Courtesy George Williams College
Conference Center at George Williams College
Williams Bay, Wis.
George Williams College, with 300 students, is a speck on the collegiate map. But for peace, tranquility and purpose, it is tough to match.
Small classes, learning by doing and degree programs in fields that specialize in serving others give it purpose. Four-week camps for children with cancer or disabilities are a highlight each summer.
Founded in the 1890s as a YMCA training camp on Lake Geneva, two hours from Chicago and an hour from Madison, the college’s conference center has an upscale lodge feel. Its 22,000 square feet of meeting space includes two large rooms in the old dining hall.
“They have great windows and hardwood floors that creak as you walk on them,” said Bill Paladino, executive director of conferencing and food service.
Other meeting spaces are scattered around the small campus, its 133 acres dotted with woods, wildlife and Adirondack chairs.
One of the buildings, with meeting space for 100 to 150 and a wraparound porch, recently underwent a $1 million renovation.
“The best kind of meeting here,” Paladino said, “is a corporate retreat of 50 to 100 people. We draw mostly from the Chicago area.”
According to Paladino, three dominant markets are educational, religious retreats and nonprofit. About 10 percent is corporate.
Lake Geneva is the longtime playground of Chicago millionaires. Mansions along the lake tell that story.
But at George Williams, guest rooms are in 36 lakefront cabins and four lodges, two of them with shared baths.
“When you’re at the conference center,” Paladino said, “you feel like you’re part of the campus. But it’s not a bustling campus.”
For meals, groups can stand in line in the student center’s dining hall or use an executive dining room for 50. There’s also a bistro where beer and wine are served.
For free time, there are swimming piers, a 27-mile path around the lake, boating, lake cruises and three golf courses nearby.
“Or you can just sit on the porches,” Paladino said.
262-245-8520
www.gwcconferences.com
Marcum Hotel and Conference Center
Oxford, Ohio
Miami University’s Marcum Hotel and Conference Center also claims to be free of distractions. Many clients are corporations and associations in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky.
“Proctor and Gamble is a big customer,” said Kathy Crowley, marketing and sales manager, “especially when they want to get their meetings offsite to focus without the distractions of a city.”
The hotel completed a multimillion-dollar makeover last June, renovating 40 guest rooms and adding 15 more.
Its 13,000 square feet of meeting space can accommodate groups of up to 275, although the best size is from 5 to 60.
As for meeting on a university campus, Crowley says it’s “hugely economical and service-oriented, with university resources that range from a speaker’s bureau to baseball fields and fire pits. It’s like going to an all-inclusive resort without the ocean,” she said.
The Marcum was originally built as an inexpensive retreat center. “At one time, we had 19 rooms with twin beds,” Crowley said. But since the university’s Farmer School of Business opened next door in 2009, “executives are now our target customers.”
Guests can do Zumba, swim or lift weights in the Rec Center and mingle with faculty and staff on Thursday and Friday nights, when the hotel serves small plates at the bar.
Two golf courses are nearby, as are places for picnics and cookouts. Gardens next to the Marcum are perfect for receptions.
513-529-6911
www.hdg.muohio.edu/themarcum
Economical, flexible and distinctive, a college conference center might be the smart choice for the next meeting. If it is, bring business cards. You never know when you’ll meet that bright young person who will take your organization to its next level.
