[Susan LeBow]

Brad –
1. We have 6 “as is” meeting rooms that we do not adjust. We have one larger meeting room, besides our ball rooms that can be customized.
2. See above.
3. We charge set up fees for departments and off-campus clients. We do not charge student orgs if the event is just for their group (i.e. weekly meetings), if outside folks are invited, then we charge a minimal $25 fee for set up.
4. see above.
5. No
6. We do not typically adjust “as is” rooms. However, we refer to the “I can read an organizational chart” and will do special set ups for some units. We do charge a set up fee for this.
7. see #3. ?

——————————
Susan LeBow
Associate Director, University Centers
University of Wisconsin Stevens Point
Stevens Point WI
——————————
——————————————-
Original Message:
Sent: 11-03-2022 22:10
From: Brad Hill
Subject: Event Management and Room Setup Standards

Good evening friends! 

We are seeking some information from sister institutions regarding your event management and room setup standards. Currently here at the Iowa State Memorial Union we have a mix of rooms that stay in “standard” or “default” setups (namely some of our smaller meeting rooms); however, we also have some larger meeting rooms (non-ballrooms) that we allow customers to customize their setups for each reservations; which means we have staff members that are consistently “flipping” those rooms. As you can imagine this takes a lot of effort and staff work. We are currently seeking information on how other institutions are handling their non-ballroom meeting rooms. If possible would you mind answering the following questions? 

1. How many non-ballroom meeting rooms do you have?
2. Do you allow customers to customize these meeting room setups for every meeting?
3. If you allow them to customize the setup in these meeting rooms, do you charge setup fees?
4. Do you charge these setup fees to Student Org, Depts., and off-campus groups?
5. Do you keep all of the rooms in standard or default setups? 
6. If you keep your rooms in standard setups, do you allow customers to customize the setup in these rooms for a setup fee?
7. Do you charge these setup fees to Student Org, Depts., and off-campus groups?

Thanks for any help you might be able to provide us as we continue to see and implement best practices.

——————————
Brad Hill
Associate Director, Operations
Iowa State University
Ames IA
——————————

[Deanna Cahoon-Draus]

Hi Brad,
We used to flip rooms a lot, but over COVID we stopped flipping rooms. Last spring we started flipping rooms again, but less folx know that it’s an option.?

1. How many non-ballroom meeting rooms do you have?
10 meeting rooms?

2. Do you allow customers to customize these meeting room setups for every meeting?
Customers can customize the setup, but most (95%) don’t. If they want a different setup, we often try to promote another room with that setup (if available)

3. If you allow them to customize the setup in these meeting rooms, do you charge setup fees?
Yes we have a “Setup Change Fee” resource we add in Mazevo (event management system)

4. Do you charge these setup fees to Student Org, Depts., and off-campus groups?
Student Orgs have a 100% discount on this fee $0
Departments pay $30
Departments hosting over 50% non-university attendees $40
Non-university/external $50

5. Do you keep all of the rooms in standard or default setups?
All rooms get set back to their default setup by the end of the day

6. If you keep your rooms in standard setups, do you allow customers to customize the setup in these rooms for a setup fee??
See above — to clarify, we do all the setup changes with union staff for liability reasons. Customers should never be changing the setup for safety/liability reasons

7. Do you charge these setup fees to Student Org, Depts., and off-campus groups?
See above

——————————
Deanna Cahoon-Draus
Building Operations Specialist
University of Wisconsin River Falls
River Falls, WI
——————————
——————————————-
Original Message:
Sent: 11-03-2022 22:10
From: Brad Hill
Subject: Event Management and Room Setup Standards

Good evening friends! 

We are seeking some information from sister institutions regarding your event management and room setup standards. Currently here at the Iowa State Memorial Union we have a mix of rooms that stay in “standard” or “default” setups (namely some of our smaller meeting rooms); however, we also have some larger meeting rooms (non-ballrooms) that we allow customers to customize their setups for each reservations; which means we have staff members that are consistently “flipping” those rooms. As you can imagine this takes a lot of effort and staff work. We are currently seeking information on how other institutions are handling their non-ballroom meeting rooms. If possible would you mind answering the following questions? 

1. How many non-ballroom meeting rooms do you have?
2. Do you allow customers to customize these meeting room setups for every meeting?
3. If you allow them to customize the setup in these meeting rooms, do you charge setup fees?
4. Do you charge these setup fees to Student Org, Depts., and off-campus groups?
5. Do you keep all of the rooms in standard or default setups? 
6. If you keep your rooms in standard setups, do you allow customers to customize the setup in these rooms for a setup fee?
7. Do you charge these setup fees to Student Org, Depts., and off-campus groups?

