How to find an event venue that suits your event’s needs.
Finding the right rental for your event can be daunting. Planning an event in Cameroon or any other part of the world is no joke. Many event planners have professional tools that assist them in their event management job. Any event manager/planner will tell you the first step to a successful event, is finding the right event venue to rent, that suits the type of event your are planning. There are different types of events depending on the criteria you used to classify them. In this case we would consider the kind of location where the event is hosted: an outdoor event or an in-door event.
A. An outdoor event venue
Outdoor events can be colorful and bright events, where your guests or event participants enjoy a beautiful outdoor scenery while engaging in the event’s elactivities. That is why you want to carefully consider the kind of outdoor event venue to rent for your event.When you are planning an outdoor event, there are a number of planning aspects that you should take into consideration when choosing the event venue rental
1. What is the kind of outdoor scenery you want for your guests or event participants ?
There are several beautiful outdoor sceneries to consider for your event.
i. Beach outdoor scenery
If you are planning a wedding, a beach party, a birthday party, or any event that does not require great deal of professional concentration from your event participants, a beach venue could suit your venue rental needs. Also the beautiful commune with nature makes beaches a worldwide acclaimed venue choice for fun events. In Cameroon, our two favorite beach towns are kribi and limbe. In kribi, you can find beach space along the long continuous beaches of the coastal line. But you will have to get authorization from the local council before organizing your event. Also, you can use the beach spaces found at hotels situated along the beach coastline.In Limbe, the beach coastline is not continuous, as it interrupted severally by a rocky coastline. The best option is to host your event by renting event space in the premises of a hotel with beach space, given that many hotels have implanted themselves at the available open beach spaces.
ii. Garden outdoor scenery
A beautiful garden scenery is suitable for fun party events as well as events such as seminars or conference that require more concentration. The beautiful scenery can serve as incentive to keep the guests relaxed as they engage in whatever activities the event has in store for them. Garden venue rentals can be found in Cameroon’s major cities: Yaoundé, Douala, Buea, Limbe etc…
iii. Yard space
In the event where you can’t typically find an indoor venue available for your event theme and objectives, you can consider using any available yard space for your event. In this case, you design the space to suit the needs of your event theme. Typically, an empty yard can be designed and decorated to look like a garden event space, or even a wonderland space for a kid’s event. So do not overlook that yard space got, it can swiftly be transformed into an event space.
iv. A Play park
Just like the names says, a Play park is a perfect outdoor venue for fun events like kids birthday, excursion or event adult hangouts.
2. Capacity of the venue
The first question to ask before you rent any event venue is whether their event space can host the number guests/participants you will be having at your event. If their event space cannot host your guest number, no need to talk further.
3. Ability to install shielding devices and equipments that can resist wind.
When organizing an outdoor event, one of the major challenges is to provide wind resistant shelter for the event guests or participants. In the event of a beach wedding, the event planner may decide to totally cancel the idea of setting up canopies and let the guests seat in open air and enjoy the breeze. Yet minimum shelter will be needed to shed the food and drinks. If the beach space or facility already has shelter for the event’s food and drinks, then no need to bother. On the other hand, A garden outdoor spaces may really need that canopies be set up, to shed guests from the sun ( the scotching heat from the sun in Douala can go as far as 36⁰ on a hot day). Furthermore, if the setting is a garden with trees, we don’t want dead leaves falling into event’s guests plates of food as they eat. So depending on the outdoor event space scenery you choose, make you your guests are comfortably covered
4. Do they provide outdoor venue amenities.
A good venue should have the following spaces available:
i. clean gender based toilets
ii. A kitchen space to keep and disburse food that will be consumed during the event.
iii. A drink storage room with drink storage facility within to cool drinks if need be. Typically the site provide drums qpph which the drinks can be kept, and the event planner has to discuss with the event owner to provide Ice blocks that will be places the drink-filled drums to cool the drinks.
iv. A change room for clients that may need a change of cloths while celebrating their wedding, birthday or any other special event.
v. A bar space, where drinks can be served under shade to event guests.
5. The presence of security for your guests
For all events you organize, it is important to ensure that the venue you rent can ensure the safety of your guests. If you are having a beach party, it will be great to ensure that live guards are present to intervene if need be , even if the original plan did not involve guests swimming during the event.With outdoor events, it is likely to find uninvited guests crash the venue if proper security measures are not put in place to withhold outsiders.
6. The ability to connect electricity
If you are going to need to use electrical devices for music or any other activity, be sure to discuss with the venue manager on the possibility of being able to have a secure electrical connection source available.
7. The availability of external lighting
If you plan of renting the venue for a night outdoor event, lighting becomes a very important part of your planning, unlike an indoor event space where you may automatically expect that the space is built with lighting, many outdoor event spaces may not have inbuilt lighting available. So you need to discuss with the event space manager, if they have night lighting available, if not, you will have to make arrangements with another vendor to provide lighting.
8. A good shade for the DJ (if a DJ is needed)
“A good DJ makes the party”, someone once said. And a good DJ needs his equipments protected from wind, sun, and rain. So if you are organizing an outdoor event, Let the venue be capable of providing good shade for the DJ and the different equipments he will be using for the job.
9. Any extra services offered?
Before you rent the event venue, discuss with the Venue management about any extra services they may be providing that may be included in a package and cost less, than having different vendors provide those services. Some services may include:
– Bar service
– Cleaning service before and after the event- Catering services
– The availability of a generator
Etc…
B. An indoor event venue
Indoor event venues rentals provide the shield from the distractions that are outside. Also, there is a greater chance of having better control over entry and exit of guests with an indoor venue. Different venues cater to different event needs, depending on the size of the event you are organizing. An indoor venue such as a hall rental, is a great idea when you are organizing events such as a seminar, conference, wedding or any other event that requires your guests to be indoors, especially during the rainy season, in Cameroon. The size of the event you are organizing may require that you rent a large party hall, a seminar room, conference hall or even restaurant’s hall.When you are planning an in-door event, there are a number of planning aspects that you should take into consideration when choosing your event venue.
What is the capacity of the event space?
Before you decided to rent a party hall or any other kind of event room, in Cameroon, It is very important to know the capacity of the event hall for seated guests. This will enable you make a quick decision on whether to proceed with that hall or not.
What amenities does the event venue have?
The amenities the hall offers should be discussed early on. If you are organizing a seminar, you may ask if the hall has tools like a video projector, large projection screen, a white board, a flip chart, internet connection, well placed electrical outlets, or coffee machine for coffee breaks, etc..If you are renting a hall for a wedding, you may need to be sure that hall has a generator, clean bathrooms, change rooms for the couple, a clean kitchen and drinks store room.
What extra services does the venue offer
If there are extra services offered by the event venue, that will be a plus. Some event halls may offer lodging for some guest, catering services, cleaning services, security, etc…
What are the rules of using the event space for the event organizers as well as for the guests, or event participants
Many event halls and spaces have different rules for their clients. Certain halls may expect that the party be over by midnight max. Other halls may forbid smoking within their premises. And another hall may forbid their client from carrying out certain kind of event design and decoration within their premises.
Therefore, always ask for the rules, and decide if it suits you or your guests.
So, those points clearly stated should assist you to choose an event venue that definitely meets all your objectives and needs. .