Event venue scope specification
Three venues have sent brochures, and none of them answers the same questions.
The short answer
A venue scope specification lists what you need the venue to provide and confirm: spaces, dates and times, services included, services excluded, rules, and the dependencies on your other suppliers.
It does not decide whether a room is safe or legal for a given crowd. The venue and the relevant authorities confirm that. Your job is to ask the questions and get the answers in writing.
Specify needs, not a venue's own packages
Brochures describe what a venue sells. A specification describes what your event needs, so every venue answers the same list and a missing item is visible.
Start from your project brief: number of delegates expected as a range, programme shape, and which sessions need which kind of space.
Decision sequence
- List every space the programme needs: plenary, breakouts, registration, catering, speaker room, storage, and any sponsor or exhibition area.
- For each space, write the dates and the hours of use, including set-up, rehearsal and clear-out, not only the event hours.
- Decide which services you want from the venue and which from your own suppliers: audiovisual, catering, staging, internet, signage.
- Write the questions the venue must answer in writing: what is included in the quoted price, what costs extra, and what rules apply.
- Ask for the venue's own documents on layout, capacity by arrangement and access, and let the venue state its figures. Do not assume them.
- Agree who is the venue's single contact and who is yours, and how changes are confirmed.
- Run the finished specification through the RFP completeness checker before sending it out.
What to specify, by area
| Area | What the organiser specifies | What to ask the venue to confirm in writing |
|---|---|---|
| Spaces and layout | Rooms needed, session types, seating arrangement wanted | Capacity for each arrangement as stated by the venue, and any restrictions |
| Dates and hours | Set-up, rehearsal, event and clear-out windows | Access times, overtime rules and who authorises extensions |
| Included services | Furniture, cleaning, on-site staff, equipment you expect | Exactly what the quoted price covers and what is chargeable |
| Catering and outside suppliers | Whether you want in-house catering or your own caterer | The venue's policy, and any fees for outside suppliers |
| Audiovisual and internet | Rooms needing audiovisual support, expected number of connected devices | Whether the venue supplies these, who does, and any limits or fees |
| Access and accessibility | Needs of delegates and speakers you know of | The venue's accessibility facilities as described by the venue, for your accessibility adviser to review |
| Safety and permits | Nothing assumed | Safety and permit arrangements and who is responsible, for the venue and authorities to confirm |
| Load-in and storage | What arrives, how, and when | Loading access, lifts, storage space and rules |
| Signage, branding and décor | What you plan to display | Rules on fixing, banners and sponsor materials |
| Contract terms | Your approval route and payment limits | Deposit schedule, cancellation and date-change terms, attrition rules |
Dependencies to write down
- Your audiovisual supplier needs room access, power and rigging information from the venue, so ask for a named venue technical contact.
- Your caterer needs kitchen, service area and storage access. See the catering specification.
- Broadcast or recording needs bandwidth and camera positions. See the livestream brief.
- Anything you plan to fix to walls or ceilings needs venue approval before design is finalised.
Common pitfalls
- Comparing venues on the quoted rental alone, when one includes furniture and technicians and another does not.
- Forgetting set-up and clear-out hours, then paying for an extra day.
- Taking a verbal capacity figure for the room layout you actually need.
- Signing a deposit and attrition schedule without checking it against your approval limits.
Worked example · Fictional example
A venue specification for a one-day forum
Fictional organisation and figures, for illustration only.
A fictional property-industry association plans a one-day forum for 200 to 280 delegates and wants a plenary room, two breakout rooms, a registration foyer and a lunch area. The first draft listed only the plenary and breakouts.
Working through the table adds a speaker preparation room, storage for printed materials the afternoon before, set-up from 3pm the day before, and a question about who supplies internet for the registration scanners. Two of the three venues had quoted without any of these, so the committee asks all three to requote against the full specification.
Use this yourself
Venue scope specification template
Copy this into a document and send it to every venue under the same deadline.
- Event name, dates and delegate range (an expected range, not a confirmed number):
- Programme shape: plenary, breakouts, exhibition, meals:
- Spaces required: purpose, hours of use and seating arrangement wanted for each:
- Set-up, rehearsal and clear-out windows:
- Services expected from the venue, and services we will supply ourselves:
- Catering approach: venue in-house or own caterer, and the venue's policy and fees:
- Audiovisual, internet and power: what we need, what the venue supplies, limits and charges:
- Access and accessibility needs known to us:
- Load-in route, storage and delivery rules:
- Signage, branding and fixing rules:
- Please confirm in writing: capacity per arrangement, safety and permit responsibilities, what the price includes and excludes:
- Contract terms: deposit, cancellation, date change, attrition:
- Contact person at venue (single) and at our side, with how changes are confirmed:
- Proposal deadline, question deadline and decision date:
Handle it in-house, or bring in help?
Your team can usually handle this when
- A standard hotel or conference centre booking with a few rooms and a familiar format.
- Your team has held events there before and knows its rules.
- One person can read the contract and compare proposals line by line.
Outside planning help earns its fee when
- Several rooms, outside suppliers and a tight load-in need to be coordinated with the venue.
- Proposals bundle services differently and are hard to compare.
- Contract terms such as attrition and cancellation need review against approval limits before signing.
Want the venue specification written with you?
An Event Blueprint can set out the room schedule, the venue requirements and the dependencies on your other suppliers in one pack, so venues answer the same questions. Capacity, safety and permits remain for the venue and the relevant authorities to confirm, and your committee signs the contract.
Questions organisers ask
Do I need a venue specification before site visits?
A short version helps. It focuses the visit on your needs. Send the full specification afterwards so proposals are comparable.
Should the specification include a budget?
Include your budget position if your policy allows it, or at least say whether the figure should include tax and service charges. Ask each venue to state what its price covers.
Who confirms that the room can hold our numbers safely?
The venue and the relevant authorities. Ask the venue to state capacity for each seating arrangement in writing, and do not rely on a brochure figure alone.
Can we use our own caterer and audiovisual supplier?
Some venues restrict outside suppliers or charge fees. Put the question in the specification and compare the answers, as it can change the total cost.
Related resources
Content record: Draft. Written from the cited sources and checked by automated rules; not yet independently reviewed.