Previously, the Special Events Coordination course was conducted using a traditional lecture approach. The Special Events Coordination is an advanced level course where students learned about leadership and communicate direction for the production of an event. Realizing that the nature of the course requires more teamwork, starting in 2015, team-based learning (TBL) pedagogy was introduced to the course. TBL is a teaching method that encourages team development among students using active small groups. This study was designed to examine the effectiveness of using the TBL approach in teaching hospitality and event management students. Approximately 10 to 13 students participated in five different focus group sessions where participants shared their actual experiences with the course. The majority of the participants preferred the TBL approach compared to the traditional lecture, particularly when the courses require students to work on projects or coordinate events like this course. After experiencing TBL, the participants believed that the TBL method not only can help improve their academic performance but also prepare themselves for future careers in the hospitality and event management field. Additional, this study found that more than 30 participants who agreed to reveal their final grade earned “A” for this course. While the findings are interestingly good and can Benefit other hospitality and event management courses, there is still room for improvement. Future research could utilize TBL when teaching other hospitality and event management courses and compare the students’ team development progress every semester until they graduate from the program