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Beyond the Myth - The Modern Reality of Unique Venues · Event Industry News Podcast

0:06
Welcome along to the first ever Unique Venues of
0:10
London showcase event. We've got 3 panel
0:14
sessions that are taking place today. They are being recorded as well,
0:18
so as I've said to a few people, one person's panel session
0:21
is another person's podcast. So all of the content recorded
0:25
or that happens in here this morning will be recorded and
0:29
available after the event as well.
0:32
Each session is going to take maybe 45 minutes,
0:36
a little bit less. Hopefully a chance for you to ask some questions.
0:40
But the first thing to mention is, has everybody accessed
0:44
the show guide? Who has accessed the show guide? Nod of head or show of
0:48
hands. Great. If you haven't, QR code is on the screen and
0:52
you will find links to the LinkedIn profiles of all
0:56
of our speakers in that show guide. So if you do
0:59
want to connect with any of our speakers from the sessions this morning,
1:03
you can do that. Simply by going into today's digital show guide,
1:06
following the link there, and connecting. So yes,
1:10
very, very easy. And we're going to get on with our first session today,
1:13
and we're going to welcome our panellists first of all.
1:17
At the far end, first of all, Catherine Westhagen, Head of Venues and
1:21
Partnerships at Venue Finder. Thanks for joining us today.
1:25
We've then got Rebecca— is it Levine? It is Levine.
1:28
I should have asked that beforehand. Head of Operations for Venue Hire
1:31
right here at Somerset House. So First thing, thank you for having us.
1:35
Thank you for putting up with us yesterday and today and hosting
1:39
this event. Lindsay Taylor, founder and director of Park Lane
1:43
Events, welcome along. And Jo Jennings,
1:47
head of events and commercial services at Historic Royal
1:50
Palaces. And on this first session this morning, we're going to be talking
1:54
a little bit about the modern reality of unique venues.
1:59
UVL, I think, as it was explained
2:03
to me, quite simply, it is the collective and the representation
2:07
for venues that are not fundamentally event spaces. That's not their
2:11
designed purpose. So hence the unique element of it.
2:15
But with that goes maybe a certain misconception,
2:19
maybe, about the challenges associated with some of those venues.
2:23
And Jo, I thought maybe, as someone from Historic Royal Palaces,
2:27
we could start with you to maybe give a bit of context to which
2:30
royal palaces those are so that people
2:34
maybe get an understanding of UVL and the type of venues maybe that fall under
2:37
that banner? Yeah, of course. So Historic Royal Palaces, we're an independent
2:41
charity, so we don't receive any external funding from the government
2:45
or the Crown. So all the revenue that we generate from being a visitor attraction
2:49
and from events goes directly back in to keeping those buildings
2:53
open and available to our audiences.
2:57
So we look after the Tower of London, so that's a 1,000-year-old
3:01
fortress. So a brilliant backdrop for events.
3:05
We have Hampton Court Palace, we have Banqueting House
3:09
in Whitehall, so brilliant central location,
3:11
Kensington Palace, and Kew Palace,
3:15
which is situated within Kew Gardens. And we also look
3:19
after Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland. So we've got a big range
3:23
of venues. And when it comes to actually, I suppose,
3:28
dispelling the myth that those venues could be difficult to work in because of
3:31
their nature, again, I guess a lot of them are listed buildings,
3:35
they've got an element of listing to them. In terms of
3:39
the facilities that are now available, maybe Lindsay, as somebody who
3:43
has probably worked in a lot of these venues and delivered events in
3:46
there, tell us about some of the facilities and actually how they
3:51
could benefit organisers who maybe would be looking at a more traditional
3:55
purpose-built event space. What do these UVL venues have
3:59
to offer? So a lot of the time it's about the communication of exactly that,
4:03
getting over what the venue can offer. So for example,
4:07
with Tower of London, as a venue finder,
4:11
I would come to Tower of London and I'd know that they can do obviously
4:14
all these lovely events, but sometimes it's not clear perhaps what the smallest event
4:18
is and that you can have lovely intimate events in there rather than just
4:22
the big ones as well. One of the enquiries that I've had with them before
4:25
is about their outdoor space, and I didn't know what space
4:29
you could use that was outside for networking drinks,
4:33
for example. So I think there's so many different variables,
4:37
and then we're not even talking about AV and the logistics and everything.
4:41
It's how do venues get that across when you've got that one enquiry with
4:45
that one venue. So having a fact sheet or, you know, a PDF
4:50
of those sort of supplies and things, that's often what's sent to me,
4:53
and then as a venue finder, that's for me to, like, decipher through that.
