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Tuesday 8 December 2020

With the long-awaited news of the vaccine roll-out and with large indoor events now permitted in Tiers 1 and 2, we can all now be assured that those autumn 2021 conferences and awards dinners and Christmas parties will be happily returning to London events venues next year.

But, whilst most companies are keen to get their teams back together and meet clients in person next Spring, there will no doubt be uncertainty about how this “return to live” is best achieved safely and successfully.

Here at Venue Search London, we have been working with our partner venues under our Safe Event Assurance Guidelines to ensure that our clients can book their 2021 events with confidence. We will only accept quotations and proposals from those venues that accept these terms of operation and include any costs of delivering events to these standards within their quotes and prices.

Here are our five additional top tips for booking events next Spring:

1. Location, location, location

You need to consider the ease of travel to and from the event with greater focus than normal, since more of your attendees may be travelling in from home and out-of-town locations. Zone 1 locations with good connectivity to mainline stations will encourage attendance and reduce travel times. Consider out-of-town venues for residential events to avoid public transport.

2. Contract flexibility

It is important to ensure that you have the flexibility to postpone or cancel your event without penalty if Government guidelines do not permit the event to go ahead at you planned attendee numbers. This should now be accepted best practice, but if not, we will find you a venue that offers these reasonable terms and flexibility, just in case.

3. Shop around

It is likely to be a “buyer’s market” for London events until September at the earliest, as London venues and conference hotels compete for the early available Spring/Summer revenues, so early bookers should be able to negotiate some great prices for Spring/Summer events. (We will, of course, negotiate the best prices for you!).

4. Get connected

Make sure that you have sufficient live streaming bandwidth included in the venue hire from the outset, so you are not hit with additional costs if you need to operate under a Hybrid environment to engage with those who are unable to attend the event. (You may think that this is now standard practice, but some venues still do not offer this.)

5. Use a free venue finder

Well, we would say that, wouldn’t we! But what’s not to like in using this free expertise to create the best venue shortlist based on your specific date, budget and requirements and then setting up and hosting site visits of your top choices.

Venue Search London are not the only free venue finder in town, but we are the only one that specialises in London, and our team have over 40 years’ experience in finding the perfect London venues and the best prices, whilst allowing you to contract directly with the chosen venue.

So please give us a call on 0207 870 9305 or email us to discuss your 2021 event plans and we will send you a shortlist of suitable venues within 48 hours.