Venue searches – is it just us or are they like house hunting meets speed dating? It starts with a long list of possibilities that look really good online (oftentimes wondering if Glamour Shots took the marketing photos and questioning if the venue might be fibbing on their stats and capacities).
You quickly find the top contenders and have a date or two, aka site visits, with their very agreeable and charming sales rep selling every positive perk of the place and telling you how perfect it is for your event (…that they know little or nothing about because they spent the whole visit talking about themselves…).
Once you have made the decision of who will win your affection, you quickly go right into prenuptial agreements, or, contract negotiations, and then planning the big event (with someone that isn’t the charming sales person you thought you were going into this with, but some Onsite Event Manager you’ve never met. So, yay… you get to start all over again with courting a new person!)
Finally, you get to the big celebration, I think you get the formula, your event, which was beautiful and perfect in every way (except for all of those last minute changes and bumps that showcased the venue’s true character flaws and limitations) which fortunately went completely unnoticed by your guests due to your stealth smoke and mirrors act. Then comes the inevitable and immediate divorce and settlements known as final billing, with an amicable separation, of course (but it’s really one-sided because that charming sales rep you first thought you were building a future with will randomly call and email throughout the year to check in and see how you are doing in hopes that you will come back again next year).
Fortunately, the NLED team is great at being Venue Speed Daters, distancing our clients from the madness of the dating game, while keeping great relationships with all of our venue prospects (we stay friends with all of our exes)! We are kinda like our client’s Wingman and Maid-of-Honor, sorting through all of the glamorized sales pitches and inflated promises, using our experience and knowledge to negotiate great contracts and understand how to work through the challenges and limitations of a space, foreseeing potential major hits to the budget or being able to envision and communicate a concept or theme enhancing the experience, all while keeping a keen eye on the details so that the final billing is clean, clear and quick and the venue relationship ends on a positive note.
As Spring makes it’s way into the Windy City and courtship is in the air, we are thrilled to be in the fury of the Venue Speed Dating game for a few of our clients. We are excited to be finalizing a contract with Morgan Manufacturing, a great new venue here in Chicago, for one of our upcoming events. We are also cruising the scene for a couple new venues for a few other events on the horizon. One of the best forms of flattery is to have clients repeatedly empower us to be an extension of their brand, trusting us to make the right recommendations and decisions which ultimately make them look really good in the end (without the need for Glamour Shots)!