4:56
But have those conversations with the venue as well,
4:59
because as you say, there's so many different ways that you can
5:03
use these unique venues. So it's understanding
5:07
also what does the client need at the end of the day, what's the one
5:10
thing that they're trying to get out of that event, to be able to marry
5:13
that up with the venue. So picking out those unique
5:17
parts from the venue with what the client is looking for to understand,
5:23
using that communication, to pin down that right venue
5:26
for that client. I should say, if anybody's nodding along on the panel this
5:30
morning, don't feel like you've got to wait for a question from me if you
5:33
need to fire stuff across. It's a conversation rather than
5:37
a Q&A. So, yeah, if you're nodding along, I can see you. I was just
5:40
going to say I completely agree with Lindsay. These amazing venues, I think people
5:44
think they just need to put them forward to their clients
5:49
or their own companies for special events. But actually,
5:52
there's so many different unique spaces within these special venues. Here, for example,
5:56
example, you know, we've got— we're in a lovely auditorium. Look how amazing the
6:00
spec is with the AV, for example. Everyone's on the Wi-Fi,
6:04
got on really easily, was great. So I think there are misconceptions about kind
6:09
of like these amazing venues which are, you know, thousands of
6:13
years old, for example. They can be used for every day, not just the special
6:17
occasions. And also, you know, the interiors of these venues
6:21
are amazing. So, you know, cost and value for money is great
6:25
because, you know, less is more. You don't need to go over the top with
6:28
all kind of extra added-on elements because you've got a perfect venue,
6:31
which is, you know, the draw for the event itself. So I think these
6:34
venues are perfect. Yeah, I guess that's something Rebecca could come in on because,
6:37
you know, this space that we're in right now, you know, it doesn't have to
6:41
be a huge grand venue event for, you know,
6:44
hundreds of people. A corporate client could book this
6:48
space right now just to have a company presentation, to get, you know, their senior
6:52
board in here just to look through figures. This is a great space just for
6:56
a business meeting. Yeah, I mean, this is you know, a very purpose-built space.
6:59
So you're talking about facilitating, um, you know, the odd,
7:03
odd requests. Um, this maybe wouldn't be the space because it's, you know,
7:06
it does what it says on the tin, which we love. Um, but I think
7:09
what's really interesting about hearing from the venue finding side is, you know, when they
7:12
have those clients and they have those weird and wonderful requests,
7:16
we love those as the venues. And, you know, we're all working together because
7:20
we all want to see that client's dream come to life. And maybe
7:24
they wouldn't consider a unique venue before because, you know, we are really,
7:28
really old and there are maybe— it looks like there's barriers in the way because
7:31
of, you know, some of the red tape, but not at all. And that's exactly
7:35
what we're here for. And, you know, personally at
7:39
Somerset House and where I've worked before, the sales and the operations teams work closely
7:42
together to be like, we've had this weird and wonderful request,
7:46
let's see how we can make it happen. And then, you know, you guys bring
7:49
it to us and it's all these conversations internally of,
7:52
okay, yes, that is next to something that's hundreds and hundreds of years old and
7:56
Grade I listed, but if we can make it work, we will. And that's That's
7:59
part of the joy of the job, and then seeing that come to life.
8:03
Do you feel sometimes like— have you had instances where clients
8:07
have come to you and they have maybe a preconceived idea already that historic
8:11
means compromise and a certain element of compromise, and you
8:14
kind of have to get the idea of a compromise out of their heads?
8:17
Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, I'm not going to say that every single time
8:21
we make it happen. Sometimes, you know, it's not possible.
8:25
But there is a compromise of, OK, maybe it won't happen
8:29
exactly the way it is in your head, but let us help you realise
8:32
it in a slightly different way. I think that's the thing about understanding
8:37
not what you can't do but what you can do.
8:40
Maybe you can't have red wine in that particular room because of the carpet,
8:44
but you can have it in all these other rooms. Or actually, what's the alternative
8:48
of all the different coloured drinks rather than just— white wine.
8:51
So it's more about, okay, you can't do that, almost not brushing
8:56
it aside but making it clear you can't do that, but actually here's the solution,
8:59
here's the alternatives. So actually that's all people need is,
9:02
well, what can we do instead that's going to be just as good, just as
9:05
effective? Or, well, then you need to use this other room where you can have
9:08
red wine on that carpet. And I think that goes from the communication from the
9:12
start, you know, like we touched on this earlier, these venues are very well established,
9:15
their team is very knowledgeable, you know, they've done all sorts of different events They
9:20
can tell the client what is possible, what's not, which is great. So just from
9:24
the offset, rather than a venue saying yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, and then at
9:27
the end down the line saying, well, actually, maybe we shouldn't have done that because
9:30
they're quite new, they're still learning. These venues are very— they
9:35
know what they're doing and they know from the offset what will work, what won't.
9:38
And they've got the client's best interests at heart. And obviously the venue's,
9:42
which is very important. Absolutely. And I often think
9:46
that organisers don't take advantage
9:50
of venue knowledge as much as they should do. Organisers often,
9:54
I see, come in and they kind of dictate how they want their event to
9:58
go. And I don't know whether or not you ever— you can actually sometimes
10:01
push back in the politest way to say, look, we're a unique set
10:05
of venues. We know everything about them. Let us help you
10:09
a little bit, rather than the organiser shaping the event. Yeah, I think we've all
10:12
come to realise you know, in recent history that being unique is not
10:16
enough in, in today's event environment. We have to have
10:20
dedicated events teams and there has to be operational
10:24
expertise. That is now just a prerequisite
10:27
for hosting these events. So it's critical that we get across
10:31
to clients that we are expert in our own venues. We work really,
10:35
really hard to build up that knowledge base and to push boundaries. And I think
10:39
a lot of unique venues now, those organisations are really reliant on
10:43
that events business. So actually we need to think,
10:47
how can we do more? How can we, you know, sort of challenge
10:50
how we do things? And so
10:55
the very fact that those teams are now in situ in these venues should
10:59
be a good indicator for organisers, agencies, anybody coming to them.