Thanks for any help you might be able to provide us as we continue to see and implement best practices.

——————————
Brad Hill
Associate Director, Operations
Iowa State University
Ames IA
——————————

[kw@purdue.edu]

Hi Brad
Here at Purdue, we use EMS for management of room and have built in buffers in case of room flips. Here are answers..

1. How many non-ballroom meeting rooms do you have? In our 2 buildings (Union & Conference center) we have 26 non-ballroom meetings

2. Do you allow customers to customize these meeting room setups for every meeting? 15 of these rooms can have their setups changed.? We try to manage this ahead. Most rooms have a standard set of either classroom, theater, HoSq, or empty. If a customer needs a certain room set, we try to put them in a room already with this set.

3. If you allow them to customize the setup in these meeting rooms, do you charge setup fees? We do not charge setup fee, the room rental fee covers any setup change.

4. Do you charge these setup fees to Student Org, Depts., and off-campus groups? No setup fees for Student Orgs. They are charged a $50 per day fee if they exceed the allowed 3 hours of free space per week.? Off-campus groups are charged room rental but no setup fees

5. Do you keep all of the rooms in standard or default setups? Yes

6. If you keep your rooms in standard setups, do you allow customers to customize the setup in these rooms for a setup fee?Yes – they can customize but no setup fee just room rental

7. Do you charge these setup fees to Student Org, Depts., and off-campus groups?No

Like mentioned above. We try to manage reservations ahead by putting them in rooms that match their setup needs.

——————————
Kathryn Walters
Manager, Scheduling & Systems
Purdue University
West Lafayette IN
——————————
——————————————-
Original Message:
Sent: 11-03-2022 22:10
From: Brad Hill
Subject: Event Management and Room Setup Standards

Good evening friends! 

We are seeking some information from sister institutions regarding your event management and room setup standards. Currently here at the Iowa State Memorial Union we have a mix of rooms that stay in “standard” or “default” setups (namely some of our smaller meeting rooms); however, we also have some larger meeting rooms (non-ballrooms) that we allow customers to customize their setups for each reservations; which means we have staff members that are consistently “flipping” those rooms. As you can imagine this takes a lot of effort and staff work. We are currently seeking information on how other institutions are handling their non-ballroom meeting rooms. If possible would you mind answering the following questions? 

1. How many non-ballroom meeting rooms do you have?
2. Do you allow customers to customize these meeting room setups for every meeting?
3. If you allow them to customize the setup in these meeting rooms, do you charge setup fees?
4. Do you charge these setup fees to Student Org, Depts., and off-campus groups?
5. Do you keep all of the rooms in standard or default setups? 
6. If you keep your rooms in standard setups, do you allow customers to customize the setup in these rooms for a setup fee?
7. Do you charge these setup fees to Student Org, Depts., and off-campus groups?

Thanks for any help you might be able to provide us as we continue to see and implement best practices.

——————————
Brad Hill
Associate Director, Operations
Iowa State University
Ames IA
——————————

[Jason Rogien]

Hello,

1. How many non-ballroom meeting rooms do you have?
We have 32 meeting rooms in the Lory Student Center.? We also have 3 ballrooms and a Theater.?

2. Do you allow customers to customize these meeting room setups for every meeting?
10 of our meeting rooms have large conference tables in them.? The remaining 22 rooms can be setup however the client desires.? 6 of the meeting rooms have airwalls and can be used a two smaller rooms.? These rooms get turned over frequently based on event size.?

3. If you allow them to customize the setup in these meeting rooms, do you charge setup fees?
We do not charge setup fees.? Most of our rooms are free to student orgs, many are free to university departments, and all have a charge for guests.? Our pricing is available here: https://lsc.colostate.edu/services/event-planning/room-and-event-spaces/

4. Do you charge these setup fees to Student Org, Depts., and off-campus groups?
See above, our pricing structure includes room setup of choice.?

5. Do you keep all of the rooms in standard or default setups??
Only our conference rooms are kept in their standard setup.?

6. If you keep your rooms in standard setups, do you allow customers to customize the setup in these rooms for a setup fee?
We do not.? Our conference rooms have a large fixed conference table.

We have three career staff event managers that oversee about 15 – 20 student staff.? There is almost always a career staff member on-shift and typically 2 – 5 student staff unless more are needed for a ballroom/theater turnover.??

