The Seauton ins & outs in one alphabet. In this article we will tell you all about the D for Destinations.
The D for Destinations
You are planning a meeting, a conference or an event, but you have no idea where it should take place. Antwerp has some new congress facilities, Prague has a central location and is affordable, and Barcelona is a guarantee for nice weather and offers a wide choice of venues and hotels. Whenit comes to finding a destination for your event, the possibilities are endless and before you know it, you have spent hours on Google looking for the perfect location. As meeting, incentive and conference professionals, we know exactly how intensive this search can be. We also know that the success of your event, meeting or conference largely depends on the location. That’s why we are glad to share some tips and tricks that might help you find the perfect destination for your next business event.
These are some questions you
should ask yourself:
- Are you organizing a national or
an international meeting, where are
your guests travelling from and how
will they travel to the destination
you have chosen? Make sure the
airport, train station, hotel or venue
are easily accessible, check if there
are enough direct flights or trains
and if traffic is not too dense during
rush-hour. Make sure there are no
other major political, sports or
cultural events taking place at the
same time and place. Also, try to
limit the transfer time to one hour.
- Think about what your guests
will appreciate most:
a quiet
and remote destination
to meet
in peace or a location right in
the middle of the
hustle and
bustle of the city
? Maybe you
need your venue and hotel to be
within walking distance, or maybe
transfers are not an issue for you
and your guests. Also, if your guests
will have little to no free time, it’s
not a must to have other activities
in the immediate area.
- Exclusive event locations don’t always have hotel facilities
. So,
if that’s what you want, you may
have to look for an event venue
as well as a place to stay. Either
way, you should make sure that
all facilities are present and check
if the presence of
other groups
could be a problem.
- If this is not the first time you
are organizing this event, think
about the
locations you used
before
. Which venues did your
guests like and which were the
ones they didn’t? It is fine to
look for a
similar
location, but
sometimes you might want to try
a
radical change of scenery
- How attractive is your destination?
Large cities like
Paris, Barcelona or London –
been there, done that... - are
nowadays facing competition
from
smaller upcoming
destinations
such as Tallinn,
Rotterdam or Alicante. These
destinations have some
undeniable advantages: mostly
they are easily accessible, they
are less known to the large public
and they are cheaper...
- Last but not least: how
budget-sensitive
are your guests
or your client? You may want to
attract as many guests as you
can by organizing your event at
an exclusive location, or prefer
a reasonably-priced destination
with a smaller number of guests.
Once you have answered these
questions, you can start scouting
locations and inspecting sites.
That is the basis of a fantastic
event that will be remembered
by all of your guests. This is the
best ROI you could wish for!
