You’ve been preparing the Managing Director’s presentation for weeks; you’ve been organising the transport and accommodation requirements for months and the incentive programme qualifying those attending the event or the development programme for the new product or service you will be launching has been running all year. It all sounds very exciting until you prepare the invitations to this ‘grand’ event to be held in the functions room of the local chain hotel. Oh dear.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with that type of venue if your purpose is to train or to finalise last year’s results for the board. If, however, your purpose is to excite, impress, motivate or entertain, why waste money on a colourless and boring venue? People will see the magnolia walls, the beech tables, the plastic chairs and the cream vertical blinds; and, before the event has even started, they’ll be unimpressed. Worse still, they’ll read the invitation and decide to send a junior along or forgo the occasion completely.

The pity is it need not be like that, not today. If you want to excite them, there are exciting venues; if the need is to impress, find an impressive venue and to motivate them, with some venues simply being there is motivating: you can even book a venue with entertainment laid on as part of its fabric. In fact, these days, there are venues appropriate for any event and in a competitive market they need not cost the earth but will be part of the attraction to attend.

Rather than the venue being little more than the container for your event, it can be part of the event, setting the tone, bringing your message right down to the place where the delegates are sitting. If it’s worth saying, it’s worth saying in a memorable setting.

Your chance to make a mark
Many owners of impressive buildings and landmark attractions have found that they can enhance a property’s usual revenues or help justify the cost of a major refurbishment by making the building or attraction available for corporate events and, for the PA who is charged with planning and staging corporate events, that is good news. A great venue will add significant value to any event and, with the choice available today, it will usually be possible to track down a venue whose character and ambiance are more than usually appropriate for the event being planned.

The great museums used to be sacred as cathedrals but, in recent times, financial needs have dictated they make maximum use of their wonderful facilities. So, to eat with the dinosaurs, take advantage of the Natural History Museum’s corporate hire facilities in its beautiful London property. The Museum’s Earth Galleries are among the capital’s, if not the country’s, most exciting venues with guests arriving into a 18 metre high atrium depicting the night sky and then riding the escalator through a giant ‘earth’ to experience a recreation of an earthquake or an erupting volcano.

The same is true of the next-door Science Museum or its York offshoot, the National Railway Museum where delegates can wine, dine and chatter among the world’s largest collection of railway exhibits and select parties can dine in the luxury of a Midland Dining Car. As old as the museums, and still in daily use is, arguably, the UK’s most famous landmark, Tower Bridge. Whether on its glazed Walkways towering above London, in the convivial atmosphere of the Bridge Master’s Dining Room or in the massively impressive Engine Rooms, an event staged at the Bridge will be talked about for months or years after.

Get sporty!
Those who enjoy a sporting flavour for their events might try one of the country’s great racecourses such as the London Racecourses at Sandown Park, Kempton Park and Epsom Downs which can all offer great conference and meeting venues plus, on race days, entertainment with a regal flavour in the sport of Kings. And these are not just rooms in the stand; most racecourses now offer purpose built conference and meetings facilities fully equipped and with the added bonus of an uninterrupted view over the course and the parade ring.

Of course, if horse racing is not what will turn your meeting on, you could try one of the larger sporting stadiums. Even when there is no match being played, there is magic about places like Twickenham, the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and Old Trafford (it would especially popular with visitors from the Far East) where the management lay on celebrity speakers and entertainment. And on match days, what better way to reward those that the business values most?

An eye for a view
It doesn’t even have to be a building to be a venue. A capsule on The London Eye can be hired with catering, a changing view that has become legendary around the world and a guide to explain what can be seen. Where better to talk about grand plans and world domination? For something with the emphasis on charm and conviviality, try hiring a train or at least a dining car.

Of course, for those with an unlimited budget, the Orient Express can offer a range of events where the venue actually rolls past the window, but for something on a more manageable scale, go to one of the many preserved railways around the country such as the Severn Valley Railway, the Watercress Line, the Bluebell Railway or the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. They all offer nostalgic evenings with very good food, wine and a basket of memories or, for younger guests, a taste of life before… well, just before.

And for a nautical flavour, Brunel’s wonderful ship the SS Great Britain has now been restored to the point where corporate event guests can enjoy the Victorian luxury of her sumptuous first class dining room or the intimacy of the Hayward saloon. Guests can also enjoy a tour of the ship. One of the most glamorous venues available today is the Royal Yacht Britannia moored in Edinburgh’s port of Leith. Guests will feel especially privileged to be treated to this pinnacle of twentieth century luxury loaded with Royal significance. The State Dining Room is truly palatial and the ship was awarded, ‘Most Excellent Venue 2004’ by Condé Nast Johansens.

If it’s glamour you need, the Main Hall of the Gibson Hall in London would be a fit place to entertain a King or an Emperor. It is stunning; a place that truly sparkles with quality, while the Garden Room with the Garden itself will have guests wondering whether they are in London or one of the more exotic cities of Europe.

History comes as standard
There would be few doubts where you were if Dundas Castle, near Edinburgh were your venue. It has the inescapable romance of a true Scottish castle and is still occupied, owned and run by the Stewart-Clarke family. The nation’s largest owner of beautiful properties – The National Trust – has a list of grand houses available all over the country for events to make delegates or guests feel really important.

And, when considering unusual and interesting venues, we should not ignore hotels because many of them have been built into the structures of historic buildings whose past purpose adds interest and drama to the venue. For instance, the Dunadry Hotel between the airport and city centre in Belfast. Built into a former linen mill where paper and linen were made, the old millrace that once powered the mill’s machinery still flows past the dining room and corporate guests have full use of the associated country club.

Edinburgh’s newest luxury hotel, The Scotsman occupies the famous newspaper building and offers the chance to dine in the towering print hall. It is also a genuinely luxurious hotel with a different tartan or tweed used in every bedroom – your delegates or guests will know they are important if you take them to the Scotsman.

So, next time that you’re asked to arrange an event, make your own life a little easier by letting the venue provide some of the excitement and drama; it won’t detract from the message but will ensure that the event and any message imparted will stay long in the memories of those you are setting out to influence. And with so many great venues to choose from you company’s events, whether for employees or customers, will soon gain the reputation of being a large cut above the rest – just like your business.