Why Your Venues Location Is The Most Important Factor In Attendance

Every event planner knows that where they choose to host a meeting or conference is every bit as important as the event itself. Ask anyone who’s been involved with the event industry for even a marginal amount of time, and they’ll tell you as much. If you don’t have a great location, then nothing else matters, right?

Even if you’ve got what seems to be the perfect venue, a less-than-stellar location can deep-six any benefits you might gain from it. Why is this, though?

One word, folks: proximity. While there are certainly other factors that come into play like technology, capacity, and layout, the region in which your venue is situated is by and large the biggest deciding factor of how many guests you’re going to get at an event.

The closer your venue is to any major transportation hubs in the city – airports, train stations, bus depots; et-cetera – the better. There are a few reasons for this, but it’s primarily related to transportation costs. Having your venue close to an airport will make it significantly easier for international guests to get there, while a venue located on a major train line means people from all over the city can easily make their way to the conference floor.

Of course, there are other factors you should take into account. A venue close to major hotels and the like could mean you could nab your attendees some pretty sweet discounts on room costs, while one near to a city’s unique attractions (such as The Stampede Grounds in Calgary during the first weeks of July) will give your guests something to do while they’re not at your event. According to Cvent, if you’re running some form of meeting or conference, this’ll very likely up the enthusiasm of your guests considerably.

“A metropolitan area is easy to access by plane, car, bus, or train,” reads the Cvent blog post. “Having an international airport in your venue’s backyard only makes it easier for attendees to arrive, no matter the starting point. It helps when there is a direct link to downtown to make visiting easy, affordable, and scenic.”

There’s a lot that goes into selecting a venue. You need one with the right technology, one that matches your budget, and one with the proper capacity. More important, however, is choosing one that’s located in the right spot. A venue that’s close to a thriving metropolitan center is naturally going to attract higher numbers of guests than one that’s out in the boondocks – that’s just basic reasoning, after all.