How hospitality schools leverage technology and practical training to shape the industry’s future
Knowledge is power.
From an up-and-coming planner’s perspective, information and on-the-ground experience are the ultimate teaching tools for understanding the expectations of a meeting planner on a mission to develop engaging, enlightening and entertaining moments.
Whether it is the latest technology, trends or tangible experiences, the upcoming generation of planners have a plethora of resources to pull from.
Smart Meetings spoke with New York University, California State University-Monterey, Kirkwood Community College and LEO Events to see what the students of 2024 have to look forward to in this next school year.
New Emerging Technologies
Dr. Richie Karaburun, clinical associate professor and director of HI Hub Incubator of New York University School of Professional Studies and Jonathan M. Risch Center of Hospitality, honed in on new emerging technologies, especially AI.
Karaburun invites his students to utilize AI apps in their education. “[Students] are encouraged to use LLM (large language models) such as ChatGPT, but you need to cite it,” Karaburun explained. “[They] need to tell me their prompts, and they need to show what is and isn’t their work.”
Read More: Why AI Might Mean Salvation for the Meeting Industry
Similar to the reasoning behind math homework, it is important that students indicate where their work ends and where ChatGPT begins, he said.
“As an educator, it’s our job to teach our next event professionals or hospitality professionals how to teach that new technology.” Karaburun used the example of using a calculator in a statistics class to highlight the importance of giving students essential tools: “Like any new technologies, use it —but use it responsibly.”
For educators wanting to dip their toes into augmented reality for exercises such as virtual site inspections, Karaburun believes Apple Glasses are the superior choice, due to their 8K visuals.
Hands-on Sustainability
Once considered a trend, the narrative around sustainability has evolved into a necessity when educating the new inductees of the meetings industry.
The College of Business at California State University Monterey Bay offers a unique degree program that actively trains the next generation of hospitality professionals and planners to prioritize sustainability in their work.
According to Paige Viren, executive director of the Sustainable Hospitality & Tourism Management Program, the school partnered with the Global Sustainable Tourism Council to embed their Professional Certificate in Sustainable Tourism into the curriculum. The GSTC Criteria, which align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, focus on promoting responsible tourism practices, including climate action, reducing inequalities, and responsible consumption and production, among others.
“We teach our students about sustainable development goals, and embedded throughout the curriculum are these criteria. How does it work for the destination? How does it work for the hotel? How does it work for the tour operator?” Viren asks. “At the end of the program, they have the knowledge and experience to go ahead and test for a professional certificate in sustainable tourism.”
Viren noted that after taking her students to a recent conference in Monterey, they were able to connect the content of the event back to their experience at CSU’s program. “It was exciting to see the students’ faces light up like, oh! We know what [the planners at the PCMA Northern California conference] were talking about.”
Viren admits that when the program first began, they had only scratched the surface of what was possible for sustainability tourism education for new hospitality planners and those already in the industry, “We work so closely with the industry. There’s a desire and opportunity to help those people who have already graduated who want this [education].”
“It was exciting to see the students’ faces light up like, oh! We know what [the planners at the conference] were talking about.”
– Paige Viren, Cal State Monterey Bay
The younger generation is setting the tone for the future of sustainability in the hospitality and tourism industry. “The wave is coming,” Viren said. “They care about those things, and they’re actually purchasing or choosing experiences that align with their values.”
In places like California, sustainability is becoming a required box to check for meetings and events.
“The intersection of conservation and commerce is really creating experiences and acknowledging that people are passionate about protecting Mother Earth,” Viren stated. “The interpretation piece can actually influence somebody to go home and practice being environmentally sustainable because they had an experience with you.”
Practical Experience
No matter where you went to school, there is no substitute for real world experience. In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Kirkwood Community College’s two-year program provides hospitality students with a balance of both. Kirkwood owns and operates a AAA Four Diamond hotel named The Hotel at the Kirkwood Center.
“Across two years here, [students] have over 500 hours of clinical experience,” explained Dr. Greg Krawiec, associate professor and hospitality management program coordinator at Kirkwood. “In their first year [students] go into all the different areas of the hotel. It’s the theoretical behind-the-scenes we’re teaching them in the classroom.”
In the first year at Kirkwood, students learn the important foundational aspects and then take on an internship before beginning year two. Then, students begin a focus on leadership that includes the front office, restaurant management, catering and sales.
“They learn to take over the different departments within the hotel, and they learn everything through the eyes of the managers,” Krawiec said. “The idea is that they leave being self-reliant and self-confident, knowing that they have been in all the different positions.”
Because students are tasked with getting a bird’s-eye view from a managerial role, they build confidence that can carry over to a future hospitality position.
Prior to graduation, students have two final steps to take. First, they must pick a department and run that department for about a week. During that time, they get to make all the decisions. The usual management team steps aside and allows the student to run the key points of the department.
“They learn to take over the different departments within the hotel, and they learn everything through the eyes of the managers.”
– Dr. Greg Krawiec, Kirkwood Community College
Secondly, the students create a very detailed summative report on what they observed from the experience and the culture of the team. Key performance indicators include average daily rate of occupancy, catering sales, events analytics and meet-and-greeting clients.
“If they don’t do that successfully, then we put them back through the process to tune up that report over and over again until they get those things right,” Krawiec said. “What we learned from our industry partners is they see students come out with soft skills and a leadership perspective, and somewhere in that mix is the financial acumen to begin to understand how to take over a department and be responsible for budget.”
Krawiec recently went on a site visit with one of his students and ran into a prior student from five years ago who is now an assistant general manager. Shortly after, he crossed paths with another student of his from seven years ago who is now general manager of the property.
“Seeing them in their environment is really the proof of what they can accomplish after just two years at Kirkwood, with the tools in the facility that we have to teach them and have them think on a higher plane,” Krawiec said.
Communication in Events
The hospitality industry often creates workers infused with jack-of-all-trades qualities that span across the sector, one of which is communication.
Enter the strategic partnership between University of Tennessee-Knoxville and LEO Events, which resulted in a minor that is offered to undergraduate students with the College of Communication and Information and the College of Education, Health and Human Services.
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Within the LEO Events and University of Tennessee-Knoxville partnership, undergraduates will gain skills through classroom work, instructional lectures and hands-on training.
The program, launched on August 1, offers students with an interest in communications and event management a unique opportunity.
“During your first two years, if you opt to get this minor, you’re just doing classroom-type instruction,” said Cindy Brewer, principal of LEO Events. “LEO Events may come and be a guest professor. We may send other industry guest professors.”
“It’s a real win for us to leave a legacy, to say we’re doing something to help groom and educate students in what we consider a viable, lucrative career.”
– Cindy Brewer, LEO Events
Students will have the ability to go to on-site events and have experiential learning opportunities with LEO Events. Most recently, nine students were brought on to serve as junior production assistants for a large fortune 100 company. For 12 days, students learned the process of working the event from start to finish.
“They got to really touch every element of it as well as a behind-the-scenes look at it, so they could see us producing the show and see what the final product looks like,” Brewer explained.
The partnership grants a direct line of fresh talent for industry professionals seeking event tech and communication workers who are battle-tested.
“Our end goal for LEO Events is that we are bringing highly skilled students into the field, which crosses over into other event management companies,” Brewer said, adding that if LEO Events is unable to hire students as interns or entry-level workers, they can connect them with friends and partners.
“It’s a real win for us to leave a legacy, to say we’re doing something to help groom and educate students in what we consider a viable, lucrative career.”
This article appears in the September 2024 issue. You can subscribe to the magazine here.
