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VENUE
Sometimes you get to choose your venue; sometimes it is chosen for you.
We’ll consider both cases.
Your
choice
When you are choosing your own venue, there are many factors to
consider. Below is a comprehensive checklist for you. To answer all the
questions and ensure success, you will absolutely need to visit the venue
and check them all in person before you commit to it.
Is the location convenient to reach for the people you are inviting?
If people will be using public transport, is the journey from the nearest
stop(s) easy and safe in all weathers?
If people will be driving, is there ample easy, free parking?
If you’re renting a room in a hotel or other facility, is the brand
appropriate for you to be associated with? Is their quote comprehensive,
including all extras, and within your budget?
How easy, and how long, is the journey from the front door to your room?
Is it well signposted? (If not, make sure you bring your own signage.)
Are there any issues for people with special needs?
If you are offering refreshments, what’s the quality of the catering at this
venue?
Are hotel rooms the right standard? If you are doing a multi-day event,
you will likely be using a hotel and block-booking rooms, in which case
ask to see some typical rooms to make sure that your delegates are going
to have a good experience. They will hold you responsible for everything!
What audience layouts can the venue offer? You may want to choose any
one of the following, each of which has its own advantages and
disadvantages.
Theatre/auditorium style
. Theatres, cinemas and large, custom-built
corporate presentation spaces are generally excellent for large audiences:
everyone can see due to the rake of the seats, and the rooms are custom
designed for speech intelligibility. Although similar in layout, academic
lecture halls are often far less satisfactory, combining uncomfortable
seating for the audience with poor acoustics and inflexible equipment.
The latter springs from the old-fashioned, entrenched academic
paradigm of lecturing from a fixed lectern. All the electrical and
electronic connections are in that one place and very often they cannot be
extended to allow a presenter to move out from behind the battlements of
the lectern and connect openly with the audience.
Classroom style
. This means rows of desks, each typically seating 2
people. It’s a fairly dense way of seating people, so it works well if space is
limited and if you want people to be able to write while you speak.
U-shape
. You speak at the open end of a U of seats or desks. This allows
you to connect face-to-face with everyone, and stops people from hiding
or disconnecting (which is very possible in the back rows when a room is
laid out classroom style). You can walk down the centre of the U for
dramatic impact, and all the delegates can see one another, which is very
useful if your session is interactive or participative.
Boardroom style
. Typical in business presentations, this works fine as
long as you don’t have a full table with the top seats facing away from
you! These rooms often have a plasma, LCD or LED screen on the wall for
slides or graphics, but the associated sound system can be very variable in
quality. There is often a Crestron or AMX control system; if the interface
has not been well designed, you may have trouble getting the result you
want because these systems are often closed, with only the most basic
controls made available to users. Many times, I have wanted to alter the
mix between a microphone and the sound from my Mac, to be told that
all the levels are fixed. Equally often, I encounter underpowered
amplifiers outputting puny volume levels through small ceiling speakers.
This won’t bother you if you don’t use sound but, in my experience, it still
is worth getting access to boardrooms or corporate meeting rooms in
plenty of time to make sure you can interface with any tech that you
might need to use, even if it’s just the lights or HVAC.
Cabaret style
. This is a very good layout if you have exercises that involve
breaking the group into smaller teams. Tables seating 12 are ideal, with 4
seats left vacant (the ones that would have their backs to you) so you can
have 8 people on each table. That’s very flexible - you can have them work
in pairs, or in fours, or as a table of 8.
Circle
. This really only works well for very interactive workshops, where
you are not so much presenting as facilitating group work. It’s hard to
communicate equally and maintain contact in the round, whether you
stand in the centre and have to keep turning, or sit in the circle and have
people immediately to your left and right, which is why this really only
works for a softer, more democratic style of work.
Over and above these criteria, what I look for is the right attitude in the
people I meet when I am choosing a venue. The critical factor is care. This
must emanate from everyone you meet, from the event booking person to
the receptionist, the chef and the support staff around the meeting room.
I would never use a facility where the people don’t care enough, even if it
saved a lot of money.
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