Choosing a Location

Perhaps the most important decision regarding your meeting or convention is where it will be held. Location is often the single most important factor affecting attendance of an event. The choice of location for a meeting or convention depends on many factors, including:

• the overall make-up of the group and its personality, tastes and mission
• where your group’s members live
• where meetings have been held in the past
• cost—some places are more expensive at certain times of the year
• the maximum (and minimum) capacity of various facilities in a particular location

While you are deciding on a location for your event, be sure to explore several different locations as options. Start with a larger list of locations and whittle it down to a smaller list of top contenders. At this point, explore the above factors and how they relate to each location.

Choosing a geographical location for your meeting or convention is only the first step in the location decision process. The next step is choosing a site for the meeting or convention. The process of narrowing down a site for your event is much the same process as picking the geographical location for your event.

Start with a list of all of the available facilities available that can accommodate an event of your size and type. From there, narrow the list to a group of sites with strong potential and begin the process of learning more about each location through the internet, printed materials and on-site inspections.