BHMH2318 Corporate Event Operations

Lecture 4
Venues and Service Providers

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 Study Material in Textbook
Available in CPCE Library
Textbook No.
Page
Lecture Topic (see Table Chapter
Numbers
below)

Venues and Service 4 (Ramsborg) 6 97 to 107

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Providers 5 (Krugman) 3 29 to 42

No. Book Title

Allen, J., 2007. The executive’s guide to corporate events & business entertaining. Mississauga, Canada: John Wiley
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& Sons.

2 Silvers, J. R., 2012. Professional event coordinator. 2nd Edition. Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons.

Allen, J., O’Toole, W., Harris, R. and McDonnell, I., 2011. Festival & special event management. 5th Edition.
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Milton, Australia: John Wiley & Sons.

4 Ramsborg, G.C., 2015. Professional meeting management. 6th Edition. Chicago, USA: First Agate B2 Printing.

5 Krugman, C. and Wright, R.R., 2007. Global Meetings and Exhibitions. Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons.

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TEXTBOOK NUMBER 4:

CHAPTER 6
Site and Venue Selection

TEXTBOOK NUMBER 5:

Chapter 3
Destination Assessment

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 Learning Objectives
vDifferentiate between the various types and
locations of meeting venues
vDetail the process of sourcing a meeting
venue
vDefine the roles of key professionals at the
meeting venue
vIdentify important considerations when
selecting a meeting facility

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 Venues and Location
§ Every event must have a place to do it
§ When we organise an event, the first thing we
need to consider is a venue for it
§ We need to find a suitable venue to match the
event
§ We also need to consider the location

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 Nine Major Types of Venues
1. Convention and Exhibition Centre
2. Conference Centre
3. Convention Hotel
4. Limited-Service Hotel
5. Resort Property
6. Airport Property
7. Non-Traditional Venues
8. Other Attractions
9. University Facilities
 Types of Venues
1. Convention and Exhibition Centre
a) A convention or congress centre is a multi-purpose
facility that hosts meetings, public and industry trade
shows, and large events. The function space is large and
diverse to accommodate multiple shows.
2. Conference Centre (4 types, see next page)
a) They are designed to provide the optimal learning
environment and are dedicated to educational and
training meetings.

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 Types of Venues – 4 types of conference centres

ØThere are four types of conference centres (2 continued):

I. Residential – full-service facilities (includes meeting and
sleeping rooms) located in major metropolitan areas or
suburban locations.
II. Non-residential – facilities that are full service, but have
no sleeping rooms. They may be connected or close to
a hotel.
III. Ancillary – facilities that are part of a larger complex.
They may be floors or wings of a hotel, or resort.
IV. Corporate – facilities owned and operated by a
corporation of internal training.

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 Types of Venues
3. Convention Hotel Example?
a) These properties are located near or connected to the
convention centre. Hotels can be categorised as full
service, limited service, resort, or airport.
b) Most have exclusive or in-house vendors for food and
beverage, audio-visual, business centre, and other
amenities.
4. Limited-Service Hotel
a) They are located either downtown or in the suburbs.
These properties tend to attract regional visitors looking
for a lower-cost stay. Most of them have no food and
beverage service.
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 Types of Venues
5. Resort Property (property = facility = hotel)
a) They are often outside of the metropolitan area
and in secluded areas.
b) They have a number of guest rooms or suites,
meeting space, and offer upscale recreational
amenities, e.g. golf, tennis, spa, skiing, and
fitness services.
c) Most resorts will require additional travel time
from the airport and these properties tend to be
the most expensive.
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 Types of Venues
6. Airport Property
a) They are attached or located near major
airports. They serve mostly business transient
travellers, staying for a few nights in the area.
7. Non-Traditional Venues
a) Cruise lines – most new ships are adding conference and
meeting facilities. The major advantage is that it offers an
all-inclusive, up-front package pricing. The package
includes accommodation, meals, entertainment, meeting
space, and a number of attractive amenities.

