Many meetings are informal affairs, and can be held onsite in your office meeting rooms. But larger meetings, workshops and conferences with attendance by national or international delegates need to be held in specialized function venues. Here are some tips for finding and preparing a function venue for a significant meeting.
When planning a large, important meeting, you don't want to leave anything to chance. If your meeting is about a sensitive issue or regarding a new product for a high-profile company, your first desire in a function venue will be privacy and secrecy. Your next priority is ensuring your function room will house all the delegates and equipment you need. Does the function room have equipment on hand? What will you need to supply?
You'll need to arrange the room and furniture yourself. Think carefully about the kind of environment you need – is this a road show where different vendors or departments set up a table? Do you need a "circle of equality" for discussing important issues, or do you need a head table and lectern for panel discussions and guest speakers?
Check the room's power points and available extensions – the most common problem discovered on the morning of an important meeting is not enough extension leads. Ask delegates and guest speakers in advance for the equipment they'll need.
You want your delegates to be comfortable, so check the function room's air conditioning / heating systems are turned on. Ensure all guests have equal access to the facilities – vision-impaired and mobility-impaired guests will need to be able to navigate the room, see visuals and flowcharts, and access the toilets.
When organizing catering always provide vegetarian and vegan options, even if no one lists any dietary conditions. There's always one person who will forget until they see the ham sandwiches laid out, and any complaints will reflect poorly on you.
Check, confirm and check your details again. Arrive to your function room at least an hour early to check the room and supervise the setup. If something goes wrong you'll have time to fix it before the delegates arrive.
With all this organizing and checking, your meeting should come off a complete success!