11:02
The fact that those teams are actually in place should show how serious
11:07
the event side of the business is taken in some of these unique venues,
11:10
I guess. And I think that is the hardest thing again, because it has been
11:14
a massive rebuild, obviously. There's a lot of new people in the industry,
11:17
and I think it's okay to actually state the obvious sometimes as well.
11:21
Like even on a venue's sort of social media marketing,
11:25
again, you can hold small events as well as the big events, but actually
11:29
going, this is how we hold the larger events, and this is all the
11:32
logistics, these are the AV company we recommend, and this is the
11:37
catering companies that we work in partnership, if it's not your own
11:40
catering. Or if it is your own catering, shout about your own catering as
11:43
well, because there's so many different things when you put a brief forward.
11:48
As a venue finder, I put forward a lovely table for the venues,
11:52
and they need to fill in sort of the obvious things— capacities,
11:56
what's the minimum to contract on, does it include ink vat,
11:59
plus vat, all that kind of thing. But also, is there anything else to know?
12:03
And it's things like, a lot of people don't know that when you're hiring an
12:06
older venue, So there's normally someone more than willing to come and give a 10-minute
12:11
presentation at the beginning of that event from that venue to talk
12:14
about the venue, which doesn't cost anything for anybody. And actually even going,
12:18
if anybody wants to have a little walk around, here's my card, or whatever.
12:21
And they could even contact them at another date. And that takes
12:25
no money, but it just gives everyone a feeling of, oh, wow, I'm actually allowed
12:29
to walk around this venue and experience it perhaps another time.
12:32
And then that keeps that conversation going as well. And I think now
12:36
clients come to us not with just a venue find, you know, but, you know,
12:40
an itinerary and agenda. They want more than just a venue. They want a tour
12:43
and experience, for example, you know. And these amazing venues have so much history.
12:47
They're coming, or they want a venue like Somerset House or the
12:50
Tower of London because of the history. So, you know, making sure that the events
12:54
team will help to facilitate, you know, a tour, or,
12:57
you know, talking about the gallery or the Crown Jewels or something, you know.
13:00
That's why clients are there. During the drinks reception or something like that, incorporating the
13:04
history You know, it doesn't take a lot at all, and that's what
13:08
the client wants at the end of the day, is venue and the experience as
13:11
well. So that's something that we're definitely seeing with our clients. Yeah, I think we're
13:14
moving away from, you know, unique or historic venues being seen as special
13:18
experiences, they're for special occasions. Actually, people are incorporating them,
13:22
aren't they, for sort of everyday business events,
13:25
and we have to make sure that we've got the facilities in
13:29
order to accommodate those types of events. Whether that's AV or
13:33
coming up with those experiential ideas of how do you enhance it.
13:37
And that's the hook of getting people to your venue for
13:41
that event. I think people also— there's a lot
13:45
behind the scenes of buy-in from the rest of the site. I don't know,
13:48
Jo, you'll probably— I feel like you're going to nod along frantically. It's really
13:52
great bringing events to these sorts of venues and getting the rest
13:56
of the people within the Trust or within the organisation to be like, events are
14:00
a really good thing. They help bring in revenue. They help bring in audiences.
14:03
It's just a win-win all round. But getting, you know, the clients to see,
14:06
like, look, you could have somebody from our curatorial team or exhibitions, or like you
14:10
said, you know, a talk about something. And then that person from that
14:14
team who maybe doesn't consider events because, you know, we only come out
14:18
at night sometimes like little goblins,
14:21
to see, you know, they're doing a great thing there. Bringing in audiences
14:25
and revenue, and that's what we all want and need. I guess in
14:30
a lot of your venues the footfall is key with the public-facing side
14:34
of things, the non-event side. So events coming through with new audiences is new
14:38
people, it's new potential footfall, which is all having a cyclical benefit,
14:41
I guess, on some of the venues.
14:45
I don't know, is that a key selling point when you're talking to clients and
14:48
when you're doing venue finding? Is it as good for the venue as it is
14:51
for the organiser to present that? It's still getting there. I think when you've been
14:55
around a bit as well, you kind of forget that— well, you assume that people
14:59
know what you know. And then there's still a lot of people that don't even
15:01
know that you could hold events at either of your beautiful properties. Because if they're
15:05
known as a public tourism place,
15:08
perhaps, where you might have visited as a child and then growing up or whatever.
15:11
And there's so many new people to the industry and so many younger— I'm
15:16
going to say younger because I'm 49— so many younger people that just don't
15:19
know, oh, you can hold it. You can do this event here. So it's getting
15:22
that over. Of how can it be done.
15:27
Sometimes there are obviously restrictions, like if it's a museum, it's after hours and
15:31
things. But again, you can still do those smaller and medium-sized
15:35
events. So it's getting that communication and just keep on shouting about it as well.
15:39
Can I ask, Rebecca, it was mentioned right at the very start about
15:43
Wi-Fi, how easy it was. We've got a network set up for the event today,
15:47
really easy to get on.
15:52
How much attention is paid to the ongoing process of technology in a
15:56
venue like Somerset House? Because if we're being honest, the modern-day event
16:00
organiser, they will have critical things, and connectivity is one
16:04
of them. We've got a registration system out
16:08
there that requires connectivity. Everybody wants to be checking their emails.
