UW News

May 4, 2011

Curious about campus conferences? Check out the Conferences & Campus Events Fair

Are you curious about whats available to organize and support conferences on campus? UW Conference Management is holding an informational event where you can learn about such resources campuswide.

Its called the Conferences & Campus Events Fair, and will be held from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Tuesday, May 10, in the Walker Ames Room of Kane. The fair is free and all in the campus community are invited.

Conference Management is collaborating with several other campus units for the event. They include the HUB, Meany Hall, the UW Tower, South Campus Center, Classroom Support Services, Housing & Food Services, the University of Washington Club and the UW Botanic Gardens.

The afternoon is being organized by UW Conference Management, a self-sustaining unit of UW Educational Outreach. Jan Kvamme, conferences director, said the fair is a chance to familiarize faculty and staff with how the office can help with conferences, institutes and symposia.

“Its a huge time commitment, and it can be overwhelming if (departments) dont have the staff available,” Kvamme said. “We just want to make sure that faculty and staff know we exist and that were available to help when faculty are asked to put on a conference or host their professional association in Seattle.”

The list of Conference Managements available services is long indeed. They offer help with planning, budgeting, site selection, website development, database management, technical and audio-visual coordination, speakers, social events, promotion, marketing and a lot more — “all the work behind producing a conference,” Kvamme said.

Another attraction to the fair, she said, is that faculty and staff can learn more about meeting spaces available in the renovated Husky Student Union building — undergoing a remodel into 2012 — and in the new student residence halls now being designed and built.

Want more information? Its all at the UW Conference Management website, or you can email them at uwconf@uw.edu.

And for more on conferences at the UW, see UW Todays articles about summer visitors in 2010 and about Housing & Food Services hard-working summer conference coordinators.

Learn more about the Conferences & Campus Events Fair online.