Portsmouth, Hampshire (PRWEB UK) 24 March 2014 -- What is venue finding?
Finding a suitable venue for your corporate event can be a time consuming and tedious chore. There are lots of things to consider when identifying your ideal venue and making sure you get all this right is critical to the success of your event.
Enlisting the help of a venue finder can help with choosing the right venue and free you up to spend more time on the other aspects of your event. A venue finding agency can operate independently or as part of an event management package within an events agency. Generally the service will be free of charge as the venue finder will receive a small commission from the venue for placing the business.
Why should I use a venue finder?
A good venue finding agency should have formed close relationships with a lot of the venues sales teams. They will often visit and have meetings with the staff from the venues and be up to speed on the quality and service offered, facilities and location to public transport links etc. This knowledge enables them to take your brief and offer suitable choices for you as well as being able to negotiate on preferred rates.
It also saves you a lot of time. It can be quite tedious and time consuming having to ring round multiple venues asking the same questions over and over. A venue finder will do this for you, negotiating on room rates, delegates, accommodation if needed and can provisionally hold the date for you. They should also be able to arrange a site visit for you to make your own checks and will happily join you for support if needed.
Finally should you like one of the proposed venues, the agency will liaise with the venue management, making sure all contracts are correct and signed and your requirements are met right up to the event date.
Choosing a venue?
Getting the venue correct is critical to the success of your event. To ensure everything runs smoothly make sure you plan early to get the venue of your choice. If your event is for a conference with over 200 delegates then there will only be a certain number of venues able to accommodate this in your chosen location. Some of these venues will be booked up to a year in advance so make sure you plan.
The type of event may also affect the venue you choose. If it is an informal event for a small number of delegates then perhaps consider a breakfast meeting or seminar or late afternoon with opportunity for network drinks after.
Alternatively, if it is quite formal and for a large group, then a conference or large seminar would be more appropriate. If this is the case then consider what you will need from a venue for this type of event. A conference room, catering area, registration area and breakout rooms are all things to consider when putting together your venue options.
Room Format/Layout
The layout of the room(s) is vitally important when planning your event. Your venue agency should be able to advise you on the correct layout for your event once they understand your brief. However it might be useful for you to know this from the start. See below for room set ups for your consideration.
Cabaret Style
The most popular layout for conferences. Delegates are seated around a round table, with no more than 6 per table if following real cabaret seating layout. It is a relatively informal style of seating and will allow for delegates to easily interact with one and other. The downside to this is that you will need a much larger room and inevitably this will mean an increase in venue cost.
Classroom
As the name suggests this is where delegates are seated behind desks normally 2 to a desk in a classroom format. This is much more formal setting and ideal if you are running training events or educational seminars.
Theatre Style
Theatre style seating allows for the most amounts of delegates for a given size of room. This is ideal if the audience will be listening to many presentations and do not need to interact with other delegates. Usually this style of seating will have a middle aisle to facilitate the audience getting to their seats and also to gain a better view of the middle of the stage.
Boardroom
The boardroom style is pretty self-explanatory. It will involve a small group seated around a rectangular or oval table and enables the delegates to freely talk and listen to each other. It works well when there is no screen presentation and the group are to be involved in open discussion with each other.
U Shaped or Horseshoe
A similar style to boardroom however the layout means that it is more suited to giving presentations where the audience need a good view of the projector screen. It is often the preferred layout for trainers, it gives a good mix for sitting and listening and interaction between attendees. It also allows the presenter or trainer to walk into the middle of the desk allowing the trainer to command attention.
Banquet
This is the preferred setting for food functions. It is very similar to cabaret style however in this setup, chairs are placed around the whole of the round table. It offers a great deal of interaction for delegates and is great for large dinner events. The difficulty with the banquet style unlike cabaret is it becomes difficult for some people to see the stage and screen presentations and are therefore forced to turn their chairs around.
Richard Harper
Marketing Manager
Richard is marketing manager for In 2 Events, a corporate events and exhibition agency. Based on the South Coast, In 2 Events specialise in internal communications, corporate events, conferences, sales meetings and exhibition design and build.
Richard has over 6 years experience working in both a B2C and B2B environment and specialises in digital channels including PPC, SEO, E-Mail and Content Marketing. His passions include developing innovative marketing strategies that drive growth and challenge conventional marketing methods. A believer in utilising technology available to enhance the customer journey, Rich is a regular contributor to industry blogs and marketing seminars.
Richard Harper, http://www.in2events.co.uk, +44 8453102222, [email protected]
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