Clarify your budget
- It is an uncomfortable topic, but this item is a staple of every instance of event planning
- The best venue should only take up a fraction of your budget
- Don’t go broke or into massive debt just to reserve a venue
Clarify your audience
- Many event planners fall into the ego-trap of thinking that a successful event will be determined by what they want to feature to the guests; when, in fact, what is valued from that which you would feature is determined by the psychographic audience in question who will be attending your event.
- What can the audience afford? (e.g. travel expenses)
- What is the audience psychologically used to? (a wealthier audience will judge a lower-budget event more harshly and will often hold their expectations to a higher standard)
Consider the size of your event
- How many people will attend?
- Will they be bringing their families with them?
- What is the maximum capacity you need?
- Beyond how many people, how large will its promotion be, how much attention will it get in the media?
Consider its accessibility (e.g. parking, metro, airlines, hotels?)
- Parking?
- Metro?
- Airports?
- Hotels?
- Take each of these into consideration in the process of aiding how people enter and exit your event.
Specify your goals, define your ROI
- Every event should have a clear objective to accomplish with its attendees, either some kind of result extracted from them, or a call-to-action they enact.
- Choose the venue that is best suited to help you achieve whatever your goal is
- Write a blurb here referencing our article about “Everything You Need To Know To Plan A Successful Event” →
Decide on the activities that will occur at the event
- Are you going to be doing any team building exercises?
- Public speaking?
- Dancing?
- Eating?
- All of the above?
Consider geographically specific legalities and safety regulations
- The laws will differ per geographical region.
- Ask the venue about what they are doing to meet or exceed compliance with the laws.
- Write a blurb referencing our article “5 things to consider for your business event safety
Consider the acoustics you’ll need
- Will you have a DJ for ambiance?
- Will there be public speaking?
- Will your attendees have time to speak with each other at the event, thereby needing the ability to hear each other over music and other background noises?
- Make sure that your event is the right one for whatever contextual instance you are optimizing for. Some will be better than others for some things but not others; there will be gray areas, so think in terms of “optimization”: what are you “optimizing” for in your event pertaining to what your audience will actually be doing or experiencing there?
Does it allow room for the integration of new technology?
Decide if a green room is necessary
- What is a green room?
- Why is it called a green room?
- What occurs in a green room and why is one necessary?
Consider how difficult or easy each venue is to reserve
- The harder a venue is to reserve, the harder it will be to manage your event.
- For larger and more complex events, be open to sending out invitations even a year or more ahead of time.
- The larger your event in combination with the difficulty it takes to reserve the venue should be directly proportional to how early you send out the invites to attend it.
Consider the reputation of the venue (reviews? testimonials?)
- Pick a venue that has been tried and true, with good reviews.
Does the venue include a flexible contract with “Force Majeure”?
- What is Force Majeure and why is that important?
- What are the ways a venue can be flexible? Such as…
- The event date?
- Staff requirements?
What are the services and amenities of the venue?
- Does the venue have a kitchen and can it provide catering to your event? Does it have tables, chairs and linens you can use? If a venue has these items, you can save a great deal of money and effort by using what they have, assuming it matches your theme and ambiance.
- Does it have a setup/clean up crew? If you’ve found a venue which provides a setup and clean up crew, rejoice! This isn’t always the case. If these services aren’t available you’ll need to build your event team or find volunteers.
- Does it have AV capabilities? Some venues have a built in audio-visual equipment for you to use, and others will require you to bring that in yourself.
What about insurance?
- What is insurance for corporate events?
- Why do they need it?
- Medical emergencies?
- Fires?
- Event cancellations?
- What role does the venue play in the acquisition of insurance for the event?
Conclusion
- Summarize key points (tell them what you told them)
- CTA to request a proposal from Traveler’s Q
