Organising a seminar, PR events, and conventions involves many factors, some of them quite complex. Travel links to your chosen venue, or the availability and price of local accommodation, are obvious considerations when choosing where to site your conferences or meetings, but there are plenty of other things to bear in mind, too. What sort of ancillary services does your chosen conference venue provide? Will there be trained staff on hand to assist with any technical problems you may have (let’s face it, how often does your PowerPoint presentation come up on the screen first time)? Does the venue have banqueting or catering facilities? Are there breakout rooms for smaller meetings or team building events?
These sorts of considerations are important when choosing a venue for your corporate events, whether they be product launches, sales presentations or awards ceremonies. Each of these types of event carry with them specific needs in terms of facilities, catering and hospitality, and technical requirements. Let’s take a look at some of the major factors that you’ll need to bear in mind when organising seminars for your business.
The first and most obvious consideration when planning your seminars is location. Most conferences and other corporate events will be held in major cities with good transport links, particularly those that require delegates to attend from all over the country, as is often the case with annual general meetings, for example, training courses, or awards ceremonies. In these cases it is important to bear the needs of attendees in mind as your first priority.
The first instinct is normally to hire a conference venue in the city centre, or an exhibition centre where necessary. But why not be a bit more creative with your choices for siting your meetings or conferences? For example, you could host your seminars at a country house or sporting venue, and combine the meetings with corporate hospitality or team building events such as paintballing or go-karting.
Wherever you decide to hold your conference, another important factor to bear in mind is the availability of accommodation at a suitable price. Hotels can fill up very quickly, particularly during the summer months, and so it’s of prime importance that you move quickly to secure accommodation for the delegates and attendees at your seminars. Holding your annual general meeting in Cardiff on the day of a rugby international, for example, or Edinburgh during the Festival, will put pressure on hotel spaces months in advance, and the last thing you want is to have to go back to your chosen conference venue and cancel the booking because of the lack of suitable hotel space. This is one area where a specialist conference venue finder comes in handy: having pre-existing relationships with hotels will make it easier to secure accommodation at discounted rates, and that’s one less thing you’ll have to worry about in the run-up to your conference or corporate event.
Once these main considerations are out of the way, a range of more specialist factors now need to be considered. Prime among these are the logistical issues around holding major conferences and meetings. You’ll want to ensure that there are adequate facilities and space for registration, a hall large enough to cope with the numbers expected at plenary sessions, and breakout rooms for smaller groups and meetings. Ensure, too, that the technical facilities are up to scratch; audiovisual equipment is standard at most conference venues, but make sure it’s capable of meeting your requirements, and compatible with your own equipment.
The level of corporate hospitality you’re intending to provide is a key issue. For some seminars this may be as simple as tea and coffee, and possibly sandwiches at lunchtime. At other meetings, such as product launches or awards ceremonies, you may wish to have a full banquet for hundreds of guests, as well as full bar facilities. Whichever level of entertainment your seminars require, you’ll need to have confidence that your chosen conference venue is capable of meeting your needs. Consider, too, the possibilities for extra entertainment for your attendees, if that is appropriate or necessary. If you’ll be welcoming delegates from overseas to London, for example, why not offer tours of the city on a spare morning in your schedule? These are the sorts of small touches that can make all the difference to the success of your seminars or meetings.
As you can see from this brief overview, organising conferences and seminars requires you to consider lots of different factors when choosing and booking a venue for your meetings or exhibitions. Whether you choose to do it yourself or take on the services of a professional conference venue finder, juggling all these competing considerations is key to hosting a successful corporate event.
