5 Tips for Selecting the Right Venue for Your Next Event  

Events such as tradeshows, user conferences, executive dinners, and meetups are all similar in a certain way. Marketers are inviting guests to gather with like-minded individuals to learn, network, and become informed about whatever they are promoting. For these companies, an in-person event puts a face to the brand and can go a long way in earning the trust of potential clients.

Many different variables go into making an event successful, and the correct combination can be a hit. These items can include content, speakers, food, proximity to a bathroom, or the temperature of the room; the list is endless of things that will either make or break an attendee’s experience.

Many event marketers believe the venue is ultimately the most important factor. Ambiance, feeling, tone, and experience can all come from the venue alone, and a poorly chosen venue can turn someone off to the event before he or she even walks through the door. I require each venue to have five important qualities before I consider booking, and today I will share some of my best venue-booking secrets.

Location/Neighborhood
This is the very first thing I look into when selecting an event location. Before I start looking at venues, I actually research the city in question. Where are the most tech companies located? In what neighborhood are the top ten accounts I’m targeting located? Are there some neighborhoods that locals don’t tend to visit? Once I’ve pinpointed a few areas, I begin looking at transportation (i.e.: subway stops, parking garages, proximity from highways), and from that point I start looking for venues.

Brand
My background has relied heavily on brand recognition, so that could be why I care about this one so much, but I do think it’s important. Whether you represent a billion-dollar company or a million-dollar company, the venue brand says something about the organization. Picking a St. Regis for a meeting, for example, would align with larger, established companies, potentially not that innovative, with quite a few years behind them. St. Regis is one of my favorite properties, but for a youth-oriented startup, that might not be the correct image for an event. The venue should exemplify the company brand to make the entire event work together with the company image. A cool startup located in Austin, Texas, might search for a brand that has quirkiness to it, such as Hotel Van Zandt, a hotel that offers the same vibe as the company brand.

Staff
This one is very important! I pay attention to staff from the first time I talk to someone on the phone to the final payment post event. These are the individuals who can help in a crisis. These people will be the faces attendees see around the property and can very much impact the overall feeling of the event. I also look for friendly, passionate, and quick-to-reply sales/marketing staff at venues. If someone takes forever to get back to me, I will likely will face the same issue when I need something urgently onsite. I always like to set expectations with a venue early on so that the staff is aware of my needs, and I am aware of its ability to execute them.

Reviews
This can be a tricky issue. While some reviewers may be cranky (we’ve all seen the crazy review on an amazing restaurant before), digging through many reviews can identify common issues that clients face. In order to do this part correctly, use a few different resources. My favorites are TripAdvisor, Zagat, Cvent and Yelp. Look for common praise as well as criticisms in the reviews.

Uniqueness
I often look for venues that have unique characteristics that generate any kind of buzz. This could be a celebrity chef, such that no one will turn down a dinner invitation (a great way to get prospects to agree to hang out for a few hours), a behind-the-scenes experience offered only to invited guests, cool design features, etc. Unique elements can be found at the most well known hangout in the city or at the venue no one has really discovered yet, and both have perks. For this type of research, I tend to go with things I personally like (I travel a lot and check out things in every city I visit), but it can also be done with smart online searching. Going through sites like Gilt City, Thrillist, Refinery29, Zagat, LocalEats and Conde Nast Traveler can uncover lots of very interesting possibilities.

Providing attendees with a unique, lovely experience will stay with them and impact their image of the company and brand. A little research can pay off in a big way in finding the right venue for an event.