Students from Conestoga’s Event Management program did a “phenomenal job” hosting a 110th anniversary celebration for a local transportation company.
Event management students organize celebration for Stratford trucking company's 110th anniversary.
“It was a great success. We got a lot of great reviews from our guests,” said Robert Bedard, director of operations at Steed Standard Transport Limited. “It was really good to see the group in action and the hard work they put in.”
Organizing the event held November 18 at the company’s Stratford headquarters was incorporated into the curriculum for the students, who looked after every detail from preparing a budget to setting up the space and looking after all the details.
“They came up with some great ideas,” said Mariette Haras, co-ordinator of the event management program. “They did a great job. They were really into it.”
And it was a big job for the 20 students transforming the trucking bay into a party space for the celebration attended by about 150 people, including staff, top clients, Stratford’s mayor, president of the provincial trucking association and local MPP.
Details included custom centrepieces, cupcakes adorned with the company logo, nametags and origami trucks atop drink stir sticks. Activities were planned for children in attendance and the transport company’s foundation was incorporated throughout, including a truck door made into a photo booth and a vintage truck from their fleet turned into the stage.
The students set up the event on Friday and ran it on Saturday, looking after registration as guests arrived and making sure everything went smoothly. Haras likes to incorporate real events into the course work when the timing works out because it’s a great experience for the students.
“You can really see they had pride in what they accomplished,” Bedard said.
Guests at the Stratford event were impressed, and Bedard wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Conestoga students to anyone looking for someone to organize a fabulous celebration.
The Event Management program is a one-year, full-time graduate certificate program designed to meet the needs of a growing industry in the planning and management of virtual and live in-person events. Students get specialized training and practical hands-on learning opportunities, leading to a portfolio of event experience while collaborating with community partners designing, developing, promoting and executing events in the public, non-profit, and corporate sectors.
Conestoga’s School of Hospitality & Culinary Arts is a leader in culinary and hospitality programming that prepares students for successful careers in Canada’s tourism industry. The Waterloo campus is home to its state-of-the-art culinary skills labs and student-run Bloom restaurant.