——————————
Jason Rogien
Assistant Director, Event Services
Colorado State University
Fort Collins CO
Jason.Rogien@colostate.edu
——————————
——————————————-
Original Message:
Sent: 11-03-2022 22:10
From: Brad Hill
Subject: Event Management and Room Setup Standards

Good evening friends! 

We are seeking some information from sister institutions regarding your event management and room setup standards. Currently here at the Iowa State Memorial Union we have a mix of rooms that stay in “standard” or “default” setups (namely some of our smaller meeting rooms); however, we also have some larger meeting rooms (non-ballrooms) that we allow customers to customize their setups for each reservations; which means we have staff members that are consistently “flipping” those rooms. As you can imagine this takes a lot of effort and staff work. We are currently seeking information on how other institutions are handling their non-ballroom meeting rooms. If possible would you mind answering the following questions? 

1. How many non-ballroom meeting rooms do you have?
2. Do you allow customers to customize these meeting room setups for every meeting?
3. If you allow them to customize the setup in these meeting rooms, do you charge setup fees?
4. Do you charge these setup fees to Student Org, Depts., and off-campus groups?
5. Do you keep all of the rooms in standard or default setups? 
6. If you keep your rooms in standard setups, do you allow customers to customize the setup in these rooms for a setup fee?
7. Do you charge these setup fees to Student Org, Depts., and off-campus groups?

Thanks for any help you might be able to provide us as we continue to see and implement best practices.

——————————
Brad Hill
Associate Director, Operations
Iowa State University
Ames IA
——————————

[allisonvandenberg]

Hi Brad (and everyone else!) Here’s some info from NC State Student Centers:

1. We have 21 non-ballroom meeting rooms in 2 buildings.

2. Of those 21 meeting rooms, 8 are flexible spaces, and we allow clients to customize setups just about any way they’d like as long as it’s safe and we can provide the requested equipment. The rest of the rooms are what we call presets – they stay in the same configuration at all times. Most presets are standard conference setups, but we also have one Audi (125) and two Classroom presets.

3. The setup fee is included in the room rental rate. If they request an additional service in a room such as laying additional power, we will charge for that. In addition, if a client moves equipment in one of our preset spaces, they are charged a reset fee.

4. Setup fee is included in the room rental, but we will charge any other service fee or reset fee to all clients (different rates depending on the client type)

5. Only our preset rooms stay in default setups. The 8 flexible spaces change multiple times a day.

6. We only allow clients to change a setup in a preset room if there’s an extenuating circumstance and with approval. If approved, then we will charge a reset fee. (Sometimes they just change them on their own without asking – we charge them the reset fee as well.)

7. We will charge those fees to all clients with different rates depending on the client type.

We also use EMS to manage reservations – building in that buffer time between events is crucial. We call it reservation time versus event time, and the client is only aware of their event time. Our reservation time varies from 15 minutes for preset rooms so we can reset and clean, to 45 minutes for our larger flexible spaces. Those times are added before and after an event, so in reality we will have up to 1.5 hours between events in some spaces. We extended the amount of time during COVID to accommodate cleaning and disinfecting.

We have our spaces on our website including room rental rates. Please reach out if you have questions. Good luck!

Allison

——————————
Allison van den Berg
Assistant Director, Operations & Student Development
North Carolina State University
Raleigh NC
acvanden@ncsu.edu
——————————
——————————————-
Original Message:
Sent: 11-03-2022 22:10
From: Brad Hill
Subject: Event Management and Room Setup Standards

Good evening friends!?

We are seeking some information from sister institutions regarding your event management and room setup standards. Currently here at the Iowa State Memorial Union we have a mix of rooms that stay in “standard” or “default” setups (namely some of our smaller meeting rooms); however, we also have some larger meeting rooms (non-ballrooms) that we allow customers to customize their setups for each reservations; which means we have staff members that are consistently “flipping” those rooms. As you can imagine this takes a lot of effort and staff work. We are currently seeking information on how other institutions are handling their non-ballroom meeting rooms. If possible would you mind answering the following questions??

1. How many non-ballroom meeting rooms do you have?
2. Do you allow customers to customize these meeting room setups for every meeting?
3. If you allow them to customize the setup in these meeting rooms, do you charge setup fees?
4. Do you charge these setup fees to Student Org, Depts., and off-campus groups?
5. Do you keep all of the rooms in standard or default setups??
6. If you keep your rooms in standard setups, do you allow customers to customize the setup in these rooms for a setup fee?
7. Do you charge these setup fees to Student Org, Depts., and off-campus groups?

