Location, location, location – your event could stand or fall by the venue you choose

Where should we hold our next event? (We hear you ask).

Good question. Picking the right venue is a fundamental part of the success of your event and getting it wrong could make all the difference. And not in a good way.

Helping you to make the right choice, here are a few fundamentals to consider when deciding on that all-important location.

Does it ‘fit’ with the purpose of your event?

Booking the Ritz ballroom for an event at which you’re going to announce a downturn in business, or an uninspiring town hall for your ‘best sales team’ awards is clearly off the mark. But it’s more subtle than that.

What’s your brand image? What’s the purpose of the event? And, how does the look and feel of the venue support these?

How much does it look like you’ve spent on the venue? Never mind the actual hire fee, instead, consider what message you’d be sending out about how your organisation spends its cash.

Can your delegates get there?

Sounds obvious, doesn’t it? But nothing puts people off attending events like a long journey down a farm track to get to your ever-so-creative stately home in the middle of the Welsh hills.

Your event doesn’t have to be on a junction of the M6, but look at airports, rail links and major roads.

Does it have enough usable space?

Think about projection distances in the main meeting room, and the amount and location of breakout spaces. An event for 200 people, in a space on the 12th floor, where the lift only holds five people is going to really mess with your agenda timings.

Does it meet your creative vision?

Some spaces might look fantastic, but just won’t do what you need them to do. So, when it comes to useable space, you have to think about more than just capacity and location.

For example, if you are considering incorporating video mapping into your event (and if you’re not you should be!) you are going to need to think about room height. Our versatile Lumentium table mapping technology can be installed in venues with a minimum ceiling height of 3.5m.

Find out more about Lumentium video mapping here.

Finally, does it have the wow factor? (Assuming the wow factor is suitable of course)

There are a number of venues across the UK (and overseas) that aren’t well publicised but which offer something genuinely different. These venues can really add another dimension to your event.

As an example, Apex once organised a memorable event on a train, running on the track, where the stations were plenary sessions and the carriages breakout rooms!

Researching the right venue is time-consuming and requires experience and insight. You can, of course, do the leg work yourself, but any top quality agency will be able to help you with this at minimal or no cost.

We have extensive experience researching venues and have worked at most of the good ones across the UK at some time or other over the years. So, don’t let your event down with the wrong venue choice. Time and time again the task of organising an event is so much easier – and the event so much more successful – when the location is well thought out.

Click here to find out more about our event management skills and experience.