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Questions & Answers
William Regan is director of the Office of Special Events.
What is the goal of your office and how do you work to accomplish it?
We're set up to effectively partner with members of the campus community as they seek to produce and promote their own conferences, meetings, seminars, events, etc. Depending on their need level, the assistance we provide can run the full range of services we offer, from making room and space reservations to brokering and managing all of the logistics required for full scale multiple-day conferencing, including providing in-house registration and accounting services
What different kinds of events does your office get involved with?
I guess we get mixed up in a lot of programs! Groundbreakings, grand openings, dedications, black-tie affairs, news conferences, seminars, conferences, lectures, commencements, convocations, commemorations, memorials, service and product fairs, exhibits, concerts, institutes, benefits, fundraisers for not-for-profits (bike-a-thons, walk-a-thons, scooper-bowls), major competitions (Special Olympics, Empire State Games, USATF meets). The list goes on!
How many events does your office work on each year?
If you include the activities that our facilities coordinator, Sally Catalano, oversees, we're in the several hundreds. Out of these, there are 50-60 conferences and events where we provide more intensive management and registration services.
What's the most unusual event your office has coordinated?
You know, 'unusual' is no longer part of our vocabulary. When you've arranged truck rodeos and helicopter rides, and program an annual gravesite commemoration for Millard Fillmore in the middle of winter, nothing seems too far-fetched. But we do draw the line occasionally—refusing to host a cat show, or declining on an opportunity to allow 1,000 RV owners to camp in our parking lots for a long weekend (using 4-5 parking spots per RV!).
What criteria do you use in selecting participants for the Distinguished Speakers Series?
Everybody asks me this question. I don't have a straightforward answer, because there is no set formula on how individual speakers are signed on. I will say the most important decision factor when first considering a speaker is name recognition. If you don't have that, attracting a crowd will be difficult.
Over the years, I have maintained a list of speakers who have been nominated, recommended, or who are clearly very notable national or international figures. On an annual basis, I add those persons who have recently distinguished themselves, or who become available because they are out of office or retired (i.e., Rudy Giuliani, Bill Clinton, Jack Welch).
With list in hand, I meet with my sponsors, and begin sorting out the "favorites." I also review results from our on-line survey http://wings.buffalo.edu/events/disvote.shtml and audience surveys, to help weight the sponsor results.
Ideally, a headline quality person emerges as a front-runner. The past few years, we've been fortunate to have speakers like former President Bush, Colin Powell and Madeleine Albright. For this year's series we were able to sign Rudy Giuliani, a clear favorite of SA, our surveys and many of our other sponsors.
Signing the first speaker is the crucial point in defining the series. Ideally we'll get a headliner like Giuliani. It gets the ball rolling and helps in setting a "direction" for the other speakers. Of course, all sorts of issues and concerns enter into the fray of the decision-making process: budget, speaker demographics (male/female, Democrat/Republican, area of expertise, etc.), speaker availability (your date opportunities dwindle as more speakers are signed on), facilities availability and so on. In a sense, filling out the rest of the series almost becomes a process of elimination! By the time I get to the last speaker, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that so-and-so will be available on the one and only date I can book.
Who has been your favorite speaker and why?
An easier question would have been who was my least favorite speaker (I won't tell you) because almost without exception, each speaker has been wonderful. But since you asked, I would have to say Sidney Poitier impressed me the most. First, he is the nicest person you could want to meet. He made me feel like an equal in making plans for his event. He spent more time working on his program at UB than any other speaker. On his own dime, he flew into Buffalo a few months before his lecture to meet with Professor Jim Pappas and me to look at Alumni Arena (lecture site) and strategize about the program. He even took us to dinner! I kept having to remind myself this guy was not only a Hollywood legend, but a very important change agent in America's civil rights movement. He is a walking, talking history and I had a chance to spend some quality time with him and get to know him! He's a very positive, upbeat person who has great humility and compassion.
What question would you like me to have asked, and how would you have answered it?
Can anybody call us to have us help with their program? You bet—give me
a ring at 645-6147 ext. 228 or email me at wjregan@buffalo.edu