Event planning involves an array of decisions, but one that holds the most power over attendee experience is your choice of venue. The venue is more than just a space - it sets the stage for your event, influences the guest experience, facilitates logistics, and impacts your budget.
Securing the right venue and suppliers can be challenging in today’s highly competitive arena, where 72% of event planners are currently actively working on meeting their sourcing needs. Your sourcing skills are what determine your likelihood of success. Smart sourcing strategies powered by efficient event tech tools like the Cvent Supplier Network will set you apart in the sea of planners and venues. Here’s a guide to making smarter sourcing decisions.
1. Finding the right venue for your event
The first requisite for optimized venue searching is a comprehensive database. Quickly add location and other filters based on your needs to shortlist suitable venues from over 302,000+ options worldwide in the Cvent Supplier Network database. Explore localized, comprehensive venue profiles to see image galleries and virtual tours, meeting space, and sleeping room details, floor plans, capacity charts, local attractions, and more.
Find your ideal venue
2. Creating effective RFPs to source suppliers
An immaculate Request for Proposal is key to improving venue sourcing and maximizing ROI. You want to invest time in creating a comprehensive RFP that encapsulates your organization details, event plan and objectives, checklist of requirements, audience demographics and budgeting guidelines. With Cvent Supplier Network, you can create detailed and standardized RFPs from your phone or computer and send them to multiple venues for competitive deals.
Build the perfect RFP
3. Managing and comparing bids for deals
Once responses to your RFPs start pouring in, managing and comparing bids can be tedious if you rely on long email threads and spreadsheets, hindering your shot at securing the best possible deals. A digital RFP management tool like Cvent Supplier Network lets you collaborate with stakeholders and get one-stop access to bid history and data. You can compare bids side-by-side in easy-to-read customizable reports and keep track of where your RFPs are going, share rate history, and internal notes.
Simplify bid management
4. Reporting and optimizing sourcing strategy
Real-time reporting and tracking capabilities are your best bet at reducing meeting spend, maintaining budgets, and optimizing for the future. Cvent Supplier Network allows analysis of RFP history for budget management, along with custom-field reporting that gives you quick insight into sourcing activities across your organization. With powerful data analyses available at your fingertips in minutes, you can ensure consistent improvement in your smart sourcing strategy.
Optimize your reporting
Refine your sourcing skills to perfection with Cvent venue sourcing training and back these skills with a venue-sourcing certification so your resume bears testimony to your sourcing proficiency.
By @Somdutta Mazumder - Customer Marketing Specialist
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