14 Academic Venues

Jacqui Kavanagh will be a judge for the inaugural Academic Venue Awards , held at The Great Hall , Queen Mary University , London , on 22 November 2017 .

Jacqui Kavanagh , CEO of venue finders Trinity Event Solutions gives her view of working with academic venues

cademic venues by their very appearance portray a feeling of seriousness and importance ; they offer the perfect setting for content that needs to be delivered in the surroundings of a seat of learning where great innovations , inventions and achievements have taken place . An academic venue can add weight to any event if planned well and orchestrated with care and diligence to the delegate experience . Academic venues have amazing sporting facilities – which could be a major consideration for a particular audience or event , or they could even help shape the event content . They also offer lots of parking and have good links to public transport . The meetings rooms are varied and plentiful , and always have good AV built in , so they lend themselves well to presentations of a serious nature such as in a medical or technical industry . While they offer a lot of positives to the delegate experience , there

is also the challenge of satisfying the more contemporary expectations of the modern day delegate who may not feel like roughing it in students ’ quarters or competing with rag week in the bar during the very little down time the typical conference gives to their delegates . There is also the challenge of availability ; events are not their core business so the venue could only be available during the students ’ holiday periods . This in turn can mean that the facilities are in use all the time and therefore leaves little time for upkeep and renovation ; many academic venues are not well maintained and look a little tired so they may not be ideal for a discerning corporate audience more accustomed to a 4-star hotel . The venues that get it right take

these challenges on board and manage the experience from start to finish , from excellent detail in the joining instructions , to planning the delegate experience from arrival right through to departure . This is where a real expert venue planner comes into their own marrying the mix of expectations , group dynamics and communication ; getting buy-in from internal stakeholders is just as important as working with the client and thus providing an appearance of seamless professionalism from start to finish . The academic venues that get it right are a joy to work with and they get to reap many rewards , but for those whose role is a daily battle it ’ s just a chore which rarely gives either party involved a very worthwhile experience .