Every industry has telltale signs that you should not go with a particular product, vendor or service. The events industry is no exception to this and sourcing the best conference venues for your needs is one of the biggest decisions an event planner has to make when it comes to making their event a success. In fact, choosing the correct Edinburgh training and conference venue is so important that no amount of amazing entertainment, catering and content can make up for a bad conference venue choice. Also, if you do end up picking a disappointing venue then this can affect future events you have planned as well, such as unhappy attendees and poor word-of-mouth. So, what sort of things should you be keeping your eye out for when you are sourcing a venue?

Negative Online Review

For most professional event managers conducting online research about venues is one of the first things they do when they are tasked with selecting a venue. Checking out the venue reviews on social media sites such as Facebook and Yelp and doing a search on Google and Twitter is a great place to start. There are also industry specific directories and sites you can look at to read both event planner and attendee feedback.

However, it is important to remember that online reviews should not be your only source of feedback as only about 1.5% of people actually bother to leave a review. Good practice when reading reviews is to ignore the over embellished ones, and instead pay closer attention to more measured and accurate middle of the road reviews.

Collect References

Any conference venue worth its salt, that has been in business for more than a few months, will have already served many customers who will be able to give feedback on service and the space available. So, if you ask your venue for a list of past customers who can give you a reference for the venue, and the venue won't give you one then they are probably trying to hide something.

Most venues will be more than happy to provide you with a list of people you can speak to, and you should reach out to at least one of them. However, you can also do a little research of your own and try and find past customers of the venue who don't appear on their list, as you may find they have a different story to tell.

Have a Good Look Round

Before you sign on the dotted line with your venue you should go and have a good look around all of the spaces they have available. Look for cracks or holes in the wall, dirty or frayed carpets, missing tiles, broken furniture, cobwebs and so on. All of these things will be huge turn offs for conference attendees and will taint the rest of their experience.

You should also keep an eye out for outdated interior design, and areas that do not flow well with the type of event you are planning. Walk through the space and map it out so that you can be sure that attendees can walk through from the entrance to exhibit area and meeting rooms unimpeded.

Test the Wi-Fi and Mobile Phone Signal

Whatever type of event you are planning, the last thing you want is to be faced with attendees who are not able to make or receive calls, read their emails or even use apps. In this day and age, good Wi-Fi and Mobile Phone signal is expected and if your venue has poor or no Wi-Fi or dead spots for cell phones, then you will never hear the end of it.

Most venues will offer basic Wi-Fi as part of their rental cost, but some may offer an upgraded service if you pay a little more - which may be worth investing in if you are planning a tech conference.

Most event and conference venue London will work hard to ensure your event goes well as wowing both you and your attendees is essential for them to stay in business, so you shouldn't encounter any of the things we have outlined above too often.

Author: Gladys Requina
29-Mar-2019