sym·po·si·um [ sym·po·si·ums or sym·po·si·a (-z-) ]
1. A meeting or conference for discussion of a topic, especially one in which the participants form an audience and make presentations
According to Wikipedia:
Symposium originally referred to a drinking party (the Greek verb sympotein means "to drink together") but has since come to refer to any academic conference, or a style of university class characterized by an openly discursive format, rather than a lecture and question–answer format.
Boyfriend asked what a symposium means and he was truly disappointed when I read Symposium originally referred to a drinking party but... ... Yep! Just note the "but". And he went "I would prefer if it was (you wouldn't need me to spell it out to know what he had in mind)".
Hope the session on Saturday will be a good one =)