Monday, February 13, 2012

Aspects You Should Consider When Selecting A Conference Venue

The venue helps decide the tone of the event, which is why you need to be able to pick the right one. It may be challenging to hold a serious business meeting at a ski lodge or beach resort, and a weekend retreat/conference will simply not feel as relaxing if it were held at a business hotel. Meeting planning is done so that you, the team that coordinates the conference, would be able to select the most appropriate venue for the meeting. In order for you to be able to select the best meeting venue, you have to give some thought to these four factors.

Size

One very crucial aspect that you need to take into account is the size of the venue that you choose for the conference. You don’t want your guests to be stuffed too tightly together, as that will make the meetings feel cramped. On the other hand, if you hold your meeting in a place that is simply way too large, there would be a lot of open spaces, and your guests might feel swamped. You have to check out the venue if there are available meeting rooms that you would be able to utilize for group discussions or side meetings, and the layout of all the rooms should be beneficial to having a speaker who can be easily seen and heard.

Catering

You may not mind so much the food that you would be eating while the meeting planning is ongoing, however, this is one aspect that the attendees would surely regard as important. Meals and snacks are among the most important aspects of any event since they help provide energy for the attendees, thereby making it possible for them to concentrate on the meeting. You should select conference venues that offer snacks and meals, as well as a wide variety of both. In the event that the package of the conference venue does not include catering, then it is best for you to contemplate hiring outside catering so that the attendees are supplied with food.

Location

The location of your event will be an essential thing to consider as well. Conference venues should be easily accessible to everyone who is attending, and it should be conveniently located near to public transportation and near to the airport when possible (if you have delegates attending from national or international locations). The conference venues should also make it effortless for delegates to be able to arrive and leave as desired, as that will help them to feel that the venue is more accessible.

Cost

The price of your conference venues is actually one of the most important things to take into account. While you don’t want to go too cheap, you don’t want to be investing a fortune on the conference locations. You should stay within your budget, and you should be certain that there are no extra or hidden costs that will only show up when it’s time to pay the bill (such as catering, maintenance, activities, etc.). Consider conference venues that offer discounts, negotiable prices, and the ability to cancel if necessary. It is best that you shop around, and see a variety of conference venues, so that you may be able to determine which ones provide the best prices, in accordance to the services that they offer.