We were kept busy this summer with a really exciting venue find brief for a European roadshow.
The venue find brief:
- September – November 2022 delivery, with larger events needing onsite execution
- 15 European countries and the UK
- 21 cities split across 3 internal client regions
- Interesting venues – just a hotel as a solution in the first instance was not wanted!
- AV requirements
- Catering
- Branding
- On-site badging solution
- Management of supplier contracts and payments
With the brief given in May and the events set to start in September time was of the essence. This was a full team effort!
With a venue find this big it would have been easy to get in a muddle. Planning was critical.
The venue find
Two of us started with the actual venue find – to find unique and interesting venues that matched the clients brief on the right date and within the budget. We were spoilt for choice in some locations and others less so!
We concentrated on the September events first, then October, followed by November.
Shortlisted venues were shared with the client’s regional teams. They then provided critical, on-the-ground feedback. We then knew quickly whether we needed to keep looking or to take conversations further with the venues.
Due to the disparity of the locations and relatively short-timescales, site visits were out of scope. We went into detail with the venues to ensure we were content with the spaces before we went to contract.
There were a lot of internal huddles about this project so the whole team were kept up to date and to ensure best outcomes for the client!
Top tip!
Get photos of all the spaces, floor plans and have detailed conversations. Don’t rely on the marketing photos from the website!
Contracting
Then to the contracts – and there weren’t just 21 of them!
Many venues worked with external AV, branding or catering companies! Not all were in English so needed translating but with the native language version to be signed and returned.
Work was also underway to be able to pay suppliers in seven different currencies with fifteen different tax laws. And keep everything in a budget set in in US dollars… and also to be able to sign contracts on the client’s behalf by working their legal teams on MSA’s and SOW’s.
We are now best friends with our accountants VAT specialist, especially in these post Brexit times!!
Delivery
But we did it!
It has been a big team effort to deliver, and we have learned a lot along the way – us and the client!
The first event kicked off in Frankfurt in September where we were on site to see it come to life.
We are now approaching the mid-point of the series. We are still having regular regional client meetings, reviewing events held and refining for the future events.
As you would expect, we are always looking for ways to improve, so a very detailed (would you expect less!) debrief will be carried out with each of the clients regional teams!
Our hope – to be able to better the role out for 2023 with our client!
