Cheap Site for a Spring Student Conference
August 27, 2007 9:35 AM 
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I need a cheap, semi-professional place to hold a week-long conference for college students in late March or early April 2008. We usually hold them over the summer on college campuses and stay in the dorms, but since this one is during the school year, students are living in the dorms, so I can't find a college willing to rent us space. The conference is for about 70 people. Help!
I'm investigating the possibility of holding a week-long conference for 60 college students and 10 staff in spring 2008. I've run several of these conferences during the summer, but I want to figure out whether we can pull off the logistics and cost of running one on the students' spring break this year. We cover all of the costs for the students, so we have to run things as cheaply as possible.
The location can be anywhere in the U.S., but it should be near enough to a major airport or major city, preferably one that is a hub for an airline or otherwise has cheap flights from a lot of different places in the U.S. (we want it to be cheap and convenient to get to from a lot of different places in the U.S.), that people can get to the conference by public transportation or an inexpensive cab ride.
Some possibilities that I have considered include summer camps, corporate retreat sites, lower end hotels, college campuses that might have weird schedules with students moving out of dorms at odd times, and small convention centers. Are there others I haven't thought of?
Basically, what I need is the following, which should all be within short walking distance of one another:
-Space for about 70 people to sleep. Nothing fancy, but must have central heat/air conditioning as needed for the weather in the area. Students can share bedrooms like they do in dorms. Staff (about 10 of the 70 people) should have private bedrooms, but can share bathrooms with one another (their bathrooms should be separate from the students'). This requirement makes me think that a summer camp might not be appropriate.
-A large conference room where we can hold lectures with the whole group during the day and evening. Access to A/V equipment (DVD players, projector for presentations, etc.) in this room is required. We'll need this room from 9 am to 9 pm.
-5 or 6 smaller conference rooms where we can hold group discussions of 10-15 people apiece. We'll need these rooms from 9 am to 10:30 pm, and they must be in the same building as the main conference room.
-3 meals a day provided. Vegetarian and kosher options. Food need not be 4-star quality, but it should be at least as good as your average college cafeteria. Basically, good enough that college students won't complain about it, and with enough options so that people with dietary restrictions won't starve.
-Space and permission for parties. We want to hold a party each night with beer, soda, and food. They either need to cater the party for us at a reasonable price or be okay with us bringing in our own beer and other refreshments. The parties are always low-key, no one drinks underage (our attorneys are very strict about that), and we've never had a problem with anyone getting out of hand, but we must be allowed to have alcohol at our parties.
I'm interested in running this as cheaply as possible. Generally, our budget is about $500-700 per person for the week. College campuses over the summer make that easily doable, but the "corporate retreat" sites I've been looking at seem to charge much more than that. Is there some option I'm not thinking of that might allow me to pull this off? Are there colleges that have empty dorms over spring break? Summer camps? Hotels? Where can I hold my event?
posted by Amy Phillips to work & money (10 comments total)
posted by k8t at 9:45 AM on August 27, 2007