16:12
How much of a consideration is that, and how big is that part of the
16:16
conversation with clients when they say, What have you got here?
16:19
Yeah, huge. I mean, I sniggered to myself when you said that at the start
16:23
because it was quite a few emails and quite a lot of time
16:26
to make sure that we had the Wi-Fi. And it's sort of different because for
16:30
a daytime conference-esque thing, the Wi-Fi, and especially because
16:33
the whole RefTech registration process is reliant on
16:37
Wi-Fi, so, you know, I wanted to make sure there was a hard line in
16:40
there as well as the public Wi-Fi was switched on and it was
16:44
password protected. And I mean, it's not a huge amount of work to do that
16:47
because we, we're very lucky with our in-house IT team at Fantastic,
16:51
and they help me a lot because they know I don't know anything about it.
16:55
And for the evening events, you know, it will just be people still on the
16:59
clock and checking their emails. But it's huge because a lot of it relies
17:03
on it. You know, we have events where there's live streaming, and whenever,
17:07
you know, as an event manager, whenever you hear the words live streaming, I sort
17:10
of break into a little sweat because in these buildings just by sheer
17:14
nature of the walls are really thick. And so it just
17:17
adds another layer of something that you have to consider, which is why you
17:21
need these dedicated teams. And, you know, the IT team is definitely
17:25
one of the biggest and most important because it's
17:28
what everything relies on now. And then you, you know, you marry
17:32
them up to the production suppliers and the production suppliers because they're
17:35
accredited, they know about the various nuances of all the buildings.
17:39
Like, you know, the Embankment Galleries is normally a black spot Um, right,
17:43
okay. So none of you will be getting any calls, um, unless you're
17:46
on the Wi-Fi and they call you on WhatsApp, which is great and what's why
17:50
it's needed. Um, but yeah, it's an ongoing conversation.
17:53
It's ever-changing as well as things are. And I suppose that's why
17:57
as well, like, a lot of the historical venues in London, they have their preferred
18:01
suppliers and they have them for a reason. You know, we've got our own partners
18:05
as well, and which we do like to use, but obviously if you do have
18:08
your preferred suppliers, you know, for AV tech catering, whatever, we will definitely be like,
18:12
definitely use it. They know what they're doing. They've used the venues. They know how
18:16
to do them properly. And I suppose that goes into preferred suppliers and
18:20
the partnerships you have with them as well. So yeah, it's very important. Is there
18:24
a certain element in the venues of future-proofing when you do upgrade work
18:29
that, you know, because there may be certain restrictions and
18:33
actually making alterations to the building might be so— there might be a
18:36
certain amount of admin involved in doing any upgrades. Do you have to consider,
18:39
right, we need to do this once and we need to future-proof it for kind
18:42
of 10, 15, 20 years. Yeah, and I think it's just shown in how much
18:45
events are relied upon as an income source. We've just
18:49
done a huge conservation project at Banketing House. It was closed for a year,
18:53
but actually what was brilliant is that events were thought of throughout that project and
18:57
accessibility, making sure that a new lift is put in, which in these really
19:01
historic buildings, you know, that's a really big choice to make, to put that
19:06
sort of infrastructure into a heritage building. But it's you know, you've got
19:09
to make these buildings accessible. That is what our clients expect,
19:13
and it's modernising them and bringing them in line with those current
19:17
requirements. So you've dovetailed nicely into the next session actually,
19:20
because that's all going to— that's looking at sustainability and accessibility, which again
19:24
would no doubt be questions that are raised by clients when they come into you.
19:28
So we'll cover that off. It's almost
19:32
like we thought of it, how to join these sessions
19:36
together. Come back later for that.
19:40
But yeah, the tech side of it interests me,
19:43
you know, because my day job is as a freelance production
19:47
manager. So I'm going into venues, plugging stuff in, or helping to
19:51
coordinate teams doing that. And, you know,
19:55
just because something is new doesn't necessarily mean it's going to
19:59
work. I've been in a lot of sort of purpose-built event spaces
20:02
in hotels, and nobody has a clue where that Ethernet
20:07
socket goes to. Nobody has a clue how to reconfigure the Wi-Fi.
20:10
Nobody has a clue. So new doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to
20:13
be better, and often it might actually— you might find it's the other
20:17
way around because so much thought has to go into some of these venues because
20:20
of their unique nature. There's actually been a better planning process in place
20:24
to put that infrastructure in. I don't know if that's an experience that any of
20:27
you can attest to. The team have been there a long time as well,
20:30
so they know As you were saying, what rooms work best, what doesn't. And that
20:34
certainly is a venue finder the client obviously relies on the most. But as well,
20:38
the teams that you've got in each of these venues, nobody knows it better than
20:42
the venues themselves. So although you can get obviously very
20:46
good AV companies to come in and work in partnership with that, unless there's a
20:49
client that specifically wants their own AV people or their own setup for whatever
20:54
reason, perhaps they're going around the country, so they need to do it that way.
20:57
Otherwise, I'm always saying to clients, use the venue's AV
21:01
team, go with their recommendations. It makes
21:05
the process so much easier anyway because you've got that one communication.
21:10
And when the client's talking about final details, then they're including all of these
21:13
different moving parts that we all know are there with that one person,
21:17
hopefully that one person at the end that's dealing with their booking,
21:21
or they're like, well, let's get the technicians involved, let's get the AV team involved.
