Locating the ideal venue for your event is crucial. Preferably it will be a unique, surprising, even quirky site. But, above all, it must have the perfect mix of fantasy and practical reality.
There are millions of venues. Yet just one will be suitable for boosting the impact of your event. Because it will be unique as a result of its nature, its setting, its ambience, its originality, its quirkiness, contrasted with what you will be doing with it. Any site can be the ideal setting for an event - an industrial building or a beach, a tunnel or a field of corn. The important thing is to be daring while accommodating the needs of the client.
Briefing
What is the client’s specific requirement ?; what criteria will the chosen venue have to meet in terms of geographic location, accessibility, capacity, equipment and security ?; what budget is allocated to this venue? Answering these three questions will identify the criteria and constraints, after which you can dream, create, and throw yourself into the search for the perfect venue.
On the lookout
Off we go! There is only one way to track down the dream venue - be alert, open, on the lookout for information, for the moment. At VO, this is a collective task. Everyone is vigilant for opportunities for original venues. We populate a constantly updated internal database with suitable venues, old or new, indexed by category. Venues can also solicit VO or enter their profiles directly in our system. But, ultimately, there is nothing better than the feeling of everyone having their eyes and ears open to catch anything that comes up as a new, original, even temporary venue (which is a plus these days).
Be unique
The challenge is to be unique, to stand out. The days of seminars in hotels are over. The current trend is to surprise by holding events in as-yet-unused locations unknown to the public, and not necessarily designed for hosting events. Certain venues have a peculiarity that naturally gives them a cachet, a propensity for an event even without decoration. VO has also organised events in unusual venues such as a former deconsecrated church, or the Mobilmix rave in a tunnel in Brussels. An original and unique venue can also be an outdoor natural environment. For Levi’s, VO organised an event on a Greek beach during which even the sea was an integral part of the show.
Be quirky
Either the venue is chosen to suit the theme of the event, or you look for something different. This is down to instinct, as you always have to try to surprise and invest in venues that are unique in other ways. The important thing is to create contrasts that are capable of surprising and charming. Our clients today are more open to this. The values of the time also percolate into the choice of a venue and its decoration. Access for mixed mobility, the passive and sustainable character of a building or the integration of materials that are in their original state or recycled are elements that resonate with people. Sanitised, formatted, conformist are things of the past. Our 360° search for venues also makes us reinvent our approach.