Thanks for any help you might be able to provide us as we continue to see and implement best practices.

——————————
Brad Hill
Associate Director, Operations
Iowa State University
Ames IA
——————————

[James Conner]

Brad,
At Ball State we do a lot of room flips. They are usually standard setups (audience, classroom, square, etc.), however we will do completely custom setups for some events. But are mindful of staffing and timing for those types of setups, and limit how “customized” they can get.?

1. How many non-ballroom meeting rooms do you have?
   1. We have 20 non-ballroom spaces.
   2. One which is ballroom sized but can be split into three spaces,
   3. Two smaller rooms which can be split into two spaces.
2. Do you allow customers to customize these meeting room setups for every meeting?
   1. We have six rooms which cannot be changed, but all other rooms can be customized
3. If you allow them to customize the setup in these meeting rooms, do you charge setup fees?
   1. We do not currently charge setup fees
   2. However, this is looking like something we may have to incorporate (so if anyone would be willing to reach out and discuss how they came up with their fee structure, it would be greatly appreciated)
4. Do you charge these setup fees to Student Org, Depts., and off-campus groups?
   1. We do not charge setup fees for any events at this time
5. Do you keep all of the rooms in standard or default setups??
   1. We have two rooms which we try to keep in a standard setup, but will change if we need to
6. If you keep your rooms in standard setups, do you allow customers to customize the setup in these rooms for a setup fee?
   1. See #5
7. Do you charge these setup fees to Student Org, Depts., and off-campus groups?
   1. We do not charge setup feeds, but do charge rental fees for off-campus groups.

——————————
James Conner
Assistant Director for Operations, L.A. Pittenger Student Center
Ball State University
Muncie IN
——————————
——————————————-
Original Message:
Sent: 11-03-2022 22:10
From: Brad Hill
Subject: Event Management and Room Setup Standards

Good evening friends! 

We are seeking some information from sister institutions regarding your event management and room setup standards. Currently here at the Iowa State Memorial Union we have a mix of rooms that stay in “standard” or “default” setups (namely some of our smaller meeting rooms); however, we also have some larger meeting rooms (non-ballrooms) that we allow customers to customize their setups for each reservations; which means we have staff members that are consistently “flipping” those rooms. As you can imagine this takes a lot of effort and staff work. We are currently seeking information on how other institutions are handling their non-ballroom meeting rooms. If possible would you mind answering the following questions? 

1. How many non-ballroom meeting rooms do you have?
2. Do you allow customers to customize these meeting room setups for every meeting?
3. If you allow them to customize the setup in these meeting rooms, do you charge setup fees?
4. Do you charge these setup fees to Student Org, Depts., and off-campus groups?
5. Do you keep all of the rooms in standard or default setups? 
6. If you keep your rooms in standard setups, do you allow customers to customize the setup in these rooms for a setup fee?
7. Do you charge these setup fees to Student Org, Depts., and off-campus groups?

Thanks for any help you might be able to provide us as we continue to see and implement best practices.

——————————
Brad Hill
Associate Director, Operations
Iowa State University
Ames IA
——————————

[Stephen McCay]

Here are the responses for Southern Miss.

 

1. How many non-ballroom meeting rooms do you have?

1. 12 meeting rooms

[Sarah Flores-Lewis]

Good Morning!

1. How many non-ballroom meeting rooms do you have??We have about 15 smaller style rooms. Eight of which are customizable in terms of furniture.?
2. Do you allow customers to customize these meeting room setups for every meeting??Yes, we do for our customizable rooms! They have to submit a setup about 48 hours in advance/when they request the space. We typically have two hours between events in rooms to allow us to flip it if needed.?
3. If you allow them to customize the setup in these meeting rooms, do you charge setup fees??We do not charge set up fees.?
4. Do you charge these setup fees to Student Org, Depts., and off-campus groups??We do not.?
5. Do you keep all of the rooms in standard or default setups??Our 7 pre-set rooms are board room style, so these cannot be changed. These are our only rooms we don’t customize.?
6. If you keep your rooms in standard setups, do you allow customers to customize the setup in these rooms for a setup fee? We do not allow anyone but our staff to handle furniture.?
7. Do you charge these setup fees to Student Org, Depts., and off-campus groups??We do not.?

——————————
Sarah Flores
Assistant Director for Event Services, Student Centers
University of Houston
Houston TX
——————————
——————————————-
Original Message:
Sent: 11-03-2022 22:10
From: Brad Hill
Subject: Event Management and Room Setup Standards

Good evening friends! 

