We all know that organizing an event requires you to make a lot of big decisions and the biggest of those is your venue. Why? Because it has a lot of knock-on implications that will have a big say on how successful your event is going to be. Everything from amenities, to accessibility and layout, all depend on the venue you choose, and they all play a major part in creating a powerful attendee experience.
That’s why it’s of the utmost importance that you choose a venue that provides the perfect environment to deliver this experience. Not only should the venue encapsulate your brand, but it should also play a defining role in communicating a narrative to your attendees.
From the conventional such as hotels, conference halls, and exposition centers, to the more out of the ordinary such as art galleries, farms, and airplane hangars – there really is something for every brand out there. The good news is that there is an abundance of different options when it comes to choosing an event venue.
The not so good news and often time consuming part is that you’ve got to find it. Because every event has its own identity – number of attendees, type of event, budget, and so on – that all need to be considered and more importantly, and all have a big outcome on the venue selected.
Understandably, these factors that will be specific to you but once you’ve weighed each of them up you’ll then be able to choose the right venue. So without further ado, here’s what you should be considering when finding the right venue:
📌Make sure people can reach the venue easily
The first step towards finding any venue is to ensure that it can be easily reached. After all, what’s the point of hosting an event if none of your attendees are going to be able to get there?
The reality is that if you’re not going to make it easy for your attendees to attend your event, they’re not going to come. For this reason, everything needs to be made as easy as possible and the whereabouts of your venue plays a big part in this.
With everyone trying to reduce their carbon footprint, it’s now even more imperative that the venue has good access to public transportation. That’s why the first thing you should do is run a background check. Is the venue close to an airport? Are there options to walk or cycle to the venue? Does the location have good public transportation? And will the event have an impact on this? These are all some of the questions that need to be answered before you can decide on your venue.
📌Select a venue that has high-accessibility standards
You want your event to be open to everyone but that’s not going to happen if your venue doesn’t have the right accessibility. This goes beyond just wheelchair users and should focus on everyone from those with hearing and visual impairments, the elderly, and even young families.
The venue you choose provides the environment at the event and for this reason, it’s vital that it caters to everyone. First, make sure that the venue has ramps, lifts, and wide aisles so that it can be accessed by everyone. Are there the correct bathrooms and transportation access? Second, make sure that your staff are educated on this and can create a welcoming environment for everyone.
This could be anything from leaving a water bowl for guide dogs to having dedicated members of staff who know sign language. Whatever it is, it’s crucial that you’re prepared for all possible eventualities.
📌Go for a venue that offers natural light
An often overlooked but vital element is the lighting at the venue. This can make a huge difference to the atmosphere of the occasion however you want to play it.
Selecting event venues with plenty of natural light not only creates a more pleasant atmosphere for the attendee, but also boosts concentration, productivity, and overall health. This is why it’s so important to find a venue that takes advantage of this. If you’re able to do so you’ll reap the rewards of happier, more engaged attendees who are ready to participate.
Before movtguaring on, it’s also worth noting how good lighting can be used to direct attendees to the most important areas of space at your event and create the desired mood you want to achieve.
📌Search for a fully-equipped venue (AV equipment) and in-house AV team
Getting the Audio Visual (AV) set up at any event requires a lot of time and money and this is why it should always be a major consideration – especially when you think about the possible repercussions that could be caused.
From selecting the right equipment through to set up, the reality is that unless you’re an AV specialist, you’ll need some extra assistance. That is why you should always look for a venue that has fully-equipped with AV and has an in-house AV team.
This will have a big impact on the overall quality of your event, because the team will already be familiar with the venue so they’ll already know what they can offer you. In the long run, this saves a lot of time and money because there’s no need to contact external suppliers to help with the management and rental of the equipment.
📌Consider the services and the amenities the venue offers
We all know that events require a long list of services and amenities (the not so good news), but a lot of these can be ticked off by your venue (the good news). Everything from furniture to tablecloths and catering can be provided.
That’s why it’s important that before choosing a venue you scope out what services you’re looking for and whether the venue is capable of providing them. This is particularly important, because booking any sort of venue takes up the largest chunk of your budget, so for this reason, you’ll want to make sure that the venue can provide some real bang for its buck.
It’s also worth checking to see if the venue can offer any special deals that include the services that you’re looking for. Not only will this save you money, but it will also save you a lot of time because you can eliminate the process of having to find external vendors to provide the various services and amenities you’re looking for.
📌Choose a venue that allows you to redesign the layout
A good venue for any event should create an environment that inspires creativity, encourages networking, and engages your attendees. But to really do this you’re going to need to have some flexibility on the layout of your venue.
Without this, you’re going to be extremely limited with what you can do to the event space, making it a lot harder to deliver a powerful attendee experience. As such, you’ll want to make sure that the venue you’re choosing allows you to move the furniture and create the right layout for your event’s dynamics.
📌Go for a venue that provides great branding opportunities
As we all know, events provide a fantastic opportunity to bring your brand to life and to give your audience first hand exposure to it by making them see, feel, and live the experience. To do this you need to make sure that your venue has plenty of branding opportunities.
Think of your venue as a blank canvas. So when you’re walking around it for the first time, put yourself in the shoes of your attendees and walk through the space to really get a feel of the footfall and where you can create the biggest impact.
Key takeaways
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- As you can see there’s a lot to consider and all of these options don’t make it easy when selecting a venue. That’s why it’s so important that you do as much research as possible and identify the makeup of the event. Once you’ve started painting the picture you’ll have a much clearer idea of what your event is going to look like.
- A good venue should provide the perfect environment for your event. Moreover, it should save you both time and money, making the planning process a lot more straightforward. This is why finding the right venue should always make things easier, not over complicate things.
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