If you’ve ever tried to organise a meeting, a conference, or a new exhibition, you’re also likely familiar with the event planner’s predicament.
You have to search multiple geographies and event venues one-by-one, save all of the information (which is often in different formats), then call or write to the event venues to collect missing or more detailed information.
Once you’ve finally selected your shortlisted venues; you have to create a separate proposal for each one. Then, start the search all over again for event service providers to completely outfit your event.
If you’re a venue operator or manager, it’s no walk in the park either. You’re likely still feeling the repercussions of the pandemic, trying to re-organise existing business, and drum up new business. If you happen to be a large-scale exhibition centre, even with events taking place every day of the week, chances are you’re probably still not at 100% or even 80% of your venue’s full capacity.
If you’re a destination convention hotel or congress centre, you’re constantly trying to build up brand awareness so that organisers and meeting planners will have your amazing venue on their radar for their next event.
Considering the important role of event service providers – our stand contractors, registration companies, temp staff, photographers, MCs and the like--the past few years has been incredibly difficult with shortages in events taking place. These folks also need help in jump starting business and getting their awesome services back in front of key event decision makers.
Imagine an online platform and tool that can deliver everything meeting planners and organisers need when searching for venues and services to hold an event. At the same time, it’ll boost visibility and generate leads for venue operators and service providers. Such a platform does exist, and it’s called venueScout.
The platform
Brought to you by jwc gmbH, the leading advisory services firm for the trade fair and conference industry, venueScout is created for event professionals by expert event professionals. Our founders include current jwc board members Jochen Witt, former president and CEO of Koelnmesse and former president of UFI; Dr. Gerd Weber, former executive vice president of Koelnmesse; and Jimé Essink, former president and CEO of UBM Asia (now Informa Markets in Asia).
venueScout - the global platform connecting professionals looking to organise and host events, and venue operators and service providers looking to capture more business - will provide an exceptional user experience beyond any event directory or venue search tool currently in the market.
The platform’s uniqueness stems from the extensive information presented by each venue listing and the ability to also search for event service providers at the same time. Furthermore, the platform will also introduce a feedback and evaluation function for both venues and service providers.
venueScout takes into consideration the user journey of an event organiser or meeting planner from start to finish.
An organiser may already have some criteria in mind in terms of destination, number of delegate capacity, or number of rooms they require when they begin the search for an event location. According to the Event Marketing Institute:
- 58% of event planners use search engines to find venues
- 34% of event planners use online listings
- But 52% of event planners are frustrated by slow response from venues
The planner will typically have to gather information on these different venues separately, then check the feasibility and interests of the surrounding area, and contact the venue for additional information and pricing.
After all this work, the organiser will still have to research additional event service providers such as catering, construction, and staff, as another exercise.
However, on venueScout meeting planners and organisers will be able to input different search criteria ranging from conference room capacity, number of exhibition halls, and total indoor sqm. From there, they will be given search results that best fit their needs.
If the meeting planner so chooses, they can simultaneously search for appropriate service providers based on what they need for their event. Whether viewing a venue or service provider listing, users can read evaluations and reviews by visitors, other organisers, and exhibitors, to help them with their planning decisions.
Finally, the organiser or meeting planner can submit RFPs directly to venues and services and await replies all on one platform.
On the venue lister’s side, venue operators can showcase all their venue’s unique capabilities through venueScout’s intelligently designed platform. It allows for multiple image galleries, summary, detailed information about the venue and surrounding area, and the ability to list the specifications of every exhibition hall and conference room in detail if the venue operator chooses.
Our team of expert industry professionals are also ready to help venue operators create the best listing possible.
Service providers can also select from several listing options based on geography if they prefer to be listed in a single locale or in multiple cities. Service provider listings on venueScout can list all their services, add multiple image galleries, and upload files for meeting planners and organisers to view
venueScout has already built over 4,000 profiles of venues globally including major exhibition, conference, congress centres, and a growing number of hotels with large meeting capacity.
Additionally, venueScout has secured partnerships with: TSNN, who oversees sales operations in North America and Mexico; IFES (International Federation of Exhibition and Event Services); Mash Media; and a growing number of event associations.
Venue owners are invited to ‘claim their venue’, make further edits, and add information to their listing - or sign-up for a venueScout account and create an introductory listing free of charge.
The platform also offers several packages for service providers, group listings, and sponsorship packages. All venueScout’s subscription packages are discounted 30% off our launch year.
We encourage all event professionals to come visit venueScout.org and search for, or list, a venue or service and help get our industry running again. We created this platform for you!
For more information:
Visit venueScout.org
Contact: info@venueScout.org
