If you have to organize an event, be prepared to make lots of decisions. The first one is also the most important: the venue you choose will have the most significant impact upon your event.
Every other detail depends on the selected location, even the essential ones, such as the date of the event. We know that making this choice is quite stressing because you might not know what to look for when searching for the perfect venue.
You shouldn't start your search before establishing a few essential things such as:
Your budget
The number of participants
The type of event you organize (formal, high-tech, etc.)
Only after you have established these three things should you start to search for a venue. We recommend you book a date for your event at least six months in advance to ensure that everything is settled and definitive. The date will influence how much time you have to plan the event and which are the markers you’ll need to deal with until your party takes place. By setting the date with that much time in advance, you'll have plenty of time to advertise your event.
When trying to find the adequate venue for your event, keep in mind the following 7 critical elements:
Cost
A wise organizer will want to keep the costs for the venue as low as he can to have a bigger budget for other essential aspects such as food, beverages, and entertainment. If you are flexible about choosing the date, you might have a lot to gain because certain days of the week tend to come with lower costs for renting the place.
Ambiance
Try to analyze the style of interior decoration and furnishings of the respective venue. What is the type of architecture and what does the building’s interior suggest? If you're organizing a gala, you’ll obviously need different venue arrangements than you would for an exposition. In case the ambiance is far from matching the desired atmosphere for your event (upscale, high-tech, etc.), you'll be forced to do a lot of decorating to compensate for it.
Services and Amenities
Not only the aspect of the venue is important. You should also think about the services and amenities that the site can offer you. Make sure to inquire about the following issues:
Does the venue have a fully-equipped kitchen and therefore can cater to your event? If the location doesn't have kitchen facilities, it might still have a partnership with a specific food provider that you’ll be required to use. Another possibility would be to be permitted to bring your vendors. Finding a venue that has an exclusive relationship with excellent food vendors would truly be a catch.
Does renting the venue comes with tables, chairs, and linens you can use for your event? If it does, you can save a lot of money and effort. The issue is that it all has to match your theme and ambiance that you designed.
Capacity and Minimums
How many people can the selected location accommodate? At this point, you should already know how many attendees to expect. Knowing the room capacity of the venue is important for a few reasons. First of all, you can comfortably seat 500 people in a room with a 250-person capacity. And secondly, there are fire and safety codes that can't be breached.
If the venue offers food and/or beverages, you should ask that the food and beverage minimums (F&B minimums) be put in writing. Try to align past available attendance records for this event with the minimums. Even if you intend to attract a larger audience this year, you should make sure your bases are covered in case your attendance expectations are not met.
Acoustics
Isn't it annoying to attend an event with acoustics so bad that you have to shout to make yourself heard? This kind of event can hurt your hearing and your voice, all in one night. Acoustics refers to the manner in which the sound travels through a venue. If the location has a low ceiling, it might seem cozy, but it will make it louder once it's full of people. In contrast, a large warehouse-style venue will produce echoes or, in technical terms, “reverberations”.
As a tip for improving the acoustics, try to use the patios adjoining the venue.
Location
A convenient location is a variable term, depending on many things. If all the participants to an event come within the same geographic range, the perfect venue would be one located at a reasonable distance from most attendees’ homes or workplaces. But when most of your guests come from out of town, the most convenient location would be one near the airport or their hotels.
Parking
An important feature for a venue is to have a parking lot and also valet parking. If it doesn't, see if there are parking lots nearby that can be used by the attendees. If the answer is still negative, don't worry because there's also a great alternative out there.
Regency Global Transportation is a complete ground transportation service provider that offers punctual, dependable transportation for all kinds of travelers, both corporate or individual clients. We believe that it is crucial to provide you with a professional, safe and comfortable experience.
Regency’s considerable fleet contains the perfect solution for groups of any size, whether you are organizing a small gathering or planning a huge convention.
We recommend you use Regency Global’s online planning tool for your future event. There's no doubt that Regency’s experienced meeting & event experts will take care of every little detail of your event-related ground transportation.
We understand the difficult position of a travel manager, event planner or administrative professional who has to deal with complex requirements when planning a meeting or other corporate event. Regency has everything that you need (the specialized staff, the equipment, and technology) to provide the perfect and exhaustive solution for all your event-related transportation requirements.
Count on us to provide qualified meet and greet specialists at each destination, making sure that your guests are where they need to be and when they need to be.
Contact us and speak with an experienced planner. For further information about our meeting & event transportation services, call our sales department at 1-800-397-0071.
