College of Business and Entrepreneurship Elevates Virtual Events

The H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship is taking virtual events to the next level with their new 3-D event floorplan featuring the William S. Spears Courtyard Atrium in the Carl DeSantis Building located at the Davie campus.

In May 2020, the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Huizenga Business Innovation Academy (HBIA) faced the difficult task of turning their highly hands-on, experiential learning summer boot camp course  fully virtual, in a matter of three weeks. After much research, they partnered with Remo, an interactive virtual event platform, to facilitate their “live classroom” team and networking activities. Remo allows for camera and microphone sharing between the guests sitting at each table, so conversations are semi-private once all the virtual seats at the table are full. This feature allowed HBIA faculty, administration, and students to meet virtually and feel like they were gathering in a real setting with the autonomy to move freely between tables and speak with other attendees around the virtual conference floor.

Over a year later, the college and the Business Innovation Academy are still using Remo and have held various events such as career fairs, holiday parties, study sessions, academic conferences, business trade shows and recruitment events.

“This platform has allowed us to safely continue working with our community partners throughout the pandemic and is a refreshing break from the traditional Zoom meetings” said, Monica Paneque, director of the Huizenga Business Innovation Academy.

Now, the college is taking the virtual event space to the next level with one of the most popular venues on-campus, the DeSantis building Courtyard Atrium. In innovating the representation of NSU’s first and only virtual event space, the Huizenga Academy’s program manager, Najeeb Ahmed, took his technical design skills and drew sketches from various perspectives of the atrium. With the help of a talented graphic designer, the college was able to bring their vision to life! If you have ever visited the atrium on campus, you will see how this new digital floorplan offers a familiar and amazing NSU virtual experience for events.

With all the excitement around our virtual venue that complements the on-campus experience, the Huizenga College of Business and Entrepreneurship has hosted more than 100 virtual events to date and plans to continue using the platform even into a post-COVID era. For instance, the virtual conference experience allows the college to attract attendees to events from all over the world without the worry of space capacities, travel restrictions or double booking. Should your college, department, or association like to learn more about reserving our virtual atrium, you are welcome to contact us at HBIA@nova.edu.