How the Perfect Venue Can Positively Affect Your Corporate Event

Planning a corporate event is a pressure-filled task that puts high expectations on your performance. You need to think through every aspect of the event to ensure it aligns with corporate strategy, goals and objectives. While it might seem odd that the food you serve or the event venue you choose can be impacted by these corporate ideals, corporate events are all about image and achieving goals. As a result, careful thought should be given to your venue.

Here’s how the perfect venue can positively affect your corporate event.

Location

It’s easy to get caught up on trends like craft breweries or farm to fork philosophies when choosing a corporate event venue. However, this isn’t a wedding! You need to choose a venue in a convenient location that suits the needs of your attendees.

While the rustic charm of a barn or trendy atmosphere of a craft brewery might be popular for weddings and other types of special events, chances are they aren’t conveniently located whether it is because they are out of town or in the heart of the city where parking is limited.

People don’t want to be inconvenienced when attending a corporate event, so choosing a spot that is easy to get to for people coming from different locations is a must. If not, you will see lower attendance rates, or experience more “grumblings” on social media about your event.

Welcoming Venue

Your venue has to set the tone of your event making a strong first impression as attendees arrive. Even if your event is strictly business, how people are welcomed is important. When people know where to go as soon as they arrive, it starts the event off right.

A venue that provides signage that helps people find the right place to park and the right entry to use is a simple convenience that makes people feel welcome. Having someone greeting people as they arrive to provide them with any event paperwork or guides, as well as to check them in also helps improve optics.

A venue that offers separate entries for each event is always best as this helps contain your event, provides more privacy and makes it easier to manage with your attendees in the proper area. It smacks of organization and provides an easier layout, so everyone stays in one place.

One-Stop Shop

As an event planner, you don’t want to spread yourself too thin. Therefore your venue should offer as many of the services required to get your event set up as possible. This includes:

• First-class food and beverages customized to your needs and budget
• End to end services throughout the entire planning process
• On-site parking
• Wireless and wired high-speed internet for dependable service for both attendees and access for any presentations you might need to make
• State-of-the-art audiovisual equipment
• Assistance with special touches such as ordering floral arrangements, DJs, decorative touches, etc.

When you can plan everything under one roof, your job is easier and you can focus attention on the details that make your event shine.

Food and Drink

Every event has its own food and beverage needs. For some, it might be as simple as coffee, tea and muffins for breakfast while others might require an elegant seven-course meal. The trick is having a venue that provides you with full access to a catering team specializing in customized foodservice solutions. It’s not enough to have a coffee urn and some baked goods plunked on a table at break times. Instead, you have to consider the event and what attendees expect.

Evening events are even more precise as it’s not just about feeding people. It’s about creating experiences. Regardless of your event’s purpose, you want to serve a memorable meal that shows guests they are important. When you can consider different options based on the size of your event and how your schedule is set up, you create the right tone.

For example for an all-day event complete with speeches, workshops and an area with booths for people to browse, you will need to have a basic service throughout the day where people can access beverages and snack foods, have a lunch period and then arrange for dinner.

An event that is based around the dinner requires a mouth-watering meal that will impress people with your attention to detail. A strictly business meal should be more formal, whereas an appreciation event can be more fun and casual. All of these things contribute to a positive experience for guests.

Room Setup

Your venue has to be able to meet the needs of your agenda. Will there be speeches and presentations? Booths? Workshops? Is it based strictly on a meal such as an awards night or a celebration for a successful sales team? What equipment is required? Will you be focused on presenting sales results and targets, or more concerned about entertainment? Will you have one set up during the day and need to transition for a sit-down meal in the evening?

When your venue makes it easy to accommodate your needs whether it is a conference, an award ceremony, a charity auction or a gala, you can create an event that serves its intended purpose. Do you need a stage? A dance floor? A layout for booths? Would you like special decorative touches to reflect a particular theme? Interesting lighting to help set a certain mood? When your venue provides all of these things in a professional manner, your attendees see only the finished result, instead of panicked staff trying to keep things running. With the right venue, guests experience the magic and don’t even think about all the work that went on in the background to create the moment.

Table Settings

Is your table arrangement simply functional, providing a place for people to watch presentations and take notes, or is it all about creating a certain ambience and backdrop for your event? Table settings and layouts are always an important element at your venue as they reflect the purpose and/or theme of your event. You might require impressive centrepieces and candlelight, or simply have tablecloths and water jugs with glasses for more practical events. When you get this right, your guests have the setup they need so they are comfortable, productive and ready to make the most of their time – whether it’s just for fun or all about business.

As you can see, the event venue sets the tone of your corporate event. By choosing wisely you can ensure your guests have an enjoyable experience and that your event is a complete success.

To learn more about a great event venue in Vaughan, call Chateau le Jardin at (905) 851-2200 or contact us here.