You’ve shortlisted your top venue options—each meeting your capacity and availability needs. Now, it’s time for in-person site visits. What should you expect during your initial venue tour? How can you prepare to make the most of each visit? This guide covers what to look for, how to compare venues effectively, and the key differences between inquiry tours and planning site visits.
What about cost? You may have noticed that we recommend creating your short list based on size and availability and we didn’t mention cost. If a venue initially seems out of budget, touring can reveal included amenities that may reduce costs elsewhere—making it your best fit option for both your event and your budget.
Partner Resource: 5 Ways AV Technology Can Support Your Event Budget
The Venue Inquiry Tour
Even if you’ve attended an event at a venue before, an inquiry tour allows you to ask detailed questions, assess the layout, and identify unique features. To make the most of your visit:
- Identify your priorities. What are the most important features you need for a successful event? Create a list, bring it to each venue tour, and take notes about each venue. These checklists will help when comparing your options after the tours.
- Prepare a consistent list of questions for each venue to ensure a fair comparison. The answers may spark additional insights.
- Invite your event decision makers if possible to avoid coordinating schedules for a second tour if the person with final booking approval was not on the inquiry tour.
During the tour, take the time to note features offered by each venue that you didn’t expect. These bonus amenities could positively impact your budget or they could enhance your guest experience. Be sure to take photos to refer to after the tour.
Get Ready for Your Planning Site Visits
After you book your event venue, two planning site visits are typically scheduled before your event and are important in your event planning process.
Planning Visit One: 60–90 Days Before Your Event
Your second in-person visit to the venue is for event planning. This should occur 60 to 90 days before your event and should be scheduled a month or two before that in order to coordinate everyone’s schedule. In addition to your event planning team and a representative from your catering company, consider inviting any vendor that will be setting up something that has a bit of prep and will impact the floor plan, such as set decor, large floral displays or audiovisual production.
During this site visit, you’ll discuss floor plans, event timelines, and identify which furnishings are included and which items will need to be rented.
To prepare for this visit:
- Have your estimated guest attendance available.
- Identify event elements that will impact the schedule and/or floor plan (reception bar service, silent auction, wine wall for example).
- Create a list of your vendors and their space requirements (photo booth, performers, and auctioneer support table for example).
At AVENUE, this visit also includes a review of our installed premier AV equipment.
Panning Visit Two: 7–10 Days Before Your Event
The last site visit occurs 7 to 10 days before your event when final floor plan decisions are made and when your day-of schedule is confirmed. At AVENUE, you will also be able to see your visual production elements in place.
To prepare for this visit:
- Have your final headcount ready.
- Confirm the arrival times and point of contact for each vendor that will be on-site for the event.
- Be prepared to review the space with the venue coordinator and catering representative to ensure the floor plan includes everything. You’ll also be able to experience the flow of the room to ensure guests feel welcome and comfortable.
- Submit the graphic files for the AV elements included in your AVENUE venue rental (presentation slides, projection wall image, Story Wall videos or photos, and gobo projection files).
Let’s Schedule a Tour
Interested in hosting your event at AVENUE? Great! Send us an inquiry and let’s schedule a tour soon. We’d love to show you around and learn about your event vision and goals.