Edwin Kidd, formerly a marketing specialist at SLUCare, has been recruited as the University's first director of conference services. Effective Feb. 1, existing staff from the University scheduling and University events offices began reporting to Kidd.

Kidd has extensive experience in sales and marketing activities in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors. He reports to James Kimmey, M.D., executive vice president.

Over the past five years, there has been an increase in the number of conferences and special events held at the University. Traditionally, such events were scheduled and coordinated with service providers by the sponsoring department or, for University-sponsored events, by the department of community relations.

The University determined that a conference services office that offered centralized "one stop shopping" was required. This office will provide support for all Saint Louis University conferences and special events and for conferences sponsored by external parties by providing a single point of entry for all users.

"One outcome of the University's campus expansion, building and beautification initiatives is the availability of quality facilities to support conferences, meetings and special events," Kidd said. "The president's goal is to expand the use of these facilities, with an emphasis on marketing to external users to create new revenue streams and to enhance the reputation of the University in external markets."

Once the conference services office is fully organized, it will begin aggressively marketing SLU facilities and services to external users. Facilities include classrooms, auditoriums, conference rooms and recreational facilities. Services include scheduling, billing, parking, food service, public safety, audiovisual, recreational and lodging.

The conference services office will develop a comprehensive fee schedule for meeting space and will manage contracting, billing and collections of such fees. Policies and procedures will be established for approving any and all exceptions to the fee schedule.

The conference services unit will be located at 3510 Olive Blvd. on the second floor as soon as the space can be renovated to meet its needs. This building was purchased last year by the University.

In the meantime, the following phone numbers should continue to be used to access unit services. Kidd can be reached at 977-8886. University scheduling can be reached at 977-3729, and University events can be reached at 577-8014.

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