While everyone has experience hosting parties, for most people, hosting a banquet is enough to take one out of their comfort zone. It’s a larger, more formal event, sometimes involving a ceremony of sorts, and it requires you to coordinate so many things.
Since a banquet, by definition, has an important goal as an objective (regardless of whether it’s a wedding or a corporate event), you need it to be perfect. This is a moment that you’ll remember for the rest of your life (if it’s a wedding that we’re speaking about) or a moment that will determine the future of your enterprise (if it’s a fund-raising banquet).
One of the biggest choices that you’ll have to make is choosing the right venue for your banquet event. Here are some criteria for picking the right one.
- Understand your task
The first thing you need to do is understand your task. This way, you’ll be able to find the spot that will meet all your criteria.
First, you need to answer the question: What is a banquet?
Simply put, this is a tad bigger, a tad more formal event, which companies and individuals are using to commemorate milestones that they see as especially important.
Understanding the concept of a banquet will help you understand its to-do list, which will result in a much better understanding of the venue in question.
For instance, this is a sitting, not a standing event. Also, since you’re insisting on formal attire, you need a background that’s going to match.
Remember that by agreeing to do a banquet, you’re already accepting that this event will end up costing you substantially more. Naturally, one of the biggest increases in cost will be that of the venue since you now want a larger, more luxurious place with all the amenities that a different venue could do without.
Also, by getting a to-do list, you’ll understand just how much you have to do before you start sending invites and sending invites absolutely has to be done early enough (if you want decent attendance).
- Locational strategy
Next, you need to think about the two most important factors of the event:
- Attendance
- Logistics
When inviting people to your venue, you need to think about whether it’s convenient for the majority of guests to come. Sure, if it’s a wedding it’s your day but try hosting a wedding on another continent and see who shows up. Even if they love you very much, for a lot of people, the location is a huge issue and by solving this problem, you’re increasing a chance they’ll attend.
Now, sure, if you’re really close and it’s a wedding, they’ll find a way; however, what if it’s something else? What if it’s a fundraising event, and they figure out that going out of their way by that much just isn’t worth it? Nothing… you completely unnecessarily lose out on revenue.
Look for the proximity to the airport, public transportation, and amenities like parking (not just that of the venue but in the neighborhood). Even if you want to organize transportation (from the airport), having it near the venue will reduce the costs.
The location will also affect the budget. Venues in convenient urban locations are usually more expensive, even though some people would be ready to pay more for a secluded location.
- Doing the right research
Doing research takes time and effort. This means that you actually have to take your time to go through tons of reviews.
Remember that review research can be quite difficult, seeing as how not all user reviews are trustworthy. Some users are really nitpicky, and others are just deliberately mean. When you encounter a positive review, you’ll never know if it’s genuine or if it’s a friend of the owner trying to sway the algorithm their way.
Also, remember that people who are happy with the service might not comment, while people who are dissatisfied will make it their mission to announce this to the world. Just keep this in mind because the ratio could be off.
Ideally, you would go and visit the venue.
Even here, you can’t visit every venue from the list. So, try to narrow it down a bit before going there in person to check it out.
Also, pay attention to the staff. The person you negotiate with is very important, and if you have a bad feeling about them, it might be a good idea just to go elsewhere.
- Act quickly
This may sound a bit contradictory, especially since we’ve already advised about the importance of doing proper research. Well, you also need to book the place as soon as possible.
Just think about it – you want someplace nice and affordable. Well, chances are that all such places are already taken, and when you find one that has a vacant spot around the time you need the venue in question, you need to be ready to pounce on the opportunity.
Second, you need the address for the invitations, and these need to be sent out on time.
Next, you need to organize catering, and this, too, requires an address to which the foods and beverages you order will be delivered.
All in all, you have so much work to do, and booking the venue is a massive bottleneck. You can proceed to other stages only after you’ve secured it.
Not to mention that this will be one of the biggest expenses (if not the biggest) on your list. The sooner you handle it, the sooner you’ll know how much of an event-planning budget you have left.
Wrap up
The most important thing about picking the venue lies in doing everything step-by-step. First, you need to understand what the banquet even is. Then, you need a quick to-do list and a budget. After this, you need to do the research on the venue and pick the suitable ones by your own criteria. Few select venues need to be visited in person, and, as soon as you’re sure, you need to book them. It sounds more complex than it really is.
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