trent University Trinity College Trinity International University Trinity University Troy State University Tubs University Tulane University University of Alaska Southeast University of Baltimore University of California, Irvine University of California, Los Angeles University of California, Riverside University of California, Santa Barbara University of California, Santa Cruz University of Chicago University of Colorado University of Dayton University of Delaware University of Denver University of Hawaii at Hilo University of Houston - Clear Lake University of Idaho University of Iowa University of Kentucky University of Maine University of Maine at Farmington University of Maryland at College Park University of Maryland Baltimore County University of Massachusetts at Amherst University of Massachusetts Dartmouth University of Michigan University of Minnesota University of Minnesota - Twin Cities University of Missouri - Rolla University of Nebraska at Omaha University of Nevada, Reno University of New Hampshire University of New Mexico University of North Alabama University of North Carolina - Greensboro University of North Carolina at Charlotte University of North Texas University of Northern Colorado University of Northern Iowa University of Oklahoma University of Pennsylvania University of Pittsburgh University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown University of Puget Sound University of Redlands University of Richmond University of Rochester University of San Diego University of South Carolina University of South Florida University of Southern California University of Southern Colorado University of St. Thomas University of Texas at Arlington University of Texas at San Antonio University of Toronto University of Victoria University of Washington University of Waterloo University of Windsor University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh University of Wisconsin - Platteville University of Wisconsin - River Falls University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point University of Wisconsin - Stout Utah State University Vanderbilt University Vassar College Villa Maria Center Wake Forest University Washington & Lee University Washtenaw Community College Waubonsee Community College Wellesley College Wesleyan University West Chester University of Pennsylvania Western Carolina University Western State College of Colorado Western Washington University Westfield State College Westmont College Wheaton College Whitman College Whitworth College Willamette University William Jewell College Williams College Wilson College Winthrop University Woodbury University Yale University Yavapai College

Source: ACED, 1997

COPYRIGHT 1997 Cox, Matthews & Associates
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