Villanova University Conferences
 

Villanova University Conferences

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Villanova University Conferences

Event Types Welcomed

  • Adult Social Events
  • Corporate Social Events
  • Expo/Competitions
  • Professional Meeting / Training / Conference / Retreats
  • Youth Retreat/Camps

About

Villanova University is located just outside of Philadelphia, PA on the prestigious Main Line. The charming venue features national award-winning dining services, modern guest apartments and contemporary meeting/event facilities on a picturesque campus landscape. Whether you are hosting a conference, convention or training event in the Philadelphia area, guests will enjoy the convenience of an on-campus train station and accessibility to the PA Turnpike, I-76, I-476, Valley Forge National Park, and bountiful local dining and shopping options, including the largest mall on the east coast…all within 15 minutes!

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Meeting & Event Spaces

  • Max Capacity: 5000 guests
  • Largest Classroom Style: 275
  • Largest Theatre Style: 5000
  • Academic Year Largest Group: yes
Meeting Facilities
Villanova's academic environment provides a range of meeting and educational settings specifically designed to facilitate the teaching and learning experience. For groups of up to 650 there are air-conditioned classrooms, lecture halls, conference rooms, a cinema, theater, and the Connelly Center (university union building). Much of this meeting space is equipped with built-in, state-of-the-art audiovisual capability. The air conditioned Pavilion, multi-purpose indoor arena can seat up to 6,500, and Villanova Stadium can seat 12,000 for outdoor activities and can be lit for evening use. Sustainability practices are not only of importance in Dining Services operations or when planning residence hall renovations, but also when it comes to meeting facilities and academic buildings. Campus-wide green-building initiatives are increasing, and the new Villanova Law School was recently awarded LEED Gold Certification.

Food & Beverage Options

Award-Winning Dining Services
Campus dining services is owned and operated by Villanova University. Its mission is to serve food of the highest consistent quality, which includes both market and nutritional trends, provided by efficient and courteous employees in a clean environment. Staffed by seasoned food service professionals, meeting planners will also benefit from the opportunity to consult with a full-time nutritionist on staff. Dining Services offers great quality food and service whether it is a catered meeting refreshment break, a welcome reception, an elegant banquet, or the all-you-care-to-eat dining hall buffet experience. In all, there are seventeen dining locations: three, fixed-price dining halls and fourteen, a-la-carte operations that include our signature “Holy Grounds” coffee shops, a delicatessen, a convenience store and a food court. Villanova Dining Services has been honored by receipt of the Ivy Award from Restaurants and Institutions Magazine reflecting permanent status in the echelon of the best dining operations in the nation. It continues to receive annual commendations from the National Association of College and University Food Services and compliments from thousands of VU guests and groups!
Sample Summer Dining Hall Menu

Catering options

Villanova Catering
Group activities with food service not in a dining hall are provided through University Catering (a division of Villanova Dining Services) which has bountiful options for the most exacting specifications. Refreshment breaks, served or buffet meals, picnic arrangements, boxed meals, receptions and special dinner banquets can all be provided anywhere on campus according to group size and funds. Villanova University does have a license to serve alcoholic beverages according to Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board mandates. The charges for served beer, wine and cocktails are included in the whole-event pricing based on a fee for bartending, bar set-ups, and group alcohol consumption. The University cannot sell alcohol by-the-drink, nor for profit, at a function. This condition can translate into significant savings for planners given the impact of the cost of bar service on the budget for an event. See Catering Menu for the alcohol policy. A professional event planner will assist meeting planners with all of the details of each catered function. Whatever your needs, Villanova can offer basic to elegant catering services with a wide variety of campus locations, menu choices, dining table and room décor.
Villanova Catering Menu Spring/Summer
Villanova Catering Menu Fall/Winter

Accommodations

  • Total Number of Overnight Guests: 3000
  • Number of Overnight Rooms: 1,715
  • Wi-Fi in Guest Rooms: Yes
  • Wi-Fi Guest Room Cost : complimentary
Overnight Room Attributes
  • Air-conditioned rooms available
  • Linens Provided
  • Kitchen Available
  • Microwave
  • Refrigerator
  • Shampoo
  • Soap
  • Towels
  • Washer/Dryer
  • WiFi

 

Overview
Villanova offers a variety of styles of guestrooms and amenities including air-conditioned guest apartments, air-conditioned traditional residence halls, and traditional residence halls without air conditioning. Each style of housing is priced accordingly, yet, there is great value regardless of which you choose. Speak with one of the staff in the Office of Conference Services to determine the best housing arrangement for your group and budget.
Guest Apartments with A/C
Geared toward adult-age groups, there are over 300 modern furnished apartments in a complex of eight, three-story buildings with elevators. These two double-bedroom, and some four single-bedroom, apartments are designed to house from one to four guests in privacy and comfort. Each comes equipped with a living room/dining room, kitchen (no utensils/dishes/cookware), 1 1/2 or 2 bathrooms, Internet access, cable TV connection (byotv) and linen service.
  • 300 Rooms
  • 1200 Beds
Residence Halls with A/C
These types of accommodations offer single or double-occupancy rooms (and some triple and quad rooms) along a hallway with a common bathroom on each floor or wing. Includes complimentary wi-fi, cable TV connection (BYO TV) and linen service. Youth groups (and some adult groups) tend to reside in this style of housing.
  • 1,250 Rooms
  • 2,800 Beds

