When it comes to organizing a conference, the odds are that you will almost inevitably be confronted with multiple decisions. You will have to choose a good enough venue as well as the date of your event, along with catering options ( if required). All of these will have a direct impact on the success of your conference. Let us check out the top seven things that you must consider when you select your ideal conference venue:
Don’t underestimate the seminal importance of the location
If it’s a local conference involving people living in the same city, it would be a good idea to select a location as close to the city center as possible. This would ensure that the venue would be well within a reasonable distance from the office and homes of most of the attendees of the conference. On the other hand, if the majority of the attendees would be traveling from either abroad or even out of town you should consider a venue as close to the airport as possible. Alternatively, you can opt for a venue close to their hotel/s, in case the conference is slated to stretch beyond a day. It would be a great idea to create a formal contract with the venue’s owner or event management company.
Parking
This is a common issue that tends to get overlooked a lot. There have to be ample parking arrangements. This holds particularly true if the conference is held at a local venue where most of the people will be from the same town and would be using their own vehicles. It would be a great idea to use a valet service for parking the cars so that the attendees can forget about their cars and get on with the agenda at hand. If the venue does not have its own parking, you should make sure that there are empty parking lots nearby.
The capacity of the venue
This is extremely important. You cannot pack 500 attendees in a hall designed for 250. This is why you should make sure beforehand that the venue is more than capable of handling the number of attendees at the conference. On average, any conference or convention center that can handle 600 people would be a safe bet for 500 attendees. You will also have to take the F&B into account. F&B stands for food and beverages. Usually, the event management reserves a minimum cut-off point for F&B services. Make sure that your attendees are above that number and negotiate accordingly. The more people above the minimum F&B cut-off point, the lower the charges per person.
Ask about the AV system and other equipment
Make sure to ask them beforehand about the devices and equipment that you need for a conference such as simultaneous translation equipment. This is very important for international conferences where people show up from all over the world. You should remember that when choosing the venue you would have to decide whether the space is convenient for all the equipment needed in holding a successful conference.
Services and amenities
You have to check and see if the venue has its own kitchen so that it can provide all necessary catering to your event Venues without kitchen facilities typically partner with caterers and other vendors to provide such services. You should check the quality of the food being served. This is because many vendors are more concerned with cutting costs than providing quality. In such a case, it would be a good idea to hire your own caterer.
The layout of the place
The layout of the place is also very important. You have to figure out the flow of traffic from the entrance to the actual venue. The registration desk and the auditorium doors are two bottlenecks that you would need to take care of, lest they become a hurdle. You also have to take into account all the fire exits as well.
Acoustics
Take a trip to the place before and speak loudly to check the acoustics of the venue. If there is too much of an echo or it is difficult to hear stuff, it would be a good idea to change the venue
Conclusion
Choosing a conference venue is easy provided you take care of the location, AV equipment, and acoustics so that your guests can enjoy a great event.