UIUC Gies iConverge
I previously worked for the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for Gies College of Business with the graduate students planning events. Once 2021 hit and the event industry went crazy I actually had to resign from my position there to pursue a full time job with 618 Events. Yay!
It was through my connections there that I landed this amazing corporate event. Gies reached out to me asking if I could help them plan their annual iConverge event. iConverge is for all the Gies Business Graduate students in online programs such as the MBA and online Management and Accounting programs. This is one of two times those students come to campus- the other time being graduation. iConverge starts on a Thursday and ends with an Illini football game on a Saturday. It’s typically in early-mid September. Gies hired me to help with the social events on Thursday and Friday evening. Their team was taking care of all the other activities during the days.
The hardest part of this event was finding space for 500 students. Yes you read that right- 500 students were in attendance!
They wanted this long weekend to really show off our campus and community. Gies said “let’s give them the Disney Land experience!”
Once hired I immediately went to work researching different venues that could hold 500 guests along with different forms of entertainment since they hired me solely for Thursday and Friday night social events. The students come from ALL over the world so at first I thought about hiring a comedian, however with English being the second language of majority of guests I thought that wouldn’t be the best option.
I landed on hiring a magician for Thursday night’s event. Scott Green is a magician from Chicago. Gies had already reserved the Illini Union for Thursday afternoon’s activities. Instead of moving all the students to a new location for Thursday evening we rolled right into dinner and the magician. Ideally they wanted both evenings to be off site to, like I said, show off our town so Friday evening was to be hosted at Carmon’s in downtown Champaign. This space is large enough for the guest count and it also allowed for students to easily go downtown afterward to continue their party.
For Thursday, we had 3 double sided buffet lines for dinner to quickly and to efficiently get everyone through the buffet line. Once everyone was through we started a countdown video so guests knew not to leave and get them excited for the upcoming show.
Sadly we ran into a tech issue (of course!) and the highlight video from Scott Green didn’t work. However the show was amazing. I am still wondering how in the world he did some of his magic tricks! There was crowd interaction and participation which made the show even more fun.
I was pleasantly surprised at how many students stuck around and paid attention to the show. We weren’t sure what the turnout would be. Gies mentioned most students will really want to catch up with their fellow classmates as it could be the first time meeting in person or just a handful of times. For next year they likely won’t hire entertainment like this due to the fact students just want to talk.
I am a HUGE live music fan and I always feel like it definitely has a special effect on every event so I opted for the Dueling Pianos. Several years ago I helped The Venue CU with their grand opening event. At that event we had a round stage from Herriott’s Rentals and I’ve never used it since. But I love it! So, in preparation for Friday evening’s event, I created a floor plan idea for Dueling Pianos to be on the round stage in the center of Carmon’s. The tables would be spread out around the stage. Gies liked it! My next step was to talk to Dueling Pianos to ensure the round stage would work for them. I got on a call with Robert, my event manager at Dueling Pianos, and he also liked it! I booked the stage from Herriott’s!
The students in previous years had recommended doing a themed event incorporating their home country culture. So we hired Michael’s Catering to serve different food stations featuring Indian, Mediterranean, Asian, and French cuisine. I rented colorful table runners as a nod to the different country’s flags, we ordered mini globes for centerpieces, and lastly told the students to wear their traditional dress or something that represents their home. It was awesome!
What I love about Dueling Pianos is that they are so talented and can pretty much play any song that is requested. This encouraged students to recommend a song of their choice which helped them to be more attentive/interested. Gies didn’t think the students would dance however the last hour of the event there was a nice crowd gathered around the stage and dancing and singing! They weren’t ready for the party to end!
During the planning process, I prefer to set up a standing bi-weekly meeting with my corporate clients so I can update them on planning details and get questions answered. I found through this planning process that an online tool such as Asana would be helpful for everyone so it’s clear what needs to get done, deadline, and who’s doing that task. When so many emails are flying or when things are said in a meeting and there’s no shared documentation things can get confusing. Additionally, if clients aren’t able to attend every meeting but their input or final decision is needed then a tool such as Asana would definitely be helpful.
Even though I wasn’t hired to help with items during the day I had contracted for my help (especially because I thought I would be setting up all day Thursday and Friday) during the days. This came in clutch because Gies staff needed to be setting up things for Friday at State Farm Center on Thursday so I was able to stay at the Union and help with that set up so they could be at State Farm. There were a few miscommunications regarding Union set up so it was a relief to Gies that I could stay and help manage that piece for them. Once they got back later in the afternoon I left and returned just before dinner.
On Friday I was able to manage set up at Carmon’s all day. This was nice for Gies staff because they could be fully present at State Farm with their students while I handled Friday evening details. They could just show up to Carmon’s that evening to enjoy the event with their students.
I learned lots of lessons from this event.
Always ensure there’s a green room for entertainment. Luckily there was a room right off the Union we could use.
Explain early and often what the event is and our expectations. Can never communicate too much! It wasn’t until a couple weeks out that Scott Green really understood the event and our expectations. It was fine but it would have been nice for him to know this more in advance.
Never have water at the bar- always have water stations or at the tables.
Definitely need WAY more bars for 500 guests. Duh!
For next year we will have Dueling Pianos play background music during the first hour of dinner and then really start the show later in the evening and go longer into the night since it was such a huge hit. We shouldn’t be surprised by that!
For next year we don’t want any sort of sit down entertainment since the students want to socialize and catch up anyway.
Find out exact delivery times for all rentals and items. At Carmon’s the lights and linens were delivered later in the day so we couldn’t do much until those were there.