Suzanna Reid Barreiro da Silva, Managing Director at Unique Venues Birmingham shares a blogpost about the hidden benefits of choosing certain venues for your events…
As a conference and event planner, you detail the brief for your event and then create a shortlist of venues that you feel best matches your objectives…but have you ever considered what your business truly means to the venue?
When you are looking for something unique, diverse, unusual or with an academic twist, there are a host of venue choices out there and many have one key objective, to drive commercial revenue into the venues, whilst respecting the core purposes for the buildings.
But what does this really mean?
As public and community spaces experience reductions in grants and funding, many have looked to explore new avenues to generate revenue. Hosting corporate and private events in their buildings is something many organisations now consider a key revenue generator, with all profits being covenanted back to the organisation. Whilst it sounds quite straightforward there are some interesting challenges for these organisations to be able to successfully deliver events, at the same time not impacting on the core use of the buildings.
The business model for these organisations differs tremendously from a corporate hotel or venues space which has been purpose built for the delivery of conference and events. You can find yourself working with listed buildings or being able to access an academic venue only during vacation, and for many who operate businesses independently, the commercial teams manage a range of dates, times and procedures that all need to be considered at the point of enquiry for the conference and event planner. This could be linked to start/finish times or access to the venue and in some cases can be quite specific in the types of events they are able to deliver to ensure no conflict to the ethos of the buildings.
Organisations who are working with this business model, will also be focussed on their activities to work with the community to the greater good for all. Examples of this can be, ensuring a reduced carbon footprint from their suppliers, supporting local businesses providing a more sustainable approach to the commercial strategy. Alternatively, you may find the organisation asking you to authorise any ‘leftover or unused’ catering on the day to be donated to a local charity who are working with the homeless in the community and value such donations. What is key here is that the nature of the operation by such organisations, adapt and adopt their procedures to provide support across the larger community.
But what does this mean for you the conference and event planner, and why should you consider working with this style of venue?
As a corporate organisation, you will have your own CSR policies and when you are seeking an event venue, on the initial enquiry or visit, consider asking the venue about their CSR, commitment to sustainability and align their responses with your own company’s. Whilst this style of business model may not be a key selling point to the conference and event planner, when you are aware of how the profit from your event will be invested, you can be confident that it is a positive choice and one that benefits the community.
Choosing to work within a venue that has a multi-faceted use is inspiring, as you are always seeking out new ways to host events, overcome operational challenges and deliver an exceptional customer experience. This is coupled with your own passion to work within great spaces to deliver events knowing that the financial profit is being covenanted back to the core business to enable it to continue to flourish and offer its services to the community.
Find out more about Unique Venues Birmingham