Anyone who has ever had to organise a conference will tell you that the choice of potential venues to choose from is huge. You can pretty much hold a conference anywhere, from a small village church to racecourses, and venues are more than willing to cash in on this.
It makes sense really as conferences are quite easy to host – after all, it’s mainly just one speaker stood in front of a crowd making a presentation. If you’ve got a large space, some chairs and some projection equipment, you’ve more or less got what you need, right?
Well, sort of. You see, there’s a difference between simply being able to host a conference and hosting a good conference. To stand out from the massive pool of venues offering conference facilities, there are a couple of essentials you need to be offering.
If you’re planning to offer a conference space at your venue, here are some of the elements that make for a good conference venue. If you’re planning a conference, you might find some of this info handy in narrowing down your search too!
Visuals
It goes without saying that if you’re hosting a conference, you’re going to need audio visual equipment. A good digital projection system with a large projection screen is essential; any presenter worth their salt is going to have brought along a flashy presentation and if your venue can’t do that presentation justice, it’s failed in one of its primary functions.
When you’ve got a huge projection screen front and centre, you might not think that a television is that important but you’d be surprised how many conference organisers still make use of them as a second screen. They’ll also be handy for smaller meetings where your clients won’t want to make use of a large screen.
Audio
A good sound system is an important part of any conference centre. Your sound system doesn’t need to rival a 10,000 capacity arena but it does need to be of a high enough quality to produce clear, crisp sound that fills the entire room and plays to the room’s acoustics.
As part as your sound system, you should also consider installing a Public Address system – especially if your space is at the larger end of the spectrum.
Lighting
Stage lighting, while not as essential as some of the audio visual elements listed above, is still important to creating a good conference venue. This is especially true if your space lacks many natural light sources.
Your lighting won’t need to be as advanced as your average theatre, but you’ll want to be able to offer the capability to adjust the way the stage is lit in order to create ambience and alter the mood of the room. The ability to play around with lighting will also make you extremely popular with conference organisers with a taste for the dramatic!
Other Considerations
For many conference venues, providing seating consists of sticking out a few plastic chairs in new rows and leaving it at that. While there isn’t anything necessarily wrong with this, installing tiered seating into your venue will maximise an audience’s ability to see, as well as adding to the overall professionalism of your space.
In relation to this, installing staging at the front of your space will help improve the visibility of anyone presenting, as well as also contributing towards making your space look more professional.
Integrated lecterns are also a good idea. They’re slightly pricey so if you’re converting your space on a budget you might need to leave them out, but they add an extra incentive for conference organisers when trying to rent your space out as they make presenting a lot easier.
Most conferences tend to be recorded, so offering professional standard recording facilities is another way of adding to the allure of your venue and attracting business. It does mean having a technician on hand to help with the recording process, but you can alter your fees to reflect this extra labour.
Offering conference space can be a real money-spinner for venues that specialise elsewhere, but making that money means making a commitment to offering a top quality conference space.
If you’re planning on building a new conference space soon, give PG Stage a call on 0161 830 0303 or email us on info@pgstage.co.uk. We can help with everything from the initial planning of your space to the final installation!