21:25
And again, on site visits, that's obviously where that's super important because that's
21:28
where all those discussions of, again, with the visualization— oh
21:32
yeah, that's how big the screen actually is, and let's put something
21:35
up there, and what do the mics work, and how many mics are included,
21:38
and how many do we actually need, or we don't know how many we need.
21:40
So again, so many variables. So it's understanding
21:44
all those cost implications. This is what's included, but then you might
21:48
need to get an AV company to cost up if you want 5 mics rather
21:52
than the 2 that are included in that particular room. So that's where— and for
21:56
me as a venue finder, I'm keen to get that off the client in the
21:58
first place, even if they don't know it all. I will need a couple of
22:01
mics and there'll be a panel. So I always put a minimum of 2 mics
22:04
and 4 chairs kind of thing. Sure. Um, which tends to be what a lot
22:07
actually include. And then it's like, do you— what do you need above that?
22:10
And then we can sort that later once the client knows or get a rough
22:14
cost at least so they can roughly budget. The AV conversation
22:18
in my head also opens up the sort of subject logistics, getting stuff
22:22
in and out of some of these buildings, which is mission-critical.
22:25
You know, where can a truck pull up? And I've known venues before where certain-sized
22:29
flight cases don't fit in the little lift, and they haven't realized
22:33
that until they've got on site. And going back to the points raised about using
22:36
preferred suppliers, really, it might seem insignificant,
22:41
but they will know what sizes of speaker
22:44
to bring because they know what can fit in a lift. Push up to the
22:47
next floor. And the logistics thing, I've no idea
22:51
how difficult it is getting stuff. I mean, how do you get a truck in
22:54
and out of Hampton Court Palace? I mean, I'd say the best example of this,
22:56
and it is incredible to watch, is the White Tower at
23:00
the Tower of London. You know, we shut to visitors at 6,
23:04
you know, and it's set and ready by 6:45, you know, and guests have already
23:08
come in, they're having their private viewing of the Crown Jewels, and you've just got
23:12
these people creating this incredible experience
23:15
in a venue that has got a lot
23:19
of stairs to go up, a lot of flight cases to move up, and no
23:22
kitchen. Yet you'd sit there and you feel like you're having
23:26
fine dining in a top restaurant. It is incredible
23:30
what the suppliers all learn to do.
23:34
That has developed over years. That is historic.
23:37
Acknowledge that it's just worked upon event after event to
23:41
make it. It is incredible. That's where it's about listening to the venue and going,
23:45
this is what works, this is how fast we can do it. And then if
23:48
a client is going, oh, but I want this, or I want that, then it's
23:50
like, well, you can, but you need to push the timings back later. And it's,
23:54
it's just that moving process the whole time. Yeah, it is.
23:57
What the suppliers accomplish and, and their expertise is incredible.
24:02
The relationship with the suppliers is just so important, and it's so important on both
24:06
sides. Like, we— I think all venues make them jump through hoops to be on
24:10
the list, really. The tender process is brutal, and it's very good
24:14
to know from our side as well that you do have like a criteria
24:18
in place so that we know that you're working with the best suppliers. Yeah,
24:21
because we're trusting them with our, with our site. It's not just, oh, will that
24:24
actually fit in the lift? It's, you're not going to damage anything
24:28
whilst you're in here, because, you know, Damage is not just, oh, we can paint
24:32
over that. Sometimes damage is, you have damaged a Grade I listed
24:36
building and there is no repair to that. So we're
24:40
trusting them with a lot, so we make them jump through hoops. In return,
24:43
if they come to us with an issue of it's got to the night,
24:46
somebody new maybe put in the details in
24:51
the warehouse and a flight case doesn't fit,
24:55
You can't cry over a non-fitting flight case. You just have to work together to
25:00
figure out, right, how are we going to make this happen and move forward and
25:04
get the event underway? I'm fascinated to sort of
25:07
hear about the, you know, the 45-minute turnaround there. And again, we're going
25:11
back to tapping into the knowledge
25:15
and the understanding and the experience of the venue and an
25:18
organiser actually being open to receiving that information. They might
25:23
need 4 or 5, half a dozen more crew than they would usually have
25:27
on a job like that because the turnaround time is shorter. Or because they need
25:30
2 guys to carry something that 1 guy would usually carry to make sure that
25:33
nothing gets knocked as they're taking it round a corner and a bit of brick
25:37
or stone doesn't get chipped out. I guess all of these conversations
25:41
come through. From a venue finder point of view,
25:45
your relationship with the venues has to be I guess as
25:48
the middle sort of person, you have to know everything of that nature as well
25:51
in order to make recommendations to clients. Yes, when I put an inquiry through,
25:55
that little table that I mentioned, that has got access times. So when can
25:59
we access the room from? Because it's so variable with
26:02
every single venue, not just if they've got an event in beforehand, but obviously
26:06
if, like you say, if it's got members of public in, that's a hard— that's
26:10
a non-negotiable. So sometimes clients are flexible
26:14
flexible. Yeah. And they will compromise for the right venue. Sometimes it has to be
26:17
at that time, so at least you know from the offset, okay, yes or no,
26:20
you know. And also, I think another myth for these venues
26:24
which we haven't touched on is costs. So I know
26:27
that— I don't know if anyone in the audience— is everyone awake?
