Our Venue Finding Top 3 Non-Negotiables
This week we’ve been in the depths of venue finding for two projects we have coming up next year. The spec for each had their own nuances; one was to be located in Berlin with an industrial/urban feel that was a unique event space, not your bog-standard conference venue. The other could be located anywhere in the UK, with accommodation onsite or close by, that could be transformed from conference during the day to evening party at night.
But again, the bog-standard just wouldn’t do; they wanted a venue that was unique and reflected their company ethos. And that’s where venue finding gets tricky for our clients and why they ask for our expertise.
Venue finding agents are fantastic in their own way, but we’ve never managed to find ‘the perfect venue’ for our clients that way – plus they take a commission and when budgets are stretched we want to spend that on giving guests an amazing experience, rather than handing 10% over to someone else.
We spend hours… days… sometimes weeks (if there’s time), trawling through venues to find the perfect fit. Here’s our top three venue finding non-negotiables that will help you find yours:
Event guests and delegates remember the environment
1. Understanding the spec and the layers underneath it
Preferred dates, location, room capacities and catering costs are all fundamentals in the venue finding journey, but how do you want your guests to feel? This is so often overlooked; get your ‘guest journey’ from the moment they leave home is such an important part of the story.
2. What’s around it?
Post conference networking or pre dinner drinks? Holding this at your main venue can be a real plus, but exclusive use of a neighbouring wine bar or restaurant can really elevate the experience for guests; and provide a much more relaxed atmosphere to do business, rather than trying to recreate that in your main venue. If you’re not sure, get on StreetView and look… amazing what you’ll find.
StreetView is a gamechanger for pre-site visit research. Use Instagram and TripAdvisor to see 'real' photos.
3. Sorry Google, not this time
Search engines are a brilliant starting point, but we’ve rarely found the perfect venue that way. Instead, what’s looking good on Instagram? Look to your network and see who lives and breathes the location you’re looking in; local people will know of those quirky spaces or new kids on the block that haven’t made it to your standard venue-finding sites yet.
Social media feeds are a great hunting ground
Outakes:
It can be a time-consuming process for sure, but really getting under the skin of a place first can open the doors to so many cool event spaces. And the right venue will do so much of the hard work for you meaning you won’t have to budget for the wow factor elsewhere. So put the time in, get under the skin of the event and how you want your guests to feel and you’ll unearth some remarkable spaces, trust us!