BEHIND THE SCENES
Behind the Scenes - California Public Higher Education Collaborative Business Conference
In October, Sacramento State hosted the 2016 California Public Higher Education Collaborative Business Conference, culminating in over 200 managers, staff, and administrators from across all three higher education systems.
The purpose? To discuss how we can leverage our three systems in a way that will benefit all of our students. To do this, attendees had access to over 20 workshops and breakout sessions with keynote speakers from different backgrounds sharing their insights and successes in higher education.
The stage was set, and the task was at hand. Would Sac State deliver?
In short, we did, absolutely! Much of the success of the event was dependent on the actions of those behind the scenes, and the amount of collaboration between the CSU Chancellor’s Office, UC Office of the President, and the Community College Foundation, as well as ABA departments and the University Union. A marked achievement, as the conference rotates each year between northern and southern California, as well as between UC and CSU.
Planning for the event began back in December of 2015, in which representatives from the Chancellor's Office visited the campus to assess its ability to host the conference. "Mike Redmond was a huge advocate for Sac State," said Margaret Hwang, assistant to the Vice President and CFO. "They liked our campus a lot, they were very impressed." Mike Redmond is the Assistant Vice Chancellor of Strategic Initiatives & Support Services.
From there, 10 months of planning began, with Margaret Hwang and Administrative Support Coordinator Hebe Mares acting as project managers, they worked to coordinate between the many offices needed to ensure a successful event. UTAPS were tasked with providing signage to manage traffic and parking. The University Union allocated the facilities, while IRT provided AV support to visitors and keynote speakers.
"This was our reputation on the line. Careful planning and consideration was taken for this event," said Margaret She and Hebe worked significantly behind the scenes preparing documentation, transporting materials via personal vehicles, as well as arriving before 6 a.m. each morning, and not leaving until after 6 p.m. each evening.
Despite these personal sacrifices, Margaret stressed the amount of support received from volunteers within ABA, and other divisions, who helped ensure the event went smoothly, and the visitors to our campus left with a good impression. For example, each attendee received a "swag bag" with several information brochures and items from vendors. Tasked with preparing 300 bags, Margaret, Hebe, and their team of volunteers completed filling the bags in just over an hour.
"By far our biggest challenge was the implementation of the event," said Margaret. "But our planning helped make the event run smoothly." Despite the successes, the conference was also a learning experience. "We learned a lot along the way, and cannot thank all of the volunteers enough, especially IRT handling the AV equipment.
Fortunately for Margaret, Hebe, and all of the volunteers, Sac State left a lasting impression on attendees and the Chancellor's office. "They got to see how well we work together. They were blown away how organized we were," concluded Margaret. "We even got compliments on how friendly students on campus were as well!"
