Event and Meeting Management Major, B.S.

Pitch. Plan. Party. Event and Meeting Management professionals have fun and work hard in leading the success of professionally organized business or social gatherings, from conventions and conferences to galas and premieres. The Hospitality, Events and Tourism industry has a growing need for Event and Meeting Management professionals who are deeply versatile, highly organized and well prepared. In response to this need, MSU Denver provides hands-on education and training, with a world view, to reflect the global nature of the world’s largest industry.

As an Event and Meeting Management major, you will learn how to coordinate everything from vendor services to on-site logistics to crisis plans, then apply everything you learn while managing an actual event or meeting for real clients. Experiences like this help expose you to better opportunities in the Event and Meeting Management job market after you earn your degree from MSU Denver.

Event and Meeting Management majors have numerous experiential learning opportunities, from study abroad to service learning to research. For example, undergraduate students can take classes that fulfill Hospitality degree program requirements, such as Global Meeting Management, Global Marketing and Financial Accounting, at the University of Prague, School of Economics.

Undergraduate students in MSU Denver’s Event and Meeting Management degree program are encouraged to participate in student clubs. Opportunities for leadership, networking and socializing are provided by two main Event and Meeting Management student clubs: the MSU Denver Student Chapter of the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) and the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Meeting Professionals International (MPI).

The Event & Meeting Management Program graduated 52% of its BS students with exactly 120 student credit hours, the minimum required for graduation, between Summer 2018 and Spring 2022. This is the second highest percentage across all programs at MSU Denver that had at least 10 graduates during this time!

Building on MSU Denver’s reputation for excellence and innovation in the Hospitality, Events and Tourism industry — in fact, MSU Denver offered the very first Meeting Management concentration within a Hospitality department starting in 1972 — the Event and Meeting Management program thoroughly integrates with the rest of the department. Event and Meeting Management majors have more flexibility to earn their degree, take classes that interest them, add value with a related minor and potentially graduate sooner.

MSU Denver’s Advisory Board of industry experts helps the Event and Meeting Management degree program and its undergraduate students grow and succeed. The board offers unique perspectives based on years of experience and expertise in Event and Meeting Management through curriculum and assessment reviews and job and internship placements.

Median annual wage of an event and meeting management professional is $56,920, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2024). Typical job opportunities for Event and Meeting Management majors include planner, coordinator or manager, also called designer, architect or producer, for the following types of Events and Meetings:

• Corporate events such as product launchers, galas and award ceremonies
• Weddings, anniversaries, reunions and other social events
• Professional association meetings
• Business conventions and educational conferences
• Government meetings
• Health care meetings
• Nonprofit events such as fundraisers, banquets and food drives

With a bachelor’s degree in Event and Meeting Management, MSU Denver graduates are building exciting careers in the Hospitality, Events and Tourism industry with their own businesses or at companies and organizations.

Featuring an Events Lab, the Hotel and Hospitality Learning Center combines classrooms and teaching labs with a commercial hotel and conference facility—SpringHill Suites by Marriott and the J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation Conference Center. A LEED Gold-certified building, the Center is the only facility of its kind in Colorado and one of just 11 in the nation. The Events Lab houses industry software such as Cvent, Social Tables and Delphi’s sales and catering module that students use in the classroom. These electronic systems prepare students with technology skills needed to work in today’s Event and Meeting Management industry.

The degree programs in the School of Hospitality at MSU Denver are accredited through the Higher Learning Commission (HLC).