The selection of a venue is critical in planning any corporate event that you wish to organize. This is the true testimony that confirms that the choice of the venue plays a crucial role in as far as the impression left on the attendees is concerned. You need an environment that reflects your organisation and its values; has enough sitting capacity to host all your employees comfortably; includes all needed facilities; and makes the attendees feel good at the end of the session.
Here is how to go about it when searching for a corporate event venue that will meet all your needs for the next company dinner, conference, training session, or other corporate outing.
Consider Logistics First
Keep the planning practical, before considering which venues to visit or being side-tracked by some new fantastic function, sort out the basic facts. Logistics such as expected number of attendees, date and time of the corporate event, technology requirements, and budget will determine the possibility of certain venues to host your event.
After coming up with these key aspects, it is advisable to devise a Request for Proposal in a bid to relay the specifics of the ideal venue and send out inquiries to spaces that meet certain criteria at first glance. Eliminate answers that are out of the question, get in touch with the remaining candidates through site visit. Logistics should be the first criteria considered so that one is not tempted to spend lots of time admiring glamorous locations that may not suit a corporate event.
Evaluate Capacity
Few methods are more effective than packing the conference attendees into a big hall, which is overcrowded with people. When scouting potential corporate event spaces, be sure to make conscious efforts to consider if the area is capable of holding your announced number of guests.
It is advisable to reserve rooms slightly larger than the ones you have estimated to accommodate more people, the increasing arrivals and the circulation of the list. Determine if the venue has an available area or nearby rooms for substantially covered meetings for other attendees. Develop contingency strategies for handling circumstances that may arise such as, congestion in the registration process or scheduling for future programs. Another consider while selecting a corporate venue should be the ability to change if you happen to have more people attending.
Assess Technical Specifications
From the sound and visual systems and Internet connectivity to computers, projectors or charging points for mobile devices, nearly all the corporate events occurring in the twenty-first century is likely to have technical needs. It is crucial to ensure that potential venues have the capacity to offer or accommodate any technology aspects required by the company event.
Elaborate between equipment that belongs to in-house AV department versus equipment that are borrowed and then transported to the location. Check the proposed floor layouts to ensure the number of power outlets is sufficient and the venue’s connectivity is powerful and stable. Check if the lighting and sound schemes will not be a distraction for showcasing programming. There are bound to be technical hitches at every event and while some can be sorted out effortlessly, others pose a lot of problems if not fixed beforehand.
Check Accessibility
Considering factors such as parking space, means of transport to the event, availability of taxi services, and accommodation to guests during the event is important when choosing a venue for the corporate event. The most stunning location may not work effectively because attendees may find it difficult to arrive at the said location.
Determine the accessibility of the venue primarily by analyzing the time and effort required to get there by car, bus, taxi, or any other means of transport from important landmarks such as airports, hotels, or central business districts. Ensure the estimated parking space is available either at the venue itself or within close proximity. If on public transport or hiring car services, avoid areas that may cause a jam when picking or dropping passengers. The best thing about these problems is that they are easiest solved if your event is easy to get to; people will start and get their events going smoothly.
Account for Brand Alignment
But do not disregard brand fit when assessing corporate event venues despite the fact that efficiency forms the heart of logistics. It has been established that the people in the event will pull out some subconscious regards about the firm from the selection of the venue and looks.
Check whether there are other venues where the companies with similar brands or cultures already exist. Also think through how this could be managed to reflect your business more, through branding, catering, decoration, and theming possibilities adjacent to the site. It is the beauty of the venue that adds to the overall décor of the occasion – ensure that the impression created is the one you want!
Budget Consciously
There are numerous choices in terms of venue for a corporate event and the range of costs with the services can be tremendous. Don’t get starstruck when considering choice, compare it to the set event cost plan and the corresponding insurance rates.
During vendor talks, it’s important to get clear on what is included in the costs and what is not especially on matters concerning equipment usage, number of guests, catering, cleaning, security, electricity usage and anything else you may consider necessary to avoid a shock on the actual day of the event since it might just bring about a lot of disappointment. Also, negotiate on special discounts for nonprofit organizations, for events that are being held during the low seasons or off peak seasons and for multiple bookings of events. When comparing venue cost, ensure that you also take into account all the other possible expenses. .