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 Types of Venues
8. Other Attractions
a) they include museums, zoos, art galleries, amusement
parks, restaurants, and public libraries. Many of these
venues offer standard meeting services and event
packages. However, if the venue is also open to the
public, noise and other distractions may hinder the
meeting’s success
9. University Facilities
a) some universities have a full-service conference centre
facility on campus. They offer a great setting for
meetings and educational events with an atmosphere
encouraging learning and high-level engagement

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 Sourcing Destinations and Venues
q Sourcing the meeting destination and venue(s) can be a long
and overwhelming process for a meeting professional.
ØThere are important considerations that a meeting
professional must evaluate before entering into the contract
stage:
1. Meeting goals and objectives:
A. the meeting professional must identify the purpose of
the event before considering the meeting’s destination or
venue. The organisation’s culture may determine this
process.
B. They should also consider the meeting budget, and the
outline of the meeting program
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 Sourcing Destinations and Venues
2. Meeting value and profile:
A. Value - the meeting professional must calculate the value
of the meeting(costs) before sourcing a destination and
venue. Gathering and analysing financial data and
historical information on the meeting are necessary.
B. Profile - past information such as room block, meeting
space, audio-visual, food and beverage, transportation,
and profile of delegates. Hotels typically require three
years of history. If the event is being conducted for the
first time, historical data from previous similar meetings
conducted by the group should be gathered.

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 Finding a Suitable Venue
1. After we have finalised details of the meeting
(corporate event), we then need to find a
suitable venue for hosting the event.
2. The next step is to identify a few venues and
ask them to provide details of their facilities
and costs for their services.
3. The hotels will need us to provide
requirements of our meeting so that they can
match their facilities and services with the
requirements.
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 Sourcing Destinations and Venues
Ø Request for Proposal from venues:
1. A Request For Proposal (RFP) is an invitation to
bid on a specific meeting’s business.
2. A RFP is the written meeting specifications
document prepared for facilities to assist them
in evaluating the appropriateness of their
property for the group.
3. The RFP describes the meeting objectives,
historical data, physical requirements, and
attendee interests and expectations.
4. It also identifies the general area and type of
facility desired. 16
Sourcing Destinations and Venues
ØThere are three phases in the RFP process:
1. Creation of the RFP – it requires careful thought and
articulation of the group’s needs
2. Solicitation of proposals through the RFP – send the
RFP to hotel and ask them for proposal for the
event
3. Evaluation of the returned proposals – compare the
proposals from the hotels and choose the best one
for the event
Finally, a decision is made to choose the best venue
and a contract is signed with the venue.
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Stakeholders and Service Providers
• In organising a corporate event, many
stakeholders are involved in working together
to host and stage the event, e.g. the venue
which is the hotel for a company dinner
• Sometimes, a corporate may hire an outside
event company to organise its corporate
event on its behalf, esp. if the event is held in
a foreign country
• These event companies are usually called
“Destination Management Companies” (DMC)
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Stakeholders and Service Providers
Ø The Roles of Destination Management Companies (DMC):
1. Transportation - in the past, they used to be
ground operators providing coordination for
transportation and social events for meetings and
incentives.
2. Administration - today, they offer professional
services that cover a broad spectrum and may
include audio-visual support, temporary help,
entertainment, interpreters, and related assets.
3. Overseas arrangements - in some cases,
international Destination Management Companies
serve as prime contractors for organisations that
have meetings abroad. 19
Stakeholders and Service Providers
4. Negotiation - they may act on behalf of the
organiser to negotiate hotel and meeting
facilities, as a travel agency, or as a
subcontractor for whatever services are needed.
5. Logistics - a Destination Management Company
can handle almost all the logistic arrangements
in a destination.
6. On-site management - they can also provide on-
site support for the event, such as coordinate
activities, supervise technical staff, provide
temporary help and administrative staff.
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Stakeholders and Service Providers
Ø Other Main Event Vendors (Service Providers):
– Advertising agencies
– Audio-visual providers
– Caterers
– Entertainment providers
– First-aid providers
– Florists
– Lighting providers
– Security providers
– Simultaneous interpreters
– Translation providers
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