The key questions are what for, for how many, where, how is it to be managed, and what is your budget? There is no point in going to the trouble and expense of staging any event unless the event is successful and fulfils the brief, part of which must be to see a return on investment. You also want it to be memorable, for the right reasons, and to make the most of this motivational opportunity.

While your choice of venue will depend on the purpose for which the event is held and your budget, the venue should also reflect the style and content of your conference, remember image is all.

Decide what how many people are likely to attend and what sort of event you want to hold. Is it a conference requiring theatre type accommodation or a large auditorium, or a smaller meeting style space; most specialist venues have a range of flexible accommodation from large auditoria, theatre spaces, and meeting rooms.

Do you also require break-out spaces, and side rooms for one to one discussions? What about outdoor space, for team games and competitions?

There is a huge choice of possible venues, from stately homes, dining pubs, restaurants, halls and hotels, to some you may not have considered, such as golf clubs, theatres, breweries, steam trains, narrowboats, racecourses, racetracks and

sporting stadiums, it seems that anywhere with catering facilities that has sufficient space is offering corporate hospitality these days.

Whether a major, whole company event for a few hundred people, a motivational, action packed team building weekend, a convivial get together for award winners, or a discrete board meeting away from base, whatever the purpose of your event, there will be an ideal venue somewhere nearby.

The next question is how is it to be managed? There are numerous event management companies who will, at a price, take over the whole responsibility of running a successful event for you. In the case of a large event, because, you are short of time, not a trained conference organiser, and they tend to have beneficial arrangements with the venues and speakers on their books, you may well decide that the outlay is justified.

For something smaller, most venues, especially hotels, have dedicated conference and event organisers on hand who will be only too happy to do everything for you as part of the service, just tell them what your budget is and what you want, then wait for the ideas to come rolling in.

A key element in any conference from the largest down to a few like-minded individuals meeting over a business lunch is the catering. A carefully organised

function, with first rate speakers, can be spoiled by poor food. People will remember that rubber chicken, overcooked sprouts and cold gravy, long after the content of the speeches.

Check what is on offer, and if possible try it. These days choice is important, so buffet style can work well, but for a more formal sit-down affair, ensure that there is a vegetarian option, and that the venue is aware of any special dietary requirements. Whether to serve alcohol with the food can be a vexed question and providing the main business of the meeting is concluded, a moderate amount is considered acceptable, but in these days when the breathalyser rules, also provide plenty of water and soft drinks, tea and coffee.

Many companies are choosing to video their conferences; for the best results consult a professional, much more bang for your buck, and useable footage for training and motivational purposes afterwards.

To get the best value from your event set your goals carefully, make a checklist, and before you sign on the dotted line, run over your list with a colleague. Once it is all over, go back to your list, run through the video and decide what went well, and what could have been done better.