Name: Kate Shelton
Title: Associate director for conferences and events
Area: Office of Academic Enrichment and Conferences, Regional Campuses, and Continuing Education
Education: Bachelor's degree, Hotel, Restaurant, and Tourism Administration, USC, 1993

What have you learned about your job since you started Sept. 6? The beauty of this position and this department is that we're an a la carte, in a way, depending on what the client needs us to do. We're happy to do all the planning and organizing of an event, or we can just do certain parts, like choose a speaker or set up a site. The whole idea is for us to be responsible for the logistical aspects of the conference--hotel, site selection, meals, tables, podium, working microphone--and the client works on their program. That way, the client can just show up, have a good time, and network with colleagues without having to worry about the details.

Why did you choose conference coordinating? As a senior in high school, I knew I wanted to go into the hospitality industry. I worked for Pizza Hut and decided I didn't want to work in restaurant management. I also worked at a Disney hotel for about six months and decided I didn't want to go into that area, either. At the time, I didn't even know there was a field where you could put together conferences to assist campus departments and outside groups. I discovered it at USC during my practicum, which is a requirement for the hospitality degree. The Capstone Conference Center hires about 25 students each summer to help put on conferences, and I lucked out and got a position. I'm very fortunate--working at Capstone really opened my eyes to the whole conferencing field.

What was your first job out of college? I worked as a conference associate in the Capstone Conference Center for three years. Then I went to the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, where the overall goal was to create a one-stop planning shop for the customer.

And then? I married a fellow Gamecock--Michael Shelton--at Rutledge Chapel on the Horseshoe. Then a job came open at Florida Tech in Melbourne. I took it and spent eight years there in a variety of jobs, finally becoming associate director for professional development programs. Through all the moves, though, I never lost the conference- and event-planning piece.

What has been most challenging about it? At Florida Tech, managing events before and after hurricanes was very challenging. We became a shelter for another university that had to evacuate, and we had evacuations of our own campus for a week or two at a time. This affected not just our students but also groups who might be on campus, and it was up to us to make provisions for them.

10/06