A List of Event Space Amenities Every Venue Should Have
When choosing the perfect venue, there are so many different facets you will want to take into consideration. Sometimes it can get overwhelming when seeking out a venue for hire, so we put together a venue facilities checklist to make your life a little easier. What is a venue checklist? It’s a helpful list that identifies important amenities and questions to ask the venue management before booking the venue.
Importance of Venue Amenities
1. Dedicated and Experienced Venue Staff
When considering what facilities are included in an events venue, one of the most important amenities is an experienced and dedicated venue staff. They know the ins and outs of the venue and because of their experience, can often foresee issues that may arise before they even happen to help mitigate problems throughout your event. They make your life easier so that you have a team you can rely on when it comes to making your event successful. Venue management or lack thereof can really make or break your event.
2. Indoor and Outdoor Signage
Whether you’re looking at indoor and outdoor venues or one over the other, you will want to make sure they have indoor and outdoor signage capabilities. This is so important because you want to make sure they have the space to display messaging outside and inside so that your guests can easily find your event and they will remember you due to strong branding. There is nothing worse than a guest getting frustrated because they can’t find where they are going, or someone attending your event and forgetting who hosted it because there wasn’t strong messaging. Signage is also a great way to help with the press for your event and company. You can use it for backdrops as well so when people share, your branding is all over.
3. Tech Equipment and Support
When it comes to the equipment side of things, you will want to make sure your venue has strong Wi-Fi connectivity, high-quality A/V equipment, and good lighting options. In a time where everyone is constantly connected to their devices, high-speed, reliable internet is non-negotiable when it comes to events. We suggest taking time to test the Wi-Fi beforehand and ensuring the venue has a backup internet connection in case something were to happen.
When it comes to high-quality A/V equipment, you will want to make sure they provide anything you may need such as microphones, speakers, sound boards, projection screens, and so forth, so you have everything set up ahead of time. For lighting, making sure they have different settings for your needs throughout the event is important. Lighting sets the mood and energy of your event and evokes different feelings from guests, so make sure you test this ahead of time.
Finally, you will want to make sure they have a team that can help with tech support pre-event and during the event. This will ensure everything runs seamlessly and then there is someone on-site to problem solve immediately, reducing the likelihood of hiccups throughout your event.
4. Kitchen for Catering
You will also want to make sure there is a large enough kitchen to prepare food for catering. You should be able to hire multiple event staff that fit in the kitchen, along with enough refrigerator space to keep food fresh. You will also want to make sure there is a dishwasher for easy cleanup as well.
5. Appropriate Restrooms
Finally, whether you’re looking at a large luxury event space or a smaller, more intimate venue, you will want to make sure the venue has the appropriate number of restrooms that are adequately sized for the event you’re hosting. The only thing that comes close to a dreadfully long bar line, is a dreadfully long bathroom line. You want your guests to be comfortable throughout the night and spend as little time as possible standing in lines.
At Ovation Square, we are located in the heart of downtown Long Beach, with enough space to host a variety of different types of events. We would be happy to discuss further planning your next event.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How do I know what an appropriate number of bathrooms are?
A: This is something that the on-site staff should be able to help you with. They can discuss capacity with you and what the general flow of events is according to the number of guests.
Q: What if I’m not sure what kind of A/V equipment I will need?
A: That’s why having an on-site tech support team is helpful because you can discuss what will be at your event, and they can tell you the kind of equipment you will need.
Q: Do I have to use the venue staff, or can I hire my own team?
A: It depends on the contract you sign with the venue. Sometimes they have the planning staff baked into the pricing but that is always something you can discuss and negotiate with them.