Featured Amenities

  • Air Conditioning Air Conditioning
  • Bus - Shuttle, Public Bus Access Bus
  • Car Charging Station Car Charging Station
  • Eco-Friendly
  • Fitness Center Fitness Center
  • Handicap Accessible
  • In-House Catering
  • Laundry
  • Linens
  • Near Public Transit
  • Outdoor Space
  • Overnight Rooms
  • Paid Parking
  • Running Trails
  • Sports Facilities
  • Taxi
  • Theater Seating
  • WiFi

Venue Location + Transportation

Address

 
Office of Conference Services,
800 Lancaster Avenue, Galberry Hall,
Villanova, Pennsylvania 19085

Transportation

  • BusBus
  • LyftLyft
  • TaxiTaxi
  • TrainTrain
  • UberUber

Nearby Airport

  • Philadelphia Int'l Airport - 25 minutes

Nearby International Airport

  • Philadelphia Int'l Airport - 25 minutes

Parking

  • Onsite Parking: Yes
  • Car Charging Stations: Yes

Nearby Cities

Philadelphia – 15|New York – 90|Washington, DC – 130

Things to Know

Catering

  • Must Use In-house Catering: Yes
  • External Catering Allowed: No
  • Can Bring in Own Food: no
  • Cultural Catering Available: No
  • Food and Beverage Onsite: Yes

Technology

Villanova University has campus-wide, complimentary, high-speed web access (wireless), streaming, and video and satellite teleconferencing facilities. The Philadelphia area campus also has award-winning, rich-media web technology and all “smart” meeting/classrooms with AV included: LCD projector, projection screen, DVD player etc.

  • Guest Wi-Fi: Free
  • Onsite Tech Support: Yes
  • Wi-Fi in meeting space: Yes
  • Equipment Available On-Site:
    • Projector Screen
    • Microphones
    • Sound System

Venue Policies

  • Alcohol Consumption: Yes
  • Smoking Permitted: yes
  • Cannabis Industry-Friendly: No
  • Cannabis Consumption: No
  • Eco Friendly: Yes
  • ADA Accessible: Yes
  • Family Friendly: Yes
  • Pet Friendly: No

Testimonals

I wanted to let you know that I was extremely happy with yesterday’s meeting. I’ve been on campus for 22 years and have never had an opportunity to work with the three of you. Your Conference Services office is a wealth of information and I appreciate your support during this time. (I was checking out your website this morning….WOW! awesome!!)
VU Math Conference - Modern Trends in Algebraic Graph Theory
I wanted to thank you for all the work you put in for the intern housing program this summer. I had a great experience living at Villanova and I appreciated the availability of your staff. Have a good rest of the summer!
Intern Housing Program resident
Thank you very much for all that you did to help make our programs successful this summer! It is obvious how much effort, dedication and planning you do to allow nothing but first rate customer service. Thank you again and we hope you are enjoying some quiet time now.
Learning to Lead
Thank you for all of your help with student housing at the 2013 U.S. Open held at Merion Golf Club. I appreciate all of your time and patience with our staff. I hope we can work together in the future.
Purple Tie by Ridgewells
We had a fantastic experience yesterday. The Challenge Course was wonderful, and very valuable to our residents, and the conference space was perfect. Our Challenge Course facilitator walked the group over to the conference space. The food was set up for the group when we arrived at about 12:15pm, was spot on in terms of quantity for our group, and delicious. We actually didn't need any specific on site support. Thank you so much for all of your assistance in coordinating. We definitely plan to return for our retreat next year!
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Thanks so much for hosting another successful Northeast Institute program! All in all, the week was pretty flawless and we appreciate your customer service and quick response time. Please pass along my thanks to Sue and Stef as well, as they were fantastic, as usual. Thanks again!
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation
Thanks so much to you and your staff for making our Honors Institute a huge success. I think this may be one of our largest yet. I really appreciate you and Villanova coming forward with a solution when the cafeteria we were going to use decided it needed to be renovated. :) The buses worked great and added comfort to our attendees. Everyone loved the ice cream social. Your staff really stepped up to accommodate all our last minute accommodations. This was a very unusual year for that, we normally have just a few. Everyone had a great time on the Villanova campus and in the Philadelphia area. Thanks again for all your help to make it a very successful Honors Institute. Maybe we will be back soon.
Phi Theta Kappa
Thank you for all of your help this week! We so appreciate your flexibility and hospitality!
Spark the Wave
Sincerest thanks for all you did to make our annual Augustinian June Gatherings a success once agian this year. I sincerely appreciate all your efforts and the efforts of your entire staff and thank you, not only in my own name, but in the name of all the friars who attended the week's events.
Augustinian Friars, Province of Saint Thomas of Villanova
I want to thank you for all of your help planning our Seminar at Villanova. You are quite organized and that made things so easy for all of us. The Connelly Center staff was amazing! He was so pleasant to work with and worked hard to make everything perfect. He was checking on us, asking us if we needed anything, and quick to respond to any request we had. Again, you and your team did an excellent job and it was all in the little details. Thank you very much!
La Leche League
Thank you for all you did for us this summer! Thank you for your patience and flexibility with our rooming!! We hope you enjoy the remainder of your summer and the rest of the year!
JKCP
A quick but sincere "thank you" for taking care of my housing needs, at the very last minute, for my conference at the IOM program. It was a relief to me to get this resolved so quickly and painlessly. Your courteous and urgent help to solve my self-induced problem was very much appreciated. Thank you again for your efforts on my behalf.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation IOM attendee
I want to thank your whole team for their hospitality and hard work last month. It was a very difficult year for us under bizarre circumstances and without your help and flexibility, we just could not have pulled through for the event.
Andy Frain Services
Thank you to your entire office for all of your organization and support to make this past weekend possible. It was a huge success with the students and it all went off so flawlessly.
VU Campus Ministry Connections Retreat Team
I wanted to thank you for all your help these past few months. Being new is never easy and you really helped me with all my questions and inquiries before and during the program. Thank you.
VU NHI

