Meeting & Event Planning Foundations

This unit introduces core concepts and practical tools used to plan, coordinate, and evaluate small- to medium-scale meetings, exhibits, and virtual events. Students will learn how to define event purpose, select sites and suppliers, manage basic logistics (food & beverage, travel, AV, staging, accessibility), and use checklists, RFPs, budgets, and contracts to develop an actionable event plan that prepares them for more advanced execution and operations units.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze purposes, audience needs, and event types to recommend appropriate formats, scheduling, and presentation methods for meetings, exhibits, and virtual events
• Apply site selection, RFP, and vendor-evaluation processes using checklists to develop a preliminary venue and supplier plan that addresses accessibility, AV, staging, and food & beverage requirements
• Demonstrate creation of a basic meeting/event budget and logistics plan that integrates travel arrangements, service options, exhibit considerations, and contract essentials
• Evaluate event outcomes and lead-generation strategies using post-event evaluation tools to produce recommendations for improvements and to inform subsequent planning