Blog: Location, Location, Location
Where you hold your fundraising auction is a foundational aspect of your event. Everything from the look and feel of the space, to the catering options and the amenities available help set the tone and expectation for your event.
When an organization announces their event will be held in the ballroom of the Ritz Carlton or the Four Seasons, for example, it immediately communicates a level of expectation. In the San Francisco Bay Area, most events used to be held in hotel ballrooms. But as more and more event spaces outside of hotels have opened, many fundraising auctions have made the leap to a new location.
If you are thinking about moving your event to a new location, do so with intention. Don’t move for the sake of doing something different – even if change is the culture of your event. Event crowds can only handle three major changes in a single event, and changing location is a MAJOR change.
Weigh the costs and benefits of moving carefully. Tour the potential new space, talk to other organizations that have done an event there. Does the space offer all of the same facilities as your previous location? What are the catering options: do you have to use their preferred caterer, or can you bring in your own?
Some event spaces don’t have a built-in kitchen, or permanent bathrooms. Is your caterer equipped to create their own onsite kitchen? Will your crowd mind using portable restrooms? How will the facilities, or lack thereof, impact the timing of your evening?
Location can make an event incredibly memorable, especially if it ties to the mission of your organization. For example, Save the Redwoods League held their San Francisco event in a redwood grove in Golden Gate park. The setting and ambiance resonated with the mission of the organization, reminding patrons of why they were there, every step of the way.
Whenever you decide to change location, remember it represents an opportunity and challenge at the same time. Maximize opportunity for freshness, but do not forget to address the potential challenges, such as:
- Is there parking?
- Is there space for registration/check-out?
- What happens if it rains?
- Is it the proper size for your crowd? If the room is much larger than your crowd size, how will the room feel?
- How will the location impact timing for my crowd?
o If your crowd is notorious for being fashionably late, doing your event on a boat, that has a fixed itinerary, might not work.
- Are there adequate utilities? Will you need to rent a generator for power?
- Will your payment processing platform function with the existing internet connectivity?
- Restrooms! Are there adequate bathrooms? If not, can you get fancy portable restrooms?
And while a location can be memorable, ultimately the location should not be the most memorable aspect of your event. We, as humans, form long-term memories when there is an emotion tied to a moment in time. When planned and implemented properly, the feeling people had when you engaged them with your mission and empowered them to make a difference in the world should be the most memorable aspect of your event.
