When planning a business event one of the headaches which organisers have to contend with is selecting and securing a venue which is appropriate for the event. A venue should meet basic needs such as having sufficient space to accommodate attendees and delegates in the best format which supports the nature of the event. It should also meet other criteria which some may not consider important such as its ambience and lighting.
Sometimes organisers need to strike a balance between meeting these criteria and the cost of achieving that. With time and experience they manage to master the art of venue selection in a way which pleases their attendees and improves their event brand experience without breaking the bank. For those organisers who are yet to muster the experience to ace business event venue selection here a few criteria to help you with the task.
- Nature of the event
One of the key venue choice criteria is the nature of the event. A simple meeting of an industrial association may not need a 5 000 plus seater auditorium so the starting point for the organisers would be venues with smaller auditoriums such as hotels and small conference centres. Confexes such as the SME International Expo, which combines an exhibition and a conference, require a venue which can accommodate both events without attendees having to drive or get onto a train to travel to another venue.
Unlike in the past where major business events such as conferences and conventions were held without accompanying activities, the current trend is to move towards events that combine business meetings with leisure activities to enhance attendee experiences. This is why in Zimbabwe most business events are held at the country’s major tourist attractions such as the Victoria Falls and some hotels which are located in the country’s Eastern Highlands region.
- The number of attendees
The number of attendees also determines venue choice. A high number of attendees will require a venue which can accommodate them. Sometimes it is not just an issue of meeting the numbers criteria but also securing a venue which can accommodate attendees in a sitting format that makes the event more beneficial to the attendees. A presenter may ask that the organiser secures a venue in which the attendees sit in a specific format such as the board room or theatre to increase the quality of his interaction with the attendees which, in turn, contributes towards positive post-event delegate assessment and event brand image.
- Space required
Closely tied to the number of attendees is the space required. Apart from the seating format and its effect on the number of attendees that can be seated on a given venue and its impact on the quality of interaction between the attendees and their overall experience, organisers also need to find venues that address other aspects of the impending event such as the need for breakaway sessions which may require additional space depending on the number of the attendees.
Depending on the nature and size of the planned event, a media room may be required to accommodate members of the media covering the event. Events which are global in nature usually require a media room for periodic media statements to enable journalists to continuously update their readers and audiences on the unfolding event.
It is becoming increasingly normal for conferences to be held concurrently with exhibitions (called confexes) and vice versa. This practice is also taking firm root in Zimbabwe and the region. In view of this, an organiser needs to take this into consideration when choosing an event venue. The venue for a confex should have space for all the aspects of both the meeting and the show and this affects the organiser’s venue choice.
As organisers assess the available space, other criterion that comes along with that is the ambience of the venue. This means that they have to satisfy themselves in terms of natural lighting, dimmable lighting and the availability of an air conditioning system among other attendant issues.
- Services and facilities
The building blocks of successful business events do not just comprise proper planning and the availability of affordable space only. Events venue services and facilities are also important. These are the services and facilities which the venue owners provide as part of hiring out the venue. The services include availing security services for the delegates and visitors to the event and providing them with meals and beverages. They can also include providing a shuttle service to pick attendees from the nearest airport. Depending on the duration of the event, some venue owners arrange for dry cleaning services in addition to providing accommodation and related services.
The facilities at a venue are also another key criterion for event venue choice. Business event attendees expect venues with facilities such as ample parking space, accessibility ramps for people living with mobility difficulties. They also appreciate venues which are located near airports so that they will not have to travel long distances from the airport to the venue.
Business events are increasingly transforming from the events of the bygone era into experiences. Attendees therefore prefer venues with facilities which enhance their experiences and support their desired lifestyles. Depending on the type of event and profile of the attendees, a venue with a gym and facilities for other fitness exercises such as aerobics or morning jog would be more welcome to attendees than the traditional hotel and conference rooms.
Presenters and speakers have their own needs which event organisers have to consider when choosing venues. These include working audio visual equipment to assist them in their presentations. Audio visual presentations such as videos and slides work better in dimmed rooms. Therefore dimmable lighting is important in this respect.
Technology has over the years established itself as a major requirement for business events. This means that technological facilities such as Wi-Fi have become standard fare for modern events. As organisers choose venues they should ensure that they pick venues whose owners provide attendees with free Wi-Fi to enable them to share their experiences with colleagues back at home or office in real time.
Technology also enables venue ambience designers to decorate conference rooms and walls with themes which are relevant to the event using lighting.
- Sustainability issues
In line with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal 11 which exhorts all to “make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable” and Goal 15 which calls on the world to “protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss,” sustainability issues are gaining ground in the business events arena.
Organisers and attendees are favouring events and venues which are concerned with and address sustainability or environmental issues. Venues were filtered water as opposed to bottled is served are now more preferred as is the use of biodegradable paper plates as opposed to single-use plastic ones. Sustainable policies and practices are, therefore, becoming a major event venue choice criterion. Event venues which provide event litter collection and management services are preferred to ones which do not.
- Food and beverages
Food and beverages are main component of a business event as in any human gathering. As organisers consider venue alternatives one food and beverage issue which is important is special diet requirements. Venues which are accommodative of this are thus more preferable by both organisers and attendees.
Some venue owners such as hotel establishments strictly insist on the use of in-house catering services to the disadvantage of organisers who could make savings by hiring external caterers. While internal catering assures quality, it may be prohibitively expensive and organisers need to strike a balance between quality and costs by picking a venue which provides both.
The beverages aspect of an event invariably includes an alcohol component whose sale requires a licence. Depending on the event, organisers need to ensure that a venue being considered is licensed to sell liquor to avoid disappointing their attendees. This also affects the organiser’s final venue choice.
- Budget and payment terms
The final and very important criterion is the budget for the event. After assessing all the foregoing criteria and the related costs to the chosen venue, the organisers need to establish whether or not the total costs are within the available financial resources. The total costs in relation to the available resources are then used to determine the final attendance fees and the minimum number of attendees required to turn a profit if the organiser is a commercial entity.
Some venues offer payment terms such as a 50 percent deposit with the remainder being paid soon after the event. Others insist on a full payment before the event is held. A venue’s cancellation policy is also another venue choice determinant. The more unfair it is to organisers in terms of cancellation notice time and the forfeiture of the deposit paid or part thereof the more unlikely they are to sign the dotted line.
Conclusion
One may ask how organisers can choose venues given that no single venue can tick all the boxes in terms of advantages to them. True, no venue can please an organiser in terms of every criterion. It is those venues which have more advantages than others that carry day.
