Checklist for Choosing the Right Indoor Event Venue

Hosting a memorable function starts with planning, and deciding on the venue itself is one of the most important choices you’ll make during this process. If you’re thinking about an indoor event, consider these important factors to look for when selecting your ideal venue.

Size of Venue 

Factoring in the size of your event and amount of persons on your guest list will give you a better idea of your venue selection. Firstly, you need to determine what’s the capacity for your event.  A venue designed to comfortably seat 200 guests can’t work for an event hosting 500+ persons. Also, it’s important to remember to consider the fire and safety codes that the venue has to abide by. More so, considering the seating capacity will help you avoid selecting a venue that’s too big and could feel under-attended and prevent exceeding your budget. 

your venue

Tech-friendly venue

Nowadays, traditional in-person events have evolved to incorporate one or more forms of technology. Think about hybrid events are the “new normal” which combines both in-person and virtual experiences. Therefore, it’s crucial for you to answer a few questions:

  • Does your venue have wifi service? 
  • Will your attendees need room to use their laptops and tablets?
  • Are there enough charging outlets for laptops or phones and are they close enough for attendees to use and share?
  • Will you need a projector for presentations?
  • Will you need video cameras for recording, web streaming or live video on in-room screens?

 

Our advice for tech-dependent events is to work with your venue to have qualified audio-visual technicians on staff to assist with operating complex equipment and allow your event to run smoothly. 

your venue

Layout – room for event activities

(flow of people traffic, stage, dance, acoustics)

Even though you’re securing your venue early in the event planning process, you should start developing a rough agenda of your event’s layout. Draw out an illustrated floor plan so you can walk through where people traffic will flow, how you plan to set up tables and chairs and the music station location. Other event activities include having keynote speakers, product demonstration areas or an open area for a dancefloor. Getting an idea of your overall layout gives you further insight into your indoor event needs when picking the right venue. 

your venue
your venue

Facilities and Amenities

(kitchen, restrooms, electric supply etc.) 

Aside from how the venue looks, you’ll need to consider what the venue offers. Amenities can sometimes fall off the radar for event planning but are crucial on the launch day. For all events, it’s essential to have restrooms that are large enough to accommodate your guest count. Don’t overlook the size of the restrooms which could result in a long line of people waiting, leading to guest frustration and delays. Also, if you’re serving food, it’s important for a venue to have enough space in the kitchen and kitchen equipment to properly prepare and store food. Furthermore, consider additional amenities like electricity supply, water supply and parking facilities as part of your decision-making process. 

As you can see, there’s a lot to consider when choosing your event’s venue. However, if you take the above into consideration our points, you’ll find the perfect venue for your event. After the event date and venue are set in stone, now it’s time to get into those event details.

Need support to handle those tedious event management tasks? See how TCJ Events can help. Schedule a discovery call with us.

Download our Corporate Brochure for a list of all the ways we can help you achieve your objectives!

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Download our Corporate Brochure for a list of all the ways we can help you achieve your objectives!