Conferences these days have become an integral part of the work environment. Besides training and experience for staff members, these meetings provide an amazing chance to network.
Your office space may not be viable enough for a conference or large meetings. This is when the need to hire a venue arises. In fact, convening conferences in hired venues is a better option than your own office space. These venues have a variety of options to choose from as per your requirements.
The idea is to have a space relevant to the ilk of the meeting. It could be a staff training session or a meeting with a group of your elite clients, creating a networking opportunity for businesses or an orientation program. So, while making your choice for the venue please make sure you consider all the points:
1. Location
The most essential point to consider before making the choice is location. The location should be apt in all the manners. The reason is that you want maximum attendees for the meeting and hence you need to take care of their convenience in terms of location. So, while considering that make sure transport is available to the venue or if you have people coming on their conveyance, the venue should have ample parking space. Also, their needs to include suitable lodging accommodation within a reasonable distance of the venue.
The venue should be located close to a number of quality restaurants and cafes so that attendees get a chance to socialize pre-and post-conference.
2. Number of Attendees
The next important point to consider is the number of people attending your conference. There could be 10, 20, 30 or even 100. This number is highly relevant while making the right choice.
You should make the choice of space in this concern only. There is no point hiring a large space for 10 people where you incur high costs but low productivity and similarly there is no point hiring a tight space. Both ways, you defeat your purpose. So, be careful while making that choice and be sure about the number of attendees you would be expecting.
3. Cost
Cost of course is an equally essential constraint while scaling your meetings and budgets. All these meetings would have their own demands and needs for which you need to find a venue with the correct requirements. Here you need to see how much the event is going to cost you in total. The venue you have hired may not include the IT services or equipment, the refreshments or Wi-Fi access. These small things that you may take for granted can add to your budget expense. So, make sure either your venue has all these amenities or if you are arranging these for your guests yourself, please keep in mind the additional expense.
4. Amenities
First plan your event wisely and prudently. Now, you will have to make a list of facilities that you must have from your venue. These could include basic amenities like- a white board, projector, and the option for video conferencing to special presentation equipment, optional valet support and high standards in catering. All these may require extra effort on part of the venue manager and hence you need to ask for these beforehand and confirm if these facilities could be made available or not.
5. Suitability
Another critical point to consider before making your choice is the overall ambiance of the venue. This means your venue should suit the kind of conference you are convening and should actually reflect your purpose. This asks for paying attention to every little detail like the existing decor inside the venue, the interiors and the architectural style. All these things should be in sync and vouch for the purpose of the event.
These are some essential points that you need to keep in mind while making your choice. You are already investing your budget on the event and the perfect option would be the one with value for money in mind but equally delivering on the quality of service you expect during the event and venue location.
