Assessing The Facilities Available For Disabled Delegates
- If the conference rooms are not on the ground floor, is there a suitable sized lift to take anyone using a wheelchair to the appropriate floor?
- Are the disabled toilets within a reasonable distance?
- If you are expecting delegates who may be hard of hearing, has a deaf-loop system been installed?
Assessing The Catering Facilities
The venue should be able to provide you with a selection of sample menus to give you an idea of what they can provide, for what cost:
- Take a look at the suggested eating area – if it is a fixed restaurant, is it within a reasonable distance from the conference room?
- Will the delegates be taking lunch with other visitors to the venue?
- Is the restaurant located in an area where the delegates are likely to wander back to the exhibition area to the awaiting stand-holders, or are they more likely to wander off to somewhere more interesting?
- What refreshments are included in the price?
- If only morning coffee, lunch and afternoon tea are provided, how much extra will you be required to pay for coffee on arrival?
- Do you intend for lunch to be taken seated or standing up?
- If seated, will there be room for all of your delegates to eat at one sitting?
- With adequate warning is the venue able to cater for specialised diets, e.g. vegetarians, diabetics, etc?
- Very importantly, do the serving staff look cheerful and are they helpful?
- Is the bar area tidy and well stocked?
The Accommodation
If you are intending using a hotel facility or any other facility where accommodation is offered and the delegates will be staying overnight, ensure that you also get to view a selection of bedrooms. Consider the following:
- If in a busy city centre are the windows double-glazed?
- What items are available in the rooms?
- Business delegates like to have access to a telephone and many hotels these days also have modem points in the rooms.
- Are tea and coffee-making facilities in the rooms?
- Is a trouser press/iron/hairdryer/skirt hanger provided?
If the venue you are contemplating using does not offer accommodation, the local tourist bureau will be able to help you locate somewhere suitably close to the venue and within your budget. Whilst visiting the venue itself, take time to look at the choice of accommodation available.
Establishing What Is Included
Venues vary enormously as to what is included in the price. Traditional hotel and conference centre venues tend
to offer both a
day delegate rate (sometimes called an 8-hour rate), which could include morning coffee, lunch, afternoon tea and use of the conference room. Venues such as hotels that offer accommodation may be able to offer you a
24-hour delegate rate which usually includes dinner, bed and breakfast as well as the morning coffee, lunch, afternoon tea and use of the conference room. There is normally room for at least some negotiation on both day and 24-hour delegate rates.
Ensuring Equipment Availability
You will need to ascertain whether the price also includes the hire of the lecterns, microphones, spotlights, screens and staging. If not, find out exactly what items are available, what condition they are in, and how much they will cost to hire. If you are going to use an audio visual technician they may prefer to use their own equipment which is likely to be regularly tested and upgraded, rather than the hotel’s own possibly outdated and rather temperamental projector.