Services

Leisure Facilities
Barbecue grills and picnic tables on all three areas of campus; game rooms with pool tables, ping-pong table
Recreational Services
2 state-of-the-art fitness centers (complimentary use for guests 18 and older), outdoor sand volleyball courts, outdoor basketball courts, outdoor tennis courts, outdoor track. A limited amount of athletic equipment can be borrowed from the summer Service Desk in Galberry Hall.
Challenge Course
Challenge course for team-building activities (by appointment); trained facilitators; competitive rates; customizable to group sizes and desired learning objectives.
Walking Trail
3-mile marked walking trail on campus
Library/Public Computers
Falvey Library and public computers can be accessed by all Conference Services guests via their issued ID cards.
Check-In/-Out Staffing Services
Conference Services staff is available to handle housing check-ins and check-outs upon request. (3 hours complimentary, fee for additional hours.)
24/7 On-Site Staff Support
24/7 on-site staff support available via our Service Desk (front desk) daily from 7am to 9pm and via our staff on duty daily from 9pm to 7am.
Train Stations On Campus / Public Transportation
Septa Regional Rail (Thorndale/Paoli Line) station on campus, with service to all Philadelphia suburbs, Center City Philadelphia, and connection to Philadelphia International Airport via 30th Street Station in Philadelphia. Two Septa Norristown High Speed Line stations also on campus.
Vendor Referrals
Assistance and referrals can be provided with arranging transportation (e.g. shuttle and bus service, golf cart rentals), tent rentals, etc.

Technology

A/V and Technology in Meeting Rooms
Every classroom/meeting room at Villanova has wired, high-speed, internet connectivity (at least for the presenter), a drop-down projection screen, whiteboard/blackboard, and a podium/lectern. All buildings on campus also have a guest wireless internet access account option that can be pre-arranged through the Office of Conference Services. 99% of the rooms include an LCD (data) projector. By request, additional equipment such a portable PA system and/or sections of low, stage risers can be added to a larger event room for which there could be a nominal fee. A limited number of easels can also be provided at no charge. A user’s rental fee always includes the use of the built-in AV equipment mentioned above. Conference Services staff can meet a client representative in advance of the meeting date and explain the operation of the equipment. Clients need to supply their own laptop computer, which connects to the LCD projector via HDMI/VGA/Apple Mini Display Port cables supplied in the room. Clients will need to bring their own adapters to connect their specific laptops to the cords provided. On-site technical support staffing during a meeting must be provided at a client’s additional expense, unless otherwise noted in a license agreement. If a client desires, an audio-visual equipment operation instructional session can be scheduled in advance of the meeting through the Office of Conference Services at no charge. The Connelly Center has management staff on site to assist with audio-visual needs in the meeting/event rooms located in this building. If a client desires additional audio-visual equipment, staging, sound, lighting, etc in any location, it may be rented from an outside source.
Complimentary Wi-Fi
Wireless internet service is complimentary and available in all residential and academic buildings.
Public Computer Lab
A public access computer lab is available for complimentary guest use in Falvey Library.
Computer Lab Rentals
Several existing computer labs are available for rent. Alternatively, guest groups can bring in their own equipment and classrooms or other event spaces can be set up and rented for computer lab use.
A/V Tech Support
In-house, on-site A/V tech support is available through Villanova's Media Technology and Conference Services departments. A/V tutorials can be set up prior to an event, and on-going support is available throughout the program.

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