Quinnipiac University staff created the Conferences and Events Department with several goals to increase the university’s brand awareness, draw in more revenue and ensure limiting liability in July 2024.
The department provides full service planning for external events held on Quinnipiac’s campus.
“As an extension to that company or associations team, our staff will be there to help with the logistics of the conference so that their team can focus more on the content and the marketing of their programs,” Shannon LeGault, associate vice president of conferences and events said.
LeGault hopes for the department to aid in connecting the university to the surrounding communities, as well as giving them the opportunity to take advantage of the spaces and resources.
The department works directly with campus partners including facilities, public safety, audio visual and Chartwells dining.
“(We) start(ed) talking to work with all of them on how we can host events during the academic year and the summer,” LeGault said. “And be a little bit more streamlined in the processes to make sure that we’re getting information in a timely manner to each other and helping kind of ease the lift off of some of their teams by taking on some of the logistics by our team.”
As an alumni of the university, the Hamden, Connecticut native has had the opportunity to come back and see the places she used to spend her time at, as well as what’s different.
“It’s great to be back on the campus and see how much has changed since I left, but there are still some things that are the same, which is also really cool to be able to kind of pop back into where I used to take classes,” LeGault said. “But it’s great to see, you know, the new buildings that are being opened and all of the different programs that they’ve added since I’ve left.”
LeGault returns to Quinnipiac after working at Yale University alongside Charity Kuchyt, director of conferences and events. With their combined expertise and experience, both former Bobcats make a strong team.
“Between her historical knowledge and the existing relationship she has with campus partners and my background in strategic planning at Yale, I think so far, we’re making great strides in building the department pretty quickly,” LeGault said.
While still being fairly new, the department has made significant progress, beginning with launching their website.
The website includes a form for those interested in hosting an event on campus. The form keeps the department organized and able to respond quickly as new inquiries roll in.
The department has held meetings to build, or build upon existing relationships.
“We have met with leading stakeholders and campus partners to see how we can best collaborate with them to streamline existing processes and create some more efficiency between departments,” LeGault said. “And (to) have the ability to scale up as we continue to grow.”
Currently, the department works on a marketing strategy, as well as collecting interest for summer housing for interns.
These summer housing options would be open to Quinnipiac students, as well as students from other college students, who are partaking in internships locally.
LeGault hopes for this option to extend beyond college students as well, with the growing number of events taking place in the summer months.
“We started meeting with our campus partners to discuss the number of events and conferences on campus during the summer, so being able to offer more opportunity to adults and high school students to stay on campus,” LeGault said. “So that will continue to be a conversation going forward.”
The department has already worked with several companies and organizations to hold events.
“We just recently hosted an event for the Rotary International Club in conjunction with the Albert Schweitzer Institute,” LeGault said. “We hosted an event for Advanced CT that the governor was in attendance for. We helped the CT STEM conference that happened a few weeks ago.”
While drawing awareness to Quinnipiac, the department also has a heavy focus on bringing alumni back to campus.
“I’m most looking forward to reconnecting alumni to the university,” LeGault said. “Giving them the opportunity to come back to campus and see the tremendous growth and innovation that the university has had since they left.”
Looking ahead, the department will be hosting the wedding ceremony of two former students in the chapel in October. They are also planning for the summer, in line with the overall goal of increasing brand awareness.