We are seeking some information from sister institutions regarding your event management and room setup standards. Currently here at the Iowa State Memorial Union we have a mix of rooms that stay in “standard” or “default” setups (namely some of our smaller meeting rooms); however, we also have some larger meeting rooms (non-ballrooms) that we allow customers to customize their setups for each reservations; which means we have staff members that are consistently “flipping” those rooms. As you can imagine this takes a lot of effort and staff work. We are currently seeking information on how other institutions are handling their non-ballroom meeting rooms. If possible would you mind answering the following questions? 

1. How many non-ballroom meeting rooms do you have?
2. Do you allow customers to customize these meeting room setups for every meeting?
3. If you allow them to customize the setup in these meeting rooms, do you charge setup fees?
4. Do you charge these setup fees to Student Org, Depts., and off-campus groups?
5. Do you keep all of the rooms in standard or default setups? 
6. If you keep your rooms in standard setups, do you allow customers to customize the setup in these rooms for a setup fee?
7. Do you charge these setup fees to Student Org, Depts., and off-campus groups?

Thanks for any help you might be able to provide us as we continue to see and implement best practices.

——————————
Brad Hill
Associate Director, Operations
Iowa State University
Ames IA
——————————

[spauldk@miamioh.edu]

Hi Brad – we use EMS and link it to 7Point Solutions for our event information.

1. How many non-ballroom meeting rooms do you have?

8 Conference/meeting rooms, 1 senate chamber, 7 study rooms that are big enough that we can book them for small meetings outside of the study room system, so they must be booked 2 weeks in advance before they open for study room reservations

2. Do you allow customers to customize these meeting room setups for every meeting?

No, only for one off/events, not for reoccurring?bookings. Senate chamber is fixed furniture; study rooms we rarely change; the 7/8 meeting rooms get changed often, 1 of those has only 1 set up. The need to?do a different set needs to be known 2 weeks out for staffing schedules, but the actual set up can be done within those two weeks, up to about 48 hours before (though we work hard to make sure it’s closer to the 1-2 week mark). Additionally, main 8 rooms that get?reset each have a standard set (5 in an open square/boardroom, 2 in lecture, and 1 with a dance floor that is empty as standard, but can get set anyway they want.?

3. If you allow them to customize the setup in these meeting rooms, do you charge setup fees?

Yes. And also, if it’s a regular,?reoccurring?meeting they have to use the room in it’s standard set. If it’s a one off/event then we can do a set up change and that is $25 flat rate across the board.?

4. Do you charge these setup fees to Student Org, Depts., and off-campus groups? yes, $25?

5. Do you keep all of the rooms in standard or default setups? Yes

6. If you keep your rooms in standard setups, do you allow customers to customize the setup in these rooms for a setup fee? Yes, $25

7. Do you charge these setup fees to Student Org, Depts., and off-campus groups?

Yes. Our room fees change based on the type of customer. We are a fee funded student center, so student orgs get 100% off room fees (they are still charged for add ons like anything additional to basic tech, room set ups, pipe and drape, etc); university departments are at a 66% discount; outside groups do not get a discount. We also monitor on campus or student clubs ‘fronting’ for groups that would get charged. In addition, because our meeting rooms are generally pretty empty during the 8-5 weekdays (much busier at night) we now offer rooms in standard sets at 100% discount to anyone in our division for meetings. We’ve seen a huge uptick in meetings with colleagues since doing so at the start of this semester. For example, Residence now uses our senate chamber for their 50 person staff meetings instead of a classroom, many residence life committees and teams meet here because we are centrally located, and other divisional committees and student advisory boards now meet here. It’s been a really nice change of pace.

?Kourtney Duchesneau Spaulding
Pronouns: (she/her)
Assistant Director of Event & Operations
Armstrong Student Center
Miami University
Armstrong Student Center 3012E
550 E Spring St.,Oxford, OH 45056
T: 513-529-2313 | MiamiOH.edu

Miami University carries the name of the Myaamia people who, along with the Shawnee, were forcibly removed from these homelands. Despite centuries of colonization, the Myaamia people preserve a deep connection to this land and are engaged in a vibrant resurgence of their heritage language and culture.?

The university maintains a strong reciprocal relationship with the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma grounded in our shared commitment to learning and each other.?

Read Miami University’s Land Acknowledgement

——————————
Kourtney Duchesneau Spaulding
Assistant Director for Events & Operations
Miami University
OXFORD OH
——————————
——————————————-
Original Message:
Sent: 11-03-2022 22:10
From: Brad Hill
Subject: Event Management and Room Setup Standards

Good evening friends! 

