Think big.
The Jack Breslin Student Events Center at Michigan State University has been the host of many large events – MSU’s largest annual career gallery which more than 5,000 students attended; the Michigan Republican 2010 State Convention which about 7,000 people attended; and the annual Midnight Madness basketball season tip-off, in which 15,000 people packed into the main arena.
Nanci Yeadon coordinates many of these events.
Yeadon, who has been with MSU for 31 years, is the senior event coordinator and sales manager at the Breslin Center. She books the space for receptions, meetings, conventions, conferences, circuses, talent and trade shows, high school and MSU commencements and other events that take place there.
Yeadon, who has worked at the Breslin Center since it opened in 1989, meets with clients to explain the different venues that are offered at the center and to discuss what clients may need for their event.
“You’re on your feet dealing with the client, making sure everything’s taken care of from catering, to having the doors open, making sure the lights are on, the air conditioning is on and last-minute (requests such as), ‘Oh by the way, I need a table and six chairs,’” Yeadon said.
The Breslin Center includes a concourse, meeting rooms, a main arena and two auxiliary gymnasiums. Men’s and women’s basketball games and women’s volleyball games take place at the arena.
“I love working some of the family shows where the little kids come in and the minute they see a clown or an elephant or ‘Disney on Ice,’ their faces just glow,” Yeadon said. “You’ve worked so hard and you get caught up in your daily routine, but then you see something like that and it makes it all worthwhile.”
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