26:31
Um, you know, um, do you think that these venues are
26:35
a lot more expensive, and does that come into play when you're looking at different
26:39
venues and I don't know. Or maybe a show of hands. Who would
26:43
instinctively think that Hampton Court Palace or the Tower of London
26:46
is going to be out of their budget for the sort of events that they're
26:49
organising? Who would just have that as an instinct? There's no right or wrong answer,
26:52
just who would think instinctively, oh, it's probably too much for me?
26:56
Okay. And I think as venue finders, what we can do is kind of like,
27:00
we put budgets and costs obviously for our clients together. You know, venue hire
27:03
might be a little bit more extensive than, say, another another venue. But however,
27:06
just look at everything all together, not just like one element
27:10
and then another, but like the whole event as a whole. Because sourcing these
27:14
types of venues, lovely venues, I found actually they can be quite competitive.
27:18
So yeah, I don't know if you want to— I think it also comes back
27:22
to, yes, it's, it's potentially more expensive, but a lot
27:26
of clients are looking for value. So are you getting better value because the experience
27:30
is there? You know, if you're coming into the Tower of London, you get to
27:33
show your delegates, your clients, the Crown Jewels or experience the ceremony, which they
27:37
wouldn't get in a normal conference. And that client engagement then actually
27:40
is a huge amount of value. So I think that's what we're trying to always
27:44
get. It depends what the client's objectives are, what their KPIs are,
27:48
and if it's engagement, great feedback from the clients,
27:51
a really great experience, wowing the people that they're inviting,
27:55
then they can be as valuable as you know, monetary KPIs.
28:00
So educating the client on when you can get those best values as well.
28:02
Like, for a Monday evening, you're going to have better availability.
28:06
Perhaps there's more room in negotiation than a Thursday evening.
28:09
So, which again, it's one of those things we all assume everybody knows, and then
28:13
I'm still telling clients about— then they're like, oh, so if I can switch it
28:15
to a Monday, like, we might switch it to a Monday. Yeah, they were like,
28:18
we can look at Monday and Tuesday for November, December, obviously peak times. And they're
28:22
like, okay. But yeah, it's just getting that across. Yeah,
28:25
so for us it's still not assuming again everybody knows what we,
28:28
we all know and just putting that across and how flexible can you be.
28:32
I had a client that gave me 2 dates for June next year for an
28:35
event, so that's what we've been working with. And then there's a particular venue she's
28:38
really keen on, um, and she— it's just second option, second option with
28:42
first options that are regular clients. So they're all looking like the first options are
28:46
going to get— are going to be contracted. Um, and it's like, well, is there
28:48
any other day She's like, oh, let me just have a look, and then she
28:51
came back with 2 new dates. And I was like, this is it. You've got
28:54
to keep pushing them, going, well, how much do you either want that date or
28:58
how much do you want that venue? And yet those variables still.
29:02
And I think it's also those clients know that that flexibility goes both ways now
29:05
in terms of access times, where we're talking about, okay, we've got quite
29:09
rigid access times at some of our venues, but we'll also be flexible and
29:13
be able to close to the public. You know, that's That's something that is now
29:16
available to people. And I know that a lot of historical
29:21
unique venues now offer that option to clients. So if they're like, well, actually,
29:24
that's too tight. We want to do a bigger build. Or we want a
29:28
multi-day hire. Those options historically weren't available in cultural
29:34
venues, which they now are. So I think it's getting that
29:37
message across to people is really important. Is there,
29:41
I don't know if it's a blanket sort
29:44
of rule or outcome, but do you find that for the majority
29:48
of event organisers coming into these unique venues that they are actually
29:52
looking to incorporate some element of what the venue has about it
29:57
and some element, like at the Tower of London, I mean, that's a great example,
29:59
you've got the Crown Jewels there, but are the majority of clients coming in wanting
30:03
to also access something unique about it or do they come
30:07
in and just use it as a space? You know, what's the kind of balance
30:10
between that? Yeah, there is quite a balance because it is,
30:13
it's, you know, front and foremost it needs to be about their brand or what
30:17
their sort of brief is for the event, but the client
30:21
sort of experience bit is what they'll get from the venue, I find.
30:25
So yes, it's probably a balance. It's about understanding what can you
30:28
do in there. You don't know what you don't know either, so it could be
30:31
starting off with, oh, this is You can do this in this really nice place
30:35
where people do know about that particular venue because they've
30:39
known it because it's a public venue. But then it's not knowing, oh,
30:43
you can do this and you can do that as well, and incorporating that in
30:47
the event. But that tends to come further down the line. Otherwise it's massive overwhelm
30:51
of— if I'm doing a venue find, I'll go out to 5 venues and hopefully
30:55
I'll get 3 really good proposals, quotes from those.
30:58
And so, of course, if I'm putting that forward to a client and it's,
31:01
oh, you can do this here, this here, this there, it's like, oh my God,
31:03
can we just look at availability rate, the initial things, and then the
31:07
USPs next? So it's understanding at what stage
31:10
the client is with their brief, how much do they know and how much do
31:14
they want to get out of it at that very first inquiry stage.
31:18
And certainly for me to be then filtering that through,
31:22
oh, I think this one's a good fit because did you know you could do
31:24
this? This as well. That's always changing.
