Michelle Chandler and Dr. Brad Geary, Plant and Animal Sciences
INTRODUCTION
As I began working on my project, I was also asked to work as the lead student coordinator for a national conference that was to be held at Brigham Young University. In discussions with Dr. Brad Geary, Dr. Phil Allen and Greg Jolley it was decided that since my original thesis could no longer be studied we changed the focus of my ORCA grant to focus on PLANET Student Career Days conference that was to be held at BYU. This conference was to be held March 2006. The new thesis focused on the coordination, planning, and management of 54 teams from across the nation. It also involved coordination of over 100 industrial sponsors.
The purpose of the activities in this grant was two fold: to effectively plan, coordinate, and manage the PLANET conference held at BYU in March 2006, and to develop a management template to be used by succeeding universities that would host the conference in years to come. The PLANET Student Career Days is a three day conference for the green industry and students across the nation. BYU hosted approximately 2,000 representatives from 54 universities and over 100 industry professionals. There are over 23 competitions that the students compete in and a career fair where more that 100 green industry companies recruit student interns and employees.
The method chosen to achieve the goal included four phases: first to attend and watch the 2005 conference that was held at University of Maryland; second, planning and organizing BYU’s conference; third, the execution of the plans and hosting of the conference; and fourth, coordinating the documentation that would help the next hosting university.
PHASE 1
The 2005 conference was held at the University of Maryland. To help survey the conference, four personnel from the BYU Grounds department and one from the BYU conference planning committee came to observe. Each site was visited by the team to assess what was done and what would be needed for our conference. Meetings were set up to discuss plans and problems that occurred during the conference. Various problems arose that we observed and recorded so we could try to avoid the problems the following year. Being able to watch the process and talk to the planning committee at the University of Maryland was very beneficial.
PHASE 2
Throughout the next year we held weekly meetings with the BYU grounds department and many other organizations that were vital to the planning process. Some of these included people from BYU’s administration, BYU catering, U.S. Olympic Park in Park City, Peaks Ice Arena, Provo City Police, BYU conference planning, and BYU Alumni.
I was in charge of the student reception. We were able to hold this event at Peaks Ice Arena. In years past the student receptions were not able to keep the students occupied for very long, which resulted in students leaving the reception to go to bars. We did not want this to happen, so we knew we needed to make the attraction more appealing for the students. Having the reception at the ice arena was great, because we were able to provide many different activities for the students. These planned activities included ice skating, a shuffle ball tournament, a live band, catering by TGI Fridays, a movie lounge, a rock climbing wall, and hot air balloon rides. The event was a success and many students stayed for the whole reception. As a result, many complimentary comments were made following the event.
PHASE 3
The conference took place the third week of March, 2006. During this time the planning committee was kept busy traveling from each event to make sure everything ran smoothly. I learned how to live on very little sleep and deal with many different problems at once. I grew a lot as a person during that week. I was in contact with many leaders and was able to observe and practice different leadership skills. These experiences have since helped me in daily life and in church callings.
PHASE 4
Documentation of our conference was done through out the two years that it took to plan the conference. Notes were taken at each of the meetings to keep us on track and to give a timeline as to how long certain events took to plan. University of Michigan, which is where the next conference will be held, was able to come and be involved in our planning like we were in Maryland. The planning committee was able to turn over the notes and other documentation that was compiled so that it would help Michigan in their planning for the upcoming conference in 2007.
CONCLUSION
Although my project took on a life of its own and grew and changed many times, in the end I believe that I accomplished what the mentoring grant had in mind. I worked with not only one professor but many and also many industry professionals. I was able to make contacts throughout BYU and the nation that will bless me for the rest of my life. I grew as a person through the whole experience and learned many valuable lessons, and I was able to help spread the gospel and show the unique and special qualities of BYU to the rest of the nation.