Why is finding a great location and venue for your event so challenging?
As remote work continues to grow in popularity (around one-third of jobs in high-income countries could be done from home,
according to the World Bank
), many teams are now distributed around the country, or around the world. And distributed teams have a greater need to travel for internal events—
TravelPerk data
show that the number of companies taking these types of trips has doubled since May 2021.
However, planning an event for a distributed team can be a challenge. You’ll need to choose a location that’s fair and works well for everyone. If team members have to fly into your event from many different places, group meetups and logistics will be difficult to organize. You’ll also need to consider the costs: Flying a team of five to a remote location is much more feasible than a team of fifty.
Even if your team isn’t distributed, there are still many factors to take into account when choosing a location or venue for your event.
You’ll need to consider:
- The number of event participants
- The price (both of the venue itself, and of travel/accommodation in the chosen place)
- Convenience of the venue location
- Are there easy transit options available?
- Will you be able to organize group transportation (for example, coach buses to the venue?) Or will participants make their own way there?
- The weather
- What’s the climate like in the chosen location? Is the venue indoors—if not, what’s your plan for cold, unpleasant weather?
- Timing
- Does the event coincide with any public holidays in the chosen location, which might affect crowding or opening hours?
- Participant needs and preferences
- Be sure to choose a state-of-the-art venue that is suitable for all attendees, including those with specific needs (limited mobility, dietary restrictions, etc.)
Before choosing a location, it’s a good idea to conduct a company-wide survey to find out what would work best for all participants. That way, you can better understand what everyone would like to do.
After reviewing the survey results, start researching and contacting venues. With participant preferences and your event budget in mind, make a list of possible choices, and reach out to the venues with any questions you may have.
Once you have all the information you need, go ahead and make your venue bookings. Preferably, you should do this well in advance, to make sure you can secure the venue you want. At this point, you should also begin to think about booking travel for event participants.