If you are about to organize an event, expect it to be both challenging and rewarding, especially if it's your first attempt. You will have a lot of decisions to make, and deciding on the venue itself is the most important decision of all.
Although choosing a venue might be slightly overwhelming and intimidating, especially if there is a lot of pressure put on you by fellow employees or your boss at work, so we have combined some guidelines to help you out.
Keep in mind to check out all the formal venue options available to you in the area where the event is going to take place. You might be pleasantly surprised how good some of the venues are, even if they don’t look good from the outside.
Sometimes time isn’t always on our side, so you should consider searching for a venue as soon as you get asked to organize the event. If you only get notified a month before the event takes place, you don’t have much time to waste.
Some venues are booked a year in advance, so make contact with the people who run the venue as soon as possible.
Before looking for a venue you must know the following:
- Understanding what budget is available before booking a venue. There is no point looking at venues if your budget doesn’t cover the cost. However, there is no harm in asking for a discount.
- You must also be well aware of the number of people that are expected to attend the event. It's a waste of time viewing venues that are either way too small or way too big for the number of people coming to the event.
- You have to find out what space you will need. Even if it is a small number of people at the event you might still need a lot of space. For example, if the event is for a car manufacturer, you might need plenty of space to be able to fit vehicles into the venue.
Try booking 6 months in advance if possible so that you can focus on other things like how you are going to advertise the event, making alterations or creating a website, updating social media pages, and designing a brochure. Expect to pay a deposit on the venue to make sure your booking is safe.
2. Where should the Venue be Located?
If the event is to be held locally, you are probably familiar with many of the venues in the area. However, some local events are far from the center of the town or city. Ideally, a venue that is not too far from where most people live is best.
If the majority of people that are expected at the event are coming from outside of the area, consider choosing a venue that is close to an airport or a train station. If there are no venues in that area, perhaps picking a venue that is easily accessible will work best. It will be very frustrating for people who have traveled a long way to find it difficult to find the event once they arrive in the town or city. Consider sending details to people explaining the different services available in the area such as a shuttle, taxi, or Uber service.
Parking is also a vital part of organizing a venue. If you expect a lot of people to arrive in cars, make sure there is an adequate amount of parking in the area. If you are worried about parking issues, perhaps speak with the management at the venue about hiring a person to help organize the traffic.
If there is alcohol served at the venue, consider speaking to a few taxi drivers so they have their service available on the night. Help the taxi drivers by explaining to them what time they expect most people will be leaving the event.
To increase the chances of attendees arriving on time and to help them avoid getting lost on the way, provide them with easy-to-understand directions, or better again, a GPS map.
3. Capacity
Although you might not be able to know exactly how many people will definitely be arriving at the event, you should have an estimate. If you are expecting 1,000 people will be attending the event, they can’t comfortably all fit in a room designed to hold 500 people. Even if they did all fit, then chances are you will be breaking fire and safety regulations and it might also affect the venue’s insurance.
It is hard to judge an empty room by looking at it, so make sure to ask the employees at the venue to explain to you exactly how many people can each room accommodate. Perhaps asking them to provide you with pictures of previous events that have taken place in the venue. When we look at an empty room, it's often hard to imagine a large number of people inside it, so often a picture or a video clip might help.
If you need everyone attending to have access to WiFi, find out how many people can join the network at one time. Most networks only allow a limited amount of people to join at one time.
4. What Services and Amenities are available in the Venue?
Seeing what services and amenities are available in the venue is critical when organizing an event. Here are a few things you should inspect before agreeing on a deal with a venue:
- Kitchen and catering service: If you are organizing an event that provides food for each person attending, discuss in detail how much it would cost per person and what dishes they will be providing. It is very important that you and perhaps a few others try the food because a bad meal will reflect poorly on the whole event. If you don’t like the food, find out if it is possible to hire a catering company from outside the venue. Make sure there are vegetarian or vegan options available for the guests. Some venues will waive the cost of the facility and only charge you for the food.
- Are there tables and chairs that people can use? If the venue doesn’t have furniture available, or maybe they don’t have enough, you will have to rent tables and chairs somewhere else. This can often hurt the ambiance and theme of the venue.
- Is there a cleaning crew? Organizing a venue for a large number of people can be quite a messy job, especially if food and alcohol are being served. You might be forced into hiring your own cleaners for the event.
Try meeting with as many of the employees at the venue as you possibly can leading up to the event. That way you will know who to go to if something goes wrong during the event.
Summary
When putting a deposit down, find out what will happen if something needs to be changed. Perhaps the number of people coming might increase or decrease, plus, what will happen if the date needs to be changed or canceled?
During the pandemic, many events have been canceled or postponed to help reduce the spread of the deadly virus. In most areas, many venues adhere to strict Covid-19 regulations. Guests are expected to wear masks and practice social distancing.
