The Perfect Venue

The Perfect Venue

The Perfect Venue:

Planning is the most important step. Everyone needs to be aware of each others needs, discuss the posibilities, and compromise. There is no company in the world that does this well. There are only educated clients that understand their goals and bring on the right team members to succesfully complete them. Even the most expensive clubs in the world get it wrong.

An Architect, an Acoustic Engineer, and an Audio Designer are best friends. They go out fishing all the time together. They attend each others BBQs. You hire them. Acoustics are never right. The Room is never right. There are so many basic problems in every venue that its not even funny. Let them hash it out. Listen to them. If your basic function is to entertain this is one of the most important factors in your business model.

Consultants are key. Electrical, Mechanical, Audio, Lighting, Rigging, Safety, Hospitality. Ice machines in the right place. Bar planning. Flow. Safety. Decor always conflicts with lighting. Bar placement always conflicts with audience areas or speaker placement. These are the biggest problems in the industry. Although there are ways to “make do” why don’t you plan to do it right the first time?

What are your goals? What type of entertainment do you expect to host. What are those entertainments needs? How much will it cost you to fulfill their needs? How realistic are these goals vs. what your market can sustain? So many people get the fundamentals of hosting events wrong.

The staff. Yes sir, No sir, Let me ask someone for you sir. You greet people with respect and dignaty. Even when there is a confrontation. Staff members are to be knowledable, courteous, and sharp at all times. Pay them well and treat them well, but expect the very best from them. Make sure your technical staff is knowledgeable and polite. No napoleon complexes. You want talent to be happy and to have a good product. They are here to work FOR the artist and you. Not to impress their friends with who they are adding to their resume or how they told the drummer off.

Don’t walk into Guitar Center and give them a budget. Hire a designer to build your complex for you. Put out requests for proposals to several companys. Once again have a consulatant help you. Bring in different brands and decide what is most important to you. Quality, Price, Performance, Reliabiltiy, Maintenance costs,   Wow Factor, etc. You can have it all – but it will cost you dearly.

This is a rough sketch. But I promise you – it will put you 10000% closer to the goal than most places can ever dream.