We are seeking some information from sister institutions regarding your event management and room setup standards. Currently here at the Iowa State Memorial Union we have a mix of rooms that stay in “standard” or “default” setups (namely some of our smaller meeting rooms); however, we also have some larger meeting rooms (non-ballrooms) that we allow customers to customize their setups for each reservations; which means we have staff members that are consistently “flipping” those rooms. As you can imagine this takes a lot of effort and staff work. We are currently seeking information on how other institutions are handling their non-ballroom meeting rooms. If possible would you mind answering the following questions? 

1. How many non-ballroom meeting rooms do you have?
2. Do you allow customers to customize these meeting room setups for every meeting?
3. If you allow them to customize the setup in these meeting rooms, do you charge setup fees?
4. Do you charge these setup fees to Student Org, Depts., and off-campus groups?
5. Do you keep all of the rooms in standard or default setups? 
6. If you keep your rooms in standard setups, do you allow customers to customize the setup in these rooms for a setup fee?
7. Do you charge these setup fees to Student Org, Depts., and off-campus groups?

Thanks for any help you might be able to provide us as we continue to see and implement best practices.

——————————
Brad Hill
Associate Director, Operations
Iowa State University
Ames IA
——————————

[braden.kuznia]

Hi Brad,
We used to flip rooms a lot, but over time we moved to a “standard” setup in some of our multi-purpose rooms.??

1. How many non-ballroom meeting rooms do you have?
11 meeting rooms?

2. Do you allow customers to customize these meeting room setups for every meeting?
6 of our rooms are regular conference style table setup and do not change.
4 of our rooms are set up as and open square as “standard” set.? But have tables with wheels from KI.? In the two smaller of these rooms, we have an option to set as classroom style if needed, but rarely do.? In the other two rooms, we give the option for Banquet, Open Square, Classroom or Chairs Only row seating.? But these rooms are also set in an open square as “standard” set.
Our last room we treat more like our ballroom.? It is the largest of our multi-purpose rooms and usually starts as a blank slate for set up.??

We try our best to line up similar needs with our groups and will ask groups to use the room as is if we do not have time to flip between events.

3. If you allow them to customize the setup in these meeting rooms, do you charge setup fees?
We do not charge a fee in our side rooms.

4. Do you charge these setup fees to Student Org, Depts., and off-campus groups?
NA

5. Do you keep all of the rooms in standard or default setups?
The majority of the time, yes.

6. If you keep your rooms in standard setups, do you allow customers to customize the setup in these rooms for a setup fee??
We do our best to find out what the customer would like first and will accommodate the change with our staff when we are able, or we ask them to use the room as it is already set.? There are instances when customers will move the tables on their own and we go back in after to “re-set/re-fresh” the room.

7. Do you charge these setup fees to Student Org, Depts., and off-campus groups?
No

——————————
Braden Kuznia
Assistant Director of Event Services
Minnesota State University Moorhead
Moorhead MN
braden.kuznia@mnstate.edu
——————————
——————————————-
Original Message:
Sent: 11-03-2022 22:10
From: Brad Hill
Subject: Event Management and Room Setup Standards

Good evening friends! 

We are seeking some information from sister institutions regarding your event management and room setup standards. Currently here at the Iowa State Memorial Union we have a mix of rooms that stay in “standard” or “default” setups (namely some of our smaller meeting rooms); however, we also have some larger meeting rooms (non-ballrooms) that we allow customers to customize their setups for each reservations; which means we have staff members that are consistently “flipping” those rooms. As you can imagine this takes a lot of effort and staff work. We are currently seeking information on how other institutions are handling their non-ballroom meeting rooms. If possible would you mind answering the following questions? 

1. How many non-ballroom meeting rooms do you have?
2. Do you allow customers to customize these meeting room setups for every meeting?
3. If you allow them to customize the setup in these meeting rooms, do you charge setup fees?
4. Do you charge these setup fees to Student Org, Depts., and off-campus groups?
5. Do you keep all of the rooms in standard or default setups? 
6. If you keep your rooms in standard setups, do you allow customers to customize the setup in these rooms for a setup fee?
7. Do you charge these setup fees to Student Org, Depts., and off-campus groups?

Thanks for any help you might be able to provide us as we continue to see and implement best practices.

——————————
Brad Hill
Associate Director, Operations
Iowa State University
Ames IA
——————————