7 Top Tips For Booking London Conference Venues
Thursday 2 May 2024
As many companies start planning their January and Q1 Kick Off conferences, we offer advice when choosing the right London conference venues in London. Our team of free venue finders share their top tips, along with our Top 5 Boutique, Large Airy Space, Hybrid, Out of Town, and Sustainable venues...
1. Plan Early - it’s important to get ahead of the game and to get the best venue availability to match your specific requirements, you should start planning at least six months prior to your event for large or residential conferences. Shorter lead times are required for smaller events but the advice to plan ahead remains in place for all events.
2. Location - Location is always an important factor when booking conferences venues in London. With more service sector staff working from home, proximity to mainline stations is of increasing importance in the post-Covid era. With sustainable venues an increasingly important factor in corporate event organising, reducing travel distances is the best way to reduce the carbon footprint of events.
3. Set a date – This sounds obvious, but it is essential to have a clear brief on a date (or better a set of date options), before you start your London conference venues search to give you the best options. If you can be a little bit more flexible with the date then this can definitely be used to your advantage. Most corporate clients look to hire their meetings and conference venues in London on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, so if you’re able to consider less popular days it is likely that you'll be able to grab yourself a great deal.
4. Timings - More and more clients are looking to host networking receptions after their conferences. However, when hiring a conference venue in London if you are extending your event past the generic daytime hire (normally around 17:30) this can often lead to a surge on the venue hire. Why not look at having a slightly shorter lunch break or having the conference finish slightly earlier and you’ll be able to reduce your costs.
5. Vision - It’s important to have a clear idea and understanding of what you want for your event when hiring conference venues in London. Finding the perfect venue for your event will be straight forward if you have an understanding of the type of venue aesthetics you want for your conference so that is matches the vision and key messages.
6. Catering - Depending on the type of venue you decide to hire for you conference will depend whether catering is included or whether you will need to look into hiring an external catering company. If the catering is not provided in-house, then it is important to look at the venue’s preferred supplier list and get quotes before committing to the venue. Also, light and high energy menus will ensure the delegates remain focussed throughout the event.
7. Hybrid ready – Ensure that your venue has great steaming capabilities so that the vent can be delivered to those unable to attend in person. Many businesses are facing the opposing benefits of virtual conferences versus in-person meetings. There are clear benefits of virtual events in terms of sustainability, cost and potential audience reach, but most appreciate that the value of face-to-face conferences, with all the networking, social and team cultural benefits that can only come from in person conferences.
And our final tip – Use a free venue finder! At Venue Search London, we provide a free personalised service, with our knowledge and expertise allowing us to present the best conference venue London has to offer and then negotiate on your behalf, saving you money and time doing the groundwork.
So, if you are looking for the best Central London Conference venues (or beyond!) for your next event, please email us at hello@venuesearchlondon.com or call us on 0207 870 9305.
And finally, here are five of our favourite conference venues in London and the South East of England:
Best for boutique: The Dixon, Tower Bridge
If you're looking to hire the perfect boutique meeting room near London Bridge or Tower Bridge, then look no further than The Dock. Enter via the very staircase that led prisoners from the cells to the courtroom. Filled with natural light from the original Edwardian bay window, this is the perfect room for everything from meetings to special get-togethers. This luxurious space can accommodate up to 16 guests for private dining or in a boardroom layout.
A private hire meeting room to get your guests talking. The Chambers a former magistrates court is the perfect space for those who are looking to impress. The space is fitted with a large display screen, click-share technology, and high-speed WIFI to ensure every guest has an enjoyable and productive meeting. With restored wooden panelling and a 100-year-old roof lantern that floods the room with natural light, this event space is the ideal canvas on which to paint a spectacular gathering. This spacious conference room can offer you a capacity of up to 47 guests when used as a theatre, up to 27 guests when used as a boardroom or 28 for private dining.
Best for large airy space: Magazine
Magazine London boasts 3,205 sq m of versatile interior space for up to 3,000 people and can extend to accommodate a further 7,000 people across the venue’s extensive outdoor showground. Located on Greenwich Peninsula, the venue offers unbroken views of the River Thames and Canary Wharf skyline. Both Mezzanines in the venue are accessible via two black steel staircases in Space 1 and can be utilised as VIP areas or as overflow for higher guest numbers; they can also operate as break-out, seminar and exhibition space. The venue is defined by simple architectural form, offering clean and functional spaces that provide a means for large-scale creative expression. Located in the heart of Greenwich Peninsula, with breathtaking views of Canary Wharf, the venue is easily accessible by the Underground (within a three minute walk), road and river.
Best for out of town: Fairmont Windsor Park
Located on the edge of historic Windsor Great Park and within an hour of London, the hotel is surrounded by 40 acres of open green space featuring a tranquil lake. Formerly known as Savill Court. the hotel has been designed to reflect the sites heritage while offering modern elegance. The Arora Ballroom accommodates up to 700 delegates in a Theatre style layout with a multitude of breakout rooms available, making the venue a perfect residential conference venue away from the hustle and bustle, in close proximity to London Heathrow Airport. Their 15 elegantly designed meeting and event rooms will stimulate thought, discussion and mirrors their ethos and commitment throughout the hotel towards wellness.
Best for hybrid: IET: Savoy Place
One of the best conference venues central London has to offer, IET London: Savoy Place offers state-of-the-art AV facilities, innovative catering and spectacular views over the River Thames. With 18 versatile event spaces provide capacity from 20-626 guests, perfect for conferences, presentations, meetings, exhibitions and award ceremonies. All spaces are geared up to support technology-driven events, with advanced digital fibre-optic and ethernet embedded throughout the building. Savoy Place is well placed to meet any tech requirements; including being able to stream content from any room to any other room in the building, live broadcasts, worldwide streaming and much more. With a 500MB bandwidth, Savoy Place has no problem supporting multiple devices simultaneously to the Wi-Fi during an event, offering up to 2GB capacity to delegates. No two meetings are identical, but the most successful hybrid events are those that can combine the physical and ‘virtual’ location seamlessly. From an hour-long consultation to a day-long hybrid conference, IET Savoy Place have a tailored package to meet client needs.
Best for sustainable: Barbican
The AIM Gold accredited Barbican has 19 flexible and creative spaces that can be hired for a wide range of events, from conferences, AGMs and product launches to meetings, receptions, and weddings. With its superb technical resources, intelligent design and excellent acoustics, Barbican Hall is justifiably acknowledged as one of the country's finest auditoriums. Its breadth of facilities and size, seating from 500 to 1943 people, make the Hall the ultimate venue for larger conferences. Awarded ‘Most Sustainable Venue’ at the London Summer Events Show, Barbican have also signed the City of London’s Plastic Free City pledge at a platinum level and are supporting Clean Air in the City of London through the Clean City Air Business Engagement Programme.
These are just a few of the many diverse venues available to hire in London. Our team of free venue finding experts are on hand to create the perfect shortlist of venues in London for your next event.
Please complete our quick enquiry form with your specific dates, budget and ideal location and we will use our experience and venue relationships to save you both time and money.
Alternatively, please send us a quick e mail or call our team now on 0207 870 9305 to discuss suitable venues for your next event.
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