How to Pick a Venue Without Screwing Up

A venue isn’t just a space. It’s the battleground where your event either runs like a well-oiled machine or turns into a total dumpster fire. If the place sucks, everything else will too. Choose wisely.

1. Location: Make Sure People Can Actually Find It
If your venue is hidden behind an unmarked door in a sketchy alley, half your audience won’t show up, and the other half will be calling you, panicked: “Uhh… I’m here, but where the hell is ‘here’?”

✅ Clear signage, a dedicated entrance, easy access—great.
❌ Coded locks, confusing directions, or some maze-like layout—prepare for chaos.

Pro tip: If the entrance has a security lock, make sure the door stays open at least an hour before and 30 minutes after the event starts. No one wants to stand outside, awkwardly waiting to be let in.

2. Size: No Sardine Cans, No Empty Warehouses
Here’s the deal: 16-18 sq ft (1.5-1.7 m²) per person + 40-80 sq ft (4-8 m²) for the speaker.

📌 25 guests? You need around 500 sq ft (45-50 m²).
📌 Small meeting (5-10 people)? A conference room works best.
📌 Too much space for too few people? Cluster the seating so it doesn’t feel like a ghost town.

Don’t overdo it. Renting out a 1,000 sq ft (100 m²) hall for a 30-person event will just make the room feel awkwardly empty, like you threw a party and no one showed up.

3. Acoustics: Be Heard Without Screaming
Two scenarios here: either the room has great natural acoustics, or you’re going to need a microphone.

Easy test—bring a buddy, sit them in the back row, and talk in a normal voice from the stage. If they can’t hear you well without straining, you’ll need a sound system.

If you’re using a mic, check for:
✅ No feedback, no delay, no weird echo.
✅ Volume set so you’re not blasting the front row while the back row barely hears a thing.

4. Ventilation: Keep It Breathable, Not a Gas Chamber
A person exhales half a liter (about 17 oz) of air 15 times a minute. Put 20 people in a poorly ventilated room for an hour, and it’ll start feeling like a stuffy, oxygen-deprived cave.

✅ Check the A/C—especially in low-ceiling venues.
✅ If there’s no air conditioning, at least make sure you can open a window without inviting in street noise from a nearby construction site or highway.

5. Tech: It Needs to Work, Period.
Projector, mic, clicker—these things either make your life easier or drive you insane.

✅ Set it all up before people arrive. Nobody wants to watch you fumble through folders, trying to find your slides.
✅ Projector? Make sure it’s sharp and clear before the event starts.
✅ Clicker? Get one. Running back and forth to your laptop to switch slides makes you look like an amateur.

Bonus points if you can set up a floor monitor facing the speaker—keeps you from forgetting your points mid-sentence.

Final Thought
A good venue means people can see, hear, and breathe without wanting to leave 10 minutes in. Everything else is just fine-tuning.

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