How-to guide 08 · Venue planning
How to choose a space that supports the audience, production and whole event journey.
The moment
A beautiful room can still be the wrong room
Venue selection begins with purpose, audience and programme. Confirm realistic capacity in the chosen layout, then walk the complete guest journey: transport, arrival, queue, security, registration, cloakroom, plenary, breakouts, catering, toilets and departure. Look for crossflows and bottlenecks, not just headline capacity. Test sightlines, acoustics and accessibility from the least convenient positions. Include emergency routes and how people will disperse. The venue’s character should support the desired tone, but operation matters just as much. A room that forces long queues, poor views or difficult transitions will shape the experience more strongly than the décor. Choose the building as an active part of the event design.
Step 01
Interrogate the technical infrastructure
Request accurate plans and verify them on site. Check loading bays, vehicle access, lifts, door sizes, storage, build hours, rehearsal access and derig restrictions. Confirm rigging points, load limits, house power, internet provision, radio-frequency conditions, noise limits, curfews and daylight control. Identify equipment or labour that must be supplied in house and the commercial terms attached. Map cable routes that do not compromise fire exits or accessible movement. Test the network with the expected traffic and a backup plan. Ask where empty cases, catering equipment and waste will go during the event. The venue survey should produce actions, owners and assumptions—not a folder of photographs with unanswered questions.
Step 02
Plan comfort, food and recovery
People experience temperature, air, seating and hospitality continuously. Review ventilation, heating, cooling, daylight and noise under expected occupancy. Provide water and enough time for restrooms, refreshments and movement between spaces. Collect dietary requirements carefully and ensure the caterer can explain allergen controls; UK food businesses must provide information on 14 regulated allergens. Confirm nearby transport and hotel options for early starts or late finishes. Treat CO2 and ventilation evidence with care: controlled office studies have linked higher CO2 and lower ventilation conditions with lower cognitive scores, but they do not define a universal event threshold. Use monitoring and venue expertise as prompts for comfort, not as a marketing claim.
HSE guidance covers crowd movement from arrival through dispersal. The FSA requires information on 14 regulated allergens. Ventilation evidence cited here comes from controlled office research, not an event threshold.
Step 03
Walk the venue like every team
Hold a joined-up site visit before contracts harden.
Follow audience, speaker, crew, supplier and emergency routes.
Check accessible arrival, seating, stage and toilets.
Confirm crowd flows at peak moments and in bad weather.
Review acoustics, sightlines, noise and neighbour limits.
Verify loading, storage, power, rigging and internet.
Agree catering, allergens, security and medical provision.
Record costs, exclusions, curfews and decision deadlines.
HSE guidance asks organisers to assess how people arrive, enter, move, exit and disperse. That whole journey is the venue experience.
Good to know
HSE guidance covers crowd movement from arrival through dispersal. The FSA requires information on 14 regulated allergens. Ventilation evidence cited here comes from controlled office research, not an event threshold.
Sources
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