14
Academic Venues
What associations want
Heather Lishman, association director, Association of British
Professional Conference Organisers (ABPCO), writes on the
benefits of academic venues to the sector
cademic venues and the
association market have
always had strong links
and a natural affinity for
each other. At the simplest level it is
the fact they offer a focused
environment dedicated to learning.
Facilities, which are often capable of
housing very substantial numbers
have been designed and built to
maximise audience engagement and
knowledge retention. Like other
dedicated venues, they also tend to
offer an environment without
distractions, which has a twofold
benefit. Firstly, it keeps delegates
focused and secondly in the case of
events where healthcare
professionals are likely to be in
attendance they are probably more
compliant.
Among some there is a perception
that academic venues provide little
more than dorm room-style
Academic
venues
understand
the quality
of their
competition
www.conference-news.co.uk
accommodation, ancient lecture
halls and bottom end catering. The
truth however is very different –
academic venues across the country
understand the quality of their
competition, they appreciate that
delegates want and expect more and
have therefore reacted by investing
significantly in their products to
create some of the best venues on
the market.
However, the benefit of using an
academic venue can run much
deeper than just the facilities. As
academic institutions and research
centres, Universities in particular (but
also other academic venues) have
specialisms, they have onsite experts
and leaders in a variety of different
fields. These individuals can act as
catalysts, bringing an event together
and making it feel like it is taking
place in a venue 100% appropriate
to the content and theme of the
event. In fact, those individuals
frequently act as ambassadors,
bringing their associations to the
venue in the first place,
demonstrating why it is the ideal
location then hosting the event for
the benefit of all.
As organisations that generally (but
not always) exist to push profits back
into their facilities and offering,
academic venues tend to work in
partnership with their PCO clients,
going that extra mile to deliver on an
unusual request or seeking a
creative solution to a challenging
situation. Conferences are, at their
most fundamental level, an
opportunity to meet, network and
share knowledge – academic
institutions are no different which is
why they continue to flourish as event
spaces and no doubt will for years to
come.