From trivia nights to weddings, hospitality students bring events to life
Students in the Pamplin College of Business plan and host events before they are judged at the annual Ignite showcase.
To put their event management skills to the test, students in the Howard Feiertag Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management plan, create, and host events as part of their class projects.
During the 2025-26 academic year, students planned and hosted events such as dog yoga, a wedding for two alumni, and a pickleball tournament. This immersion into event planning provided students with career-ready skills in logistics, budgeting, client relations, and critical thinking.
At the end of the semester, they came together for the Ignite Showcase, where their year-long projects were judged by industry experts in the categories of catering management, hospitality sales, and event management and experience.
Planning these events give students a glimpse into their potential careers and the steep learning curve that comes with it. In the Howard Feiertag Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management, many students in the event management minor come from programs outside of the Pamplin College of Business, adding to the skill sets that prepare students to work with multi-faceted teams. According to Candace Fitch, the Howard Feiertag Professor of Practice in Hospitality Leadership, students often arrive in the classroom with a romanticized view of the industry and are unaware of the behind-the-scenes challenges of planning an event.
“Many of them have either never been introduced to putting together a budget or never considered their importance,” she said. “These classes and this showcase builds their confidence in event planning and many of my students have gone on to talk about this experience in job interviews.”
Fitch said event planners need to be ready for the unknown. These projects build critical-thinking skills and teach students how to be prepared for those challenges.
For students in the Catering Management course, they put together pricing packages for fictional clients who were planning their wedding. From there, they pitched their packages to local catering professionals. The students in the class also provided food for the event.
Each student team in the Hospitality Sales course chose a strategic sales engagement event to research and endorse to sales leaders. Students created a presentation and proposal outlining their event and how it would impact the sales effort for their market segment, including an event theme, budget, agenda, marketing strategies, and collaborations with appropriate companies to help sell the hotel and the city. The proposals were pitched to hotel sales professionals from The Inn at Virginia Tech, Mountain Lake Lodge, and the Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center who were playing the hypothetical role of hotel directors of sales and marketing.
For students minoring in event management, they planned hypothetical events such as a wedding, festival, sporting event, or conference as if a client were to hire them to plan the event. They were provided with a budget and from there, the students put together a plan that was presented to event planners in the New River Valley.
Seniors preparing for graduation were tasked to plan and host an event as part of their event management capstone class.
“My event capstone was a trivia night that was made to engage students,” Anita Hall, a senior majoring in public relations with a minor in event management. “There are so many moving aspects that event planners think about and having that knowledge has prepared me to stay proactive and become more of a critical thinker.”
The showcase also provided students with an opportunity to explore careers in hospitality and tourism management that may not come to mind. This year’s showcase revolved around the theme of amusement parks. Students from the Theme Park Engineering and Design club showcased model rollercoasters and talked with Pamplin students about the importance of business integration at theme parks. Additionally, keynote speaker Campbell Burden '23, attractions operations supervisor at Universal Orlando Resort, presented about Virginia Tech’s impact on his career and how his experience at Universal is shaped by working with colleagues from across the organization.
