The Office of Campus Event Services and UT Conferences have joined forces to provide a seamless event experience here at the University of Tennessee.
Conferences provides inclusive event planning and management services to businesses, professional groups, and educational meetings for the university community as well as for the private sector. The Office of Campus Event Services oversees the reservation process for all events and meetings at the University of Tennessee. These two departments have merged and are now Conferences & Event Services! This merge will allow staff members to provide a level of hospitality and service above and beyond what is typically expected. As this new and exciting time begins, the Conferences & Event Services team looks forward to working with you and providing a comprehensive event planning experience.
UT Conferences hosted its first event on January 19, 1990. At that time, Conferences was part of an academic unit called the Division of Outreach and Continuing Education. In addition to the full-service meeting facility, the UT Conference Center, Conferences also provides turnkey event planning and management services. Conferences is a certified ACCED-I One Stop Shop, which means they provide one contact, one contract, and one invoice for all event services. The Office of Campus Events was opened in March 2018 under Finance and Administration with the goal of centralizing the event reservation process for campus, maximizing the use of event spaces, and creating a master events calendar. In October of 2018, Conferences was transitioned to an auxiliary unit under Finance and Administration and began working closely with the Office of Campus Events. Campus Leadership saw an opportunity to create internal collaboration within our two units and maximize the resources available for events on campus.
Both respective areas will still provide the same services offered before, but now are working together to create a full one-stop shop for all campus event needs. Conferences & Event Services will oversee campus scheduling and ensure you have coordinated your event with our internal service centers. In addition, we can offer in-depth event planning services, registration options for events, and the ability to help coordinate your virtual events as well!
This merger will provide flexibility to both on and off campus clients. A one-stop shop is the most customer-friendly way to offer groups the services of our campus. A central point of entry will help to maximize usage of space and utilize all the resources campus has available. Conferences & Event Services can be your single point of contact for Catering, Housing, Printing & Mail Services, Parking Services, Fleet Management, Facility Services, RecSports and assist with communicating with the various vendors required to host a successful event. One important departmental goal is to keep as many services as possible within the campus community, because when Vols help Vols, the University of Tennessee wins every time. In addition to this wonderful partnership, Conferences & Event Services are in the process of identifying a replacement software for Ad Astra. The RFP has been submitted and the software search will begin very soon, with the intent to have the new system in place by Fall 2022.
Conferences and Event Services will be led by Kylea Boutwell, Director of Campus Events & Scheduling and Megan Henderson, Director of Conferences under the leadership of Executive Director, Leanna Belew.
Kylea has been with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, since 2014. She worked in various administrative roles in the Division of Finance and Administration and the Division of Student Life before moving into the wild and crazy world of events. Kylea earned her bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Mississippi in 2012 and a Master of Science in College Student Personnel from UT in 2020.
Megan joined UT Conferences in 2007, beginning as a Student Events Intern and quickly moving to a full-time Event Manager in Fall 2008. She has mainly focused on events of 1,000 or more attendees and more recently added virtual event manager to her list of skills and abilities. She is a two-time alum of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville completing a Bachelor of Science in Service Management from the College of Education, Health & Human Sciences followed by a Master’s in Management & Human Resources from the Haslam College of Business.
Contact them for all your event needs by calling 865-974-0280.