This is perhaps the most important point and one should not hesitate to ask for recommendations and references.
Industry WOM is also useful in evaluating new corporate event venues based on the helpful insight they provide. When planning to invest in an unfamiliar site, check with coworkers on whether they have had bad or good experiences with the site and the personnel. It is always good to learn much from other planners regarding customer service, the ability to respond to unknown situations and onsite activities.
Also, directly request venues for more information on clients they have worked with in the past and request reviews. Any decent event spaces should be able to easily provide references of the praises from corporate clients that have used their services in the past. If there is any negative comment which has been posted, try to go further and find out what went wrong then ensure that you verify whether there was any reasonable attempt made to solve or address the problems in the future.
Optimize Site Visits
After identifying more specific possibilities for the venue of the corporate event, arrange the viewings. While going round each contender, intentionally take note of such aspects such as the layout of rooms, the inherent technological features, lighting, the walls, floor, the number of rest rooms, and cleanliness of the same, access to loading and off loading, proximity to transport among others.
Some of the roles that require coming from other teams could include caterers, designers, A/V specialists or program managers to assess operational feasibility. They may point out the strong-suited, restricted or special facilities that you do not possess sufficient understanding to notice as a single planner.
Take pictures and ask questions to be able to have a commercial comparison after continuing emotions such as the buzz of walking through the house you want to purchase and meeting sales people! Extensive surveys provide the right information required to make wiser choices on venues.
Bundled services mean the provision of several services at an agreed price as a package without allowing the purchaser to pick individual services, but before delving further into the subject, it is important to define and confirm what exactly is meant by bundled services.
It is important to determine if the corporate event venue offers any of the following as having access to them as a part of the venue rental, or if they are additional services that must be negotiated separately: catering, Audio/Visual equipment, electrical access, furniture, staff, security, cleaning and such like Understand what is included then proceed to negotiate on bundles, minimum requirments and extra charges through contracts.
Getting locked into bundled packages early is less likely to cause piecemeal upcharges later after already relocating to a space. The only thing to check is that every bundled item meets your quality standards—do not get overly obsessed with the benefits of vendored convenience and bog down on substandard food samples and mediocre technology!
Clarify Contingencies and Cancellations
However, best laid plans can be put at risk by unlikely occurrences which counter even the most well-planned corporate events. Crisp and clear contingency plans and exit strategies should be set prior to the signing of contracts, especially for venues.
Mitigate possible risks such as increased traffic during the event, weather conditions that lead to cancellations, new Covid variants, strikes by performers, technical difficulties etc You should negotiate reasonable cancellation policies and likely losses for cancellation that can occur when you have no control over the occurrence of such events but have lost a lot of money in preparation for the event. Although a person may not like to think about worst case scenarios, having guarantees regarding venue contracts provides relief as you approach your company’s event.
Select a Theme that is suitable for the attendees
Fundamentally, a venue should inspire all participants as well as add meaning to your occasion at the very entry point one gets to the event. However, do not consider the above factors as the sole determinants of a suitable corporate event venue; charm, energy, style or inspiration counts too!
Finally, you need guests to be charged up by the event space and not just the concept behind the event. It is recommended to ask other people to help you find those environments that should match with your company’s culture. Next, identify spaces that make your audience step into a different world that not only empowers and energizes them but also informs them why they are there. Selecting the venue promotes participation and transforms your corporate event from the mere requirement to a fulfilling and enriching experience.
The Perfect Venue Awaits!
It is important to consider many aspects in order to decide on the location of the event, starting from the practical ones and ending with the branding ones and the budget ones. Though it may not be easy and may demand so much hard work, the benefits that always result from it are immeasurable through the numerous commendations, a more cohesive organisational culture and improved market image after a positive event experience.
When it comes to selecting venues one should be very careful and appreciate the importance of using criteria related to your goals as well as needs and wants of corporate participants to guarantee effective business meetings in the future. Thus, these handy tips and tricks are sure to help you find some great venues for the future corporate events.
