It is a place nearly every Niu student will visit at least once: the Convocation Center.

The student-funded, $36 million facility opened its doors August 2002. Though it is home to a variety of events such as student orientation, job fairs and trade shows, the events that consistently draw the most crowds are concerts and comedy acts.

Booking an Event

There are two main ways an event is booked, said Ed Dawson, Convocation Center operations supervisor.

The artist can buy the show, in which case they basically are renting the building; or the Convo can buy the show.

The main determining factor in whether an act will perform at the Convo Center is if schedules and available facilities match up, Dawson said. Next, either the Convo or the artist makes an offer. If an agreement is made, planning will begin. Ticket prices are determined by the set-up fees and the offer made between the artist and the Convo, Dawson said.

Preparing for an Event

If an artist needs to rent equipment for the event, they are referred to Rockford- or Chicago-based equipment rental agencies.

“For bigger acts, they have their own lighting, sound equipment and their own technicians and designers who design their show,” Dawson said. “For smaller musical acts, it’s usually a matter of renting equipment.”

The day before a large concert, about eight to 15 Convo employees set up. Four to five lighting and sound crew members from the NIU theater department, known as riggers, also begin preparations the day before a big event.

On the day of the event, five to six hours are set aside for the band to unload equipment, and another five to six hours are dedicated to stage set-up and sound checks.

“Since there are always so many things going on at the Convocation Center, there’s a crew here practically every day for weeks at a time,” Dawson said. “But it ultimately rests on what’s going on in a particular month.”

If a show takes six hours to set up, it will take three hours to take down, Dawson said. Quick take-down is important, as big events are sometimes followed by athletic or other events the next day.

Crowd Size

Big concerts generally require the full use of the Convo’s 10,000 seats and 45,000 square feet of floor space.

“If we’re anticipating low attendance, we can pull a curtain down on the upper bowl [to isolate the inner bowl],” assistant athletic director Stacy Allie said.

The size of the crowd ultimately depends on the event, said marketing manager Kevin Selover.

Though large musical acts see massive crowds – Gretchen Wilson drew in about 7,700 fans – these are not the only events to bring massive amounts of people. Bill Cosby, the Center’s first performance, drew in about 6,500 people.