31:27
Like with Somerset House, you have the big marquee in the summer,
31:31
don't you? No? No. It's just the
31:36
first time we've done it this year. You're doing it again next year though,
31:39
aren't you? To me that's like every year you do that now.
31:45
You'd not done it before. It was massive. What was the size of that?
31:48
What was the capacity? Can you remember? I'm so
31:52
sorry. 2,000 to 3,000 people.
31:56
Yeah, massive, right? 2,000 to 3,000 people where that
32:00
wasn't a thing before. But I know you can do a lot of people,
32:04
2,000 to 3,000, um, next year, maybe every year then. But it's
32:08
putting that in front of the client and going, you probably didn't know about this.
32:12
Did you know you could do this? I'll stop talking about Somerset House.
32:16
No, no, you could build a structure any time. Stop throwing questions out there that
32:20
require I love it when people freeze in conversations
32:23
when they get asked for a particular figure or stat. I forgot the wrong venue
32:26
entirely! Oh no, what was it? It's quite nice actually going to that.
32:30
It's quite a charming building, lots of history. At Christmas
32:35
you've got a lot of— it feels really festery. But in the summer it's got
32:39
beautiful courtyards. So they're very all-year-round venues.
32:43
The same with your venues as well. Also that comes back to cost as well.
32:47
You don't need so much to do the branding and everything because everything— you don't
32:50
need to do much at all because it's such— there's such lovely venues. Whereas another
32:53
venue, they might— the client might have to do lots of branding, different things to
32:57
really create an atmosphere and something about it. Whereas here you've got it
33:00
all already here, which is— I think some clients, they come here—
33:04
well, anywhere, anywhere that I've worked before, um,
33:07
purely sometimes it's location. Like their office is down the road
33:11
and this could be anything This could be an empty warehouse, it could be just
33:14
a room in a hotel. But then some clients,
33:18
they want to come for that specific experience, so the crown jewels or
33:22
an exhibition that's going on. It really is dependent
33:26
on each individual. And just something I thought
33:29
from going back to the sort of question about budget and cost and things like
33:32
that. I've found when I've— if you take a modern—
33:37
I'm going to say the word bland— Right? A bland, sort of modern event
33:41
space. You have to put quite a lot of production in there to create a
33:44
unique-looking event, whether that be an awards event or a conference, something like
33:47
that. Your production build has to have quite a lot go into it in order
33:50
to make that space fully branded, unique, not look like every
33:54
other event. Whereas actually, you often need less production in
33:59
a really unique venue, because what you are is you're just putting enough
34:03
in there to enhance what is already there. The look and feel that's already there.
34:06
So actually, I think sometimes production costs can be offset quite
34:10
a lot with a unique venue because you will need perhaps less lighting,
34:14
you need less stuff to make it look on brand.
34:17
We get that a lot with dinner quotes as well, so private dinner quotes.
34:21
And if somebody's doing like a set menu, or a package I should say,
34:24
where you've got your welcome drink and half bottle of wine and,
34:28
you know, 3-course meal, but then if it's like flowers on the table and some
34:31
basic stuff, but then actually when you see the venues, oh, there's, there's another little
34:35
paragraph here, we also include this and we include that, then it's like, well,
34:37
great, that person hasn't got to think about that or add on those costs.
34:41
And again, just going back to the AV side of it as well, it's amazing
34:44
how many venues perhaps don't shout enough on that first inquiry,
34:48
we include this list of XYZ, and then you can see that comparison.
34:52
Okay, that is a couple of grand more on that room hire, but actually you've
34:55
got £10,000 worth of AV, whereas that venue, you've got
34:59
to get a separate quote and you know roughly it's going to be that.
35:01
So again, from my point of view, it is having that like for like when
35:05
I'm putting that forward to the client, and but trying to get as much as
35:09
I can in that first inquiry. And also sometimes, well,
35:12
most of the time as well, when you get inquiries, it's like the meeting element
35:14
and then it's a drinks reception, and sometimes clients even want 2 different venues.
35:18
But here you've got like amazing venues, so you could really save
35:21
money as well and be quite competitive meeting room here,
35:24
drinks reception, you know, still in a lovely venue,
35:28
so keeping everyone together as well so the flow works well. And something I
35:32
noticed when I went upstairs for the first time yesterday— I've never been in Somerset
35:37
House before— and when we're walking down the gallery and there's those 3 sort
35:41
of ledges, like recessed, and the first thing I thought there is, oh, if I
35:44
was doing an event here, you could put your light— you could put a live
35:46
band or an entertainment It's almost like a purpose-built little stage
35:51
that's perfectly arched and you can light. Sometimes you see
35:55
something that lends itself straight away. So straight away I'm thinking then,
35:58
oh, you wouldn't need to bring any stage deck in because you've got a raised
36:01
area. You wouldn't need to put any truss or anything
36:05
like that in. Sometimes just by looking around you can be
36:09
inspired instantly to say, oh, that space lends itself straight to this.
