ADVICE FROM THE EXPERTS: NEW YORK CITY VENUES
Since New York is one of the greatest cities in the world, you would think selecting a venue would be simple. Even though Manhattan alone has hundreds of venues, choosing the best one involves extensive research and planning. New York-based event professionals collaborate with a wide range of partner companies and vendors to bring each event to life, and finding the right space is always at the top of the list.
We sat down with Wizard Studios’ Nikki Leynor, and BLACE’s Melissa Robinson to get some tips on finding the right venue for your NYC event. “BLACE is an online marketplace for booking unique event spaces and trusted vendors in NY and LA. From corporate events to brand activations, world-class conferences, and milestone celebrations, get exclusive access to the venue of your dreams at blace.com,” explains Melissa. Whether you're planning a wedding, birthday celebration, or corporate event, Nikki and Melissa explain how to pick the best event venues in New York for your event and what Wizard Studios’ partnership with BLACE can offer!
SOLIDIFY YOUR EVENT’S OBJECTIVE
“The most important thing to consider when choosing a venue is the objective of your event,” says Melissa. She offers some questions to consider, “Do you want an intimate space that’s relatively turnkey, or are you looking for a large empty space that you can completely brand and make your own?” Understanding your target audience and the true mission of your event will help you find the right space for you. Melissa explains “We offer several large blank spaces, such as 548 West and 180 Maiden, where clients can create their dream events. BLACE recommends Wizard Studios to our clients who have AV, lighting, production, and/or fabrication needs so that the Wizard team can help our clients realize their vision.” Once you have a clear objective for your event, we can then do the work to make it all come to life, in any venue you choose!
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
“Location, location, location”, says Nikki. Melissa agrees. “The most important factors to consider when choosing a venue are location, guest count, and budget,” Melissa adds. “We have a wide variety of event spaces, in order to be able to cater to a large client base. Whether the client is a brand looking to host a product launch or a law firm looking to host a corporate happy hour – we have an interesting and unique space for it.” Nikki’s suggestion is to consider your attendees when choosing your event’s location. Does the space align with the likes of your guests? What will their experience be as they locate and travel to your chosen location? Is it easy to find? If there will be guests flying in, make sure that you find a venue closer to airports and that there are lodging options nearby. What about the parking situation? Make sure to discuss every facet of the venue's location, as well as how it enhances or detracts from the experiences of your attendees.
FLEXIBILITY ON A DATE IS KEY
It's great to have an ideal date for your event, but your chosen venue may or may not be available. By providing 2-3 date options, you are more likely to secure the venue of your dreams. Being flexible about the event date can help you negotiate with venues. They might have some open dates on their schedule that they would like to fill. (Who knows, you might even get a discounted price!)
GUEST CAPACITY
What's the capacity of your preferred venue? Most NYC venues and event spaces have a maximum attendee capacity for a couple of reasons. Firstly, there are fire and safety codes that venues have to abide by. Secondly, consider your guests’ experience. If your estimated event size is 500 people, they can't comfortably fit into a room with only a 300 person capacity. Don’t squish your guests like sardines. Do them the favor and find out the room capacity BEFORE booking to see if it corresponds comfortably with your number of guests.
STAY ON BUDGET
It’s easy to spend a lot of money in NYC. That being said, you have to develop a reasonable budget for renting a venue. Make it easier on yourself by ensuring that all options on your list are within that budget. Events require a lot of parts that all take from your budget. Here’s a baseline of what you need to include in your event budget:
Venue
Food/Beverage
Entertainment
Event Decor
Table/Stage/Tent Rentals
After considering your overall budget, decide what you can afford to spend on your venue alone and that should help narrow down your options!
WIZARD TRANSFORMATIONS
At Wizard Studios, we are exceedingly confident in our capabilities to produce incredible events at any venue. With the right event team, any space can be transformed into a successful event venue that’ll increase revenue and leave an indelible impression on your guests. Nikki explains “Custom fabrication and lighting are key. We can transform any entrance, build a custom stage that fits any desired floor plan and create projection surfaces that take blank walls and turn them into art pieces. Lighting highlights the things that you want your audience to see and engage with and we can creatively cover areas of a venue that are undesirable.”
TRUST WIZARD STUDIOS TO HELP
As an NYC venue search database, Melissa from BLACE.com explains the value of having trusted vendors that know all the crooks and crannies of desirable event spaces. “Wizard Studios is a trusted event vendor partner for BLACE exclusive spaces… We’ve worked with Wizard on countless events and feel confident that they will always show up for our clients as true professionals. Their staff is well-organized and a pleasure to work with. Plus – the quality of their work is hard to beat. They hold themselves to a high standard, and so do we. Knowing that we have the common goal of helping our clients throw the best events possible makes it easy for us to recommend them over and over again.”
New York is one of the most spectacular cities in the world, with amazing venues to match. Putting on a remarkable event requires strategy and we’re here to help! Contact the experts at Wizard Studios today and check out BLACE when you’re ready to discover New York’s most iconic event venues!