subject: Top 5 Facilities Needed At Your Conference Venue [print this page] Imagine turning up at a conference and discovering that the Internet linkup you are expecting hasn't been arranged. Or finding yourself in front of an audience ready to wow them with your PowerPoint presentation only to find that the screen doesn't work.
Have you ever found yourself in this situation? I have, but I'll tell you about that later.
These days, conference venues and function centres are ready to provide just about any conference requirement you might need. They can organise appropriate lighting, audiovisual display equipment, specially tuned air-conditioning, sophisticated audio linkups and catering facilities to serve anything from 50 to 1000 meals. But they won't be able to do any of these things unless they know what you want.
It seems really self evident, but proper planning is an underestimated task in terms of the number of tasks that need to be performed in advance. In the first place, the planning for any conference needs to be delegated to a specific individual or team whose responsibility it is to check and recheck the requirements, detailed plans and obtain final approval from management.
Just in case you're wondering about which five facilities are most commonly needed at a conference venue, here they are:
Rooms with plenty of natural light. Natural light gives participants alert and on their toes so they are receptive to the information being disseminated.
Proper air conditioning. If the temperature is not right, delegates will soon become uncomfortable and nerves can be jangling after a few hours.
Adequate space. Having delegates cramped into a small room, even if there is good natural light and air-conditioning, can lead to uncomfortable situation. Everyone has their space requirements and crowding people together and detract from the scene of any event.
The right equipment. As mentioned above, the planning process should include a detailed listing of all the equipment that will be necessary including audiovisual, laser pointers, Internet hook-up, lighting and regularly replenished supplies of fresh water and small snack items like mints. You don't need to go overboard with the edible items just include something that can be consumed quietly without distracting other people in the room
Location. The room should be located close to toilet facilities so that if delegates need to have a washroom break, the time lost will be minimised. Another aspect of location, on a completely different vein, is that the conference venue should have adequate parking within close proximity. This centre makes it easier to delegates to park and register without having to be concerned about a lengthy walk or expensive parking fees.
As I mentioned above, the experience of arriving at a venue and finding things either unplanned or missing completely, is not only embarrassing but if it occurs at the start of the program, you can kiss goodbye to a successful conference.
I once found myself as a guest speaker at an event where I wanted to use a computerised presentation where I hooked up to specially prepared web pages. The convenor of the conference had neglected to specify the details of my requirements to the conference centre, and it took about twenty minutes to remedy the problem. Needless to say the function centre itself received a bad rap, but, disappointingly, so did I.