36:13
Even though that maybe wasn't its its design purpose, which— site visits
36:17
are obviously really important, but the 360 tours as well that
36:20
so many venues have now and are really good, and that helps me when I'm
36:24
on a Zoom with a client because there's just so much less face-to-face meeting opportunities
36:27
now as well. So having that and going, let's jump on a Zoom for like
36:31
10 minutes, let's walk through the logistics of and the flow of the event as
36:34
if you're doing a site visit. And also just because of where the clients are
36:38
based, most of my clients are based in London, but they don't have time to
36:41
go and do the site visits. So I'm doing the site visits on their behalf,
36:44
taking videos and WhatsApping over to them going, right, there's your
36:49
screen, this is where it comes down to, or there's the stage, or whatever it
36:52
is. That'd be perfect so you don't have to hire anything in. So it is
36:56
getting that understanding of what is there already to help definitely with
36:59
the budgets. Yeah. Who's used a 360
37:02
tour on a website of a venue? Brilliant, aren't they?
37:06
Absolutely brilliant. Change the game. I'm just looking at time here and
37:10
I'm hoping, and it's not a prerequisite by the way, if anybody
37:14
has got any questions that we've left a bit of time for that before we
37:17
start wrapping up this particular session. Is there anything anybody would want to ask now
37:21
while they've got the opportunity? Similarly, you're free to continue the
37:25
conversation outside of this room and connect with our panel on
37:29
LinkedIn as well. Anybody want a question or fire anything?
37:35
Silence. Beautiful. But, you know, it's not as awkward
37:39
as it was years ago when nobody put their hand up, because we do have
37:42
things like LinkedIn. We do have ways of connecting people afterwards
37:47
and scanning leads. If it's okay, unless anybody
37:51
has anything they would maybe like to add before we wrap up, maybe I'll come
37:55
to you 2 first of all as venues to say, you know, what What are
37:59
your ongoing projects at the moment? Is there stuff in
38:03
the venues that you're actually working on at the moment?
38:06
Yes, definitely trying to maximise
38:14
all of the opportunities for events. I think that is being open
38:17
to closing to the public. It's about using all of our spaces in
38:22
different ways. So that's definitely our
38:26
focus as a venue, is getting clear briefs from clients,
38:30
and then we'll be trying to work out how we can change things to accommodate
38:34
it. And same to you, Rebecca, before I come to the venue finding side
38:38
of things. Really similar, getting that site-wide and the Trust-wide buy-in
38:42
for being able to get those
38:46
events in and it not have such a huge impact on
38:49
the other audiences. Because it is a unique venue,
38:53
it's not just about events. We have other activities going
38:57
on and we don't want to clash. We want to be able to get everybody
39:01
in and everybody's activities going alongside each
39:05
other nicely. So maintaining that fine balance.
39:09
Lindsay and Catherine, from a venue-finding point of view, advice to
39:14
people who are sat here today and also who might be watching this you know,
39:16
after the event? I think the hardest thing is for any venue
39:20
is to keep getting into the profile of everybody's mind when there's
39:23
so much information coming in as well. And I think it used to be like
39:27
7 touch points before someone remembers you, and then it went to 21. It's supposed
39:30
to be something like over 70 or something now. It's just absolutely ridiculous. So really
39:34
honing in— for venues to really hone in on what is— what, like you just
39:38
said, what are we doing next year? What are we doing this year? What's the
39:40
new thing that's happening? And just keep talking about that.
39:44
And then for people booking, it's just— yeah, I mean, everyone's using AI
39:48
now anyway as well, but that's not as up to date with all the new
39:51
things happening. So then it is industry news. But, you know, you're demonstrating
39:55
this perfectly today, catching up with people that are here today. There is such a
39:59
value of days like today. I love days like today because I'm going
40:03
to go out and talk to all the venues in a minute, and that's where
40:05
you get that real information and that information that makes you different to
40:10
anybody else. And finally, Catherine. Yeah, I was gonna say, I think we're
40:13
in our element today, aren't we, Lindsay? We love this. We are actually, yeah.
40:16
And you find us through and through. Yeah, what would I take away from today?
40:20
There's so many new venues and hotels opening up, it's crazy, you know.
40:24
Keeping up with the new ones is, you know, there's lots going on,
40:28
which is great, but honing in on obviously where
40:31
we are today and why we're here today, these amazing venues. They've got heritage,
40:35
um, they've got history, they're very unique. They are keeping
40:39
up with the Joneses, they're modern as well with their interiors and what they can
40:43
offer and facilitate. Their teams just have so much experience.
40:46
So I would say for your next event, definitely, definitely consider these because
40:50
they are wonderful. I also was going to say something else, I can't remember now,
40:53
um, but yeah, that's my biggest takeaway. Also something to be aware of,
40:57
obviously when we are paying for the venue hire fee for these venues,
41:01
they are being put back into the venues,
41:06
which is great because it keeps it open for the public. When you want to
41:09
go in with your family or your friends or your parents, whatever,
41:13
it keeps them alive for London, the economy.
41:16
Actually, when you do book your big event there, that's something to take away,
41:19
that you've got that and you're like, this is doing good for London, Great Britain.
41:24
I think that's something actually quite
41:30
nice. Yeah, I think it's a great point to end on, to reference that,
41:33
because it's not been mentioned so far, but absolutely, if that money is
41:36
being put back into investment in a historic venue, in a unique
41:41
venue, then again, there's a cyclical nature to that, which is great.
41:44
Would you please join me in thanking our first panel of the day— Lindsay,
41:48
Jo, Rebecca, and Catherine?