Previously…
In our blog last week (The state of venue finding – Part 1), Brightelm MD, Rob Eveleigh, introduced the increasing need that associations have for an extra pair of (intelligent) hands when seeking out the next great venue for their flagship events. Here, in Part 2, we discuss what’s going on in the market and finders fees…
There is greater demand for meetings
In 2023 we have seen a massive increase in the demand for meeting rooms in the UK. It’s a little early for us to understand the real reasons why this is but it can’t be too hard to imagine that in a world where now 50% to 70% of our time is spent working from home, as opposed to in the office there’s a real movement for people to come together to meet in person. I would say this is backed up by projects such as the expansion of Excel in London or the refurbishment of Olympia in preparation for being able to receive more bigger and more experiential meetings.
The way that the spaces are used also appears to be changing we are seeing a real trend for smaller more specialist meetings which are focused more on experience than perhaps learning. I think culturally we’ve all learned that it’s very easy for us to sit at home watching a session online and learning from that speaker; what’s harder is discussing that speaker and discussing the findings of that piece of research with someone else who isn’t in the same room as us.
Add these two trends together and we’ve got a bit of a perfect storm brewing with an increase of enquiries but less people to deal with them. Is this where a third party venue expert could perhaps come into their own?
Why is venue finding a free service?
In principle venues and hotels will pay a “finders fee” for events that confirm that are introduced by an agency. Think of it like an expanded sales networking representing the venues. In our case we proactively develop relationships with venues and hotels that are suitable for associations to use. These include major conference centres, convention bureaux, academic venues and large conference hotels. In theory, that finders fee pays for the time spent with the association to find the best-match venue.
There are a few myths out there about venue finding (read my previous blog about the ins and outs of the industry for a more in-depth look) but here are a few I’m going to bust now:
Venue-finders can get better rates – not true. Logically why would a venue discount the price for an event when they have to pay a finders fee? Venue pricing is typically dynamic according to the season with the result that identifying cost savings is opaque. If your venue consultant is claiming to save you money they’re also being opaque.
It’s cheaper to go direct – sometimes but not always. Most venues sign up to the idea of rate parity (if they get the same enquiry from two different sources then the rates offered will be the same), but there’s no guarantee that they will offer you a cheaper rate if you come direct (hint: if you go back to the same venue for a few years they may be more open to discussing rate).
Anyone can set-up a venue-finding business – true in the UK (other countries it’s a lot harder), but to do it well is another matter entirely!
Venue finders earn too much money – not true. On balance the service pays it’s way but it’s not the route to a fast car or big house.
Enter Brightelm’s new venue finding service
If you’ve followed me for some time you may remember that I wasn’t previously a fan of commission-based venue finding. To be fair, when I wrote the article that ruffled feathers there were many venue finders out there that would just cream in the commission and do the minimum work possible; delivering a list of options to clients without really providing much value.
Post-pandemic I think a lot of that has changed. There are perhaps fewer venue finding agencies out there, and the overriding feedback that I’ve received from clients is that there is a real need for someone who understands what associations need in their events and from their venues in order to work as an intermediary.
Our experience and research indicated that there can be a real lack of understanding of what associations and membership organisations need from venues as opposed to corporates. Many venues have indicated to me that they find that they get enquiries from venue finding agents for work for associations, but they rarely confirm.
This can be for a number of reasons but typically the venue agent hasn’t done enough to understand what the needs of the association are, and if they doesn’t specialise in that marketplace it’s very difficult for them to find venues which match those objectives.
Associations typically need a number of rooms for a meeting, exhibition space and catering, and because delegates will normally pay for attendance of conferences or awards, associations tend to contract on allocations rather than groups.
So to answer the question why are we offering this service now? It’s because I believe our team can offer a smarter solution to the resource heavy challenge because we understand professional association events and the needs of the people who work within them to take some legwork off their plate and be that extra pair of intelligent hands many overstretched association leaders and event managers need.