Delegate-origin location comparator
Your committee is choosing between areas for the event and wants the choice to reflect where delegates actually come from.
…
The short answer
The comparator takes the candidate areas, the number of delegates by origin area and the journey estimates you supply, then shows the delegate-weighted average journey for each area beside the raw evidence. Your priority weights turn that into a comparison across journeys, cost and venue choice.
A journey you do not know is left out and flagged. It is never counted as zero minutes, so an area with gaps is not made to look closer.
What to enter
- Candidate areas, with optional ratings from 1 to 5 for cost and venue choice, based on your own judgement.
- Where delegates come from: aggregate counts by origin area, such as registrations grouped by town. No names are needed.
- Journey estimates: door-to-door minutes for each area and origin pair that you have checked yourself at the time of day that matters.
- Priority weights: how much journeys, cost and venue choice each matter. Leave a weight blank to leave that criterion out.
How the comparison works
For each area the tool averages the journeys you supplied, weighted by the number of delegates in each origin. Origins with no estimate are excluded from the average and listed, together with how many delegates they hold.
Journey averages are turned into a 1 to 5 score across the areas you entered, then combined with your cost and venue ratings using your weights. An area compared on fewer criteria is marked provisional.
What the tool does not do
It does not use a map service, work out times from distance or predict traffic or public transport. A journey time is only what you enter, and it is worth checking at the hours delegates will travel.
The order shows which area fits your stated weights best, not which is right. Treat it as support for a committee discussion.
Using the result
Look first at the raw evidence table: how many delegates have a known journey for each area. A high score built on half the delegates is weak.
When an area looks promising, move to the venue shortlist matrix to test venues there, and record the choice in the decision log.
Worked example · Fictional example
A fictional regional forum
Fictional figures, to show how unknown journeys are handled.
A fictional association has 190 delegates from four origins and three candidate areas. For the first area the committee knows three of the four journeys, so the average of 41.5 minutes covers 170 delegates and the origin with 20 delegates is flagged as unknown.
Had that unknown been counted as zero, the average would have dropped to 37.1 minutes and the area would have looked closer than the evidence supports. The tool shows the 41.5 and the gap.
Use this yourself
Location comparison worksheet
List each area against each origin, write the journey estimate you checked, and leave unknown cells visibly blank.
| Origin area | Delegates | Candidate area A (minutes) | Candidate area B (minutes) | Candidate area C (minutes) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average, known journeys only |
Handle it in-house, or bring in help?
Your team can usually handle this when
- Delegate origins are known, the candidate areas are few and you can check the main journeys yourselves.
- The committee only needs a structured way to discuss trade-offs.
Outside planning help earns its fee when
- Many journeys are unknown and nobody has time to check them at the right hours.
- The choice of area is tied to venue availability, date and budget that must be decided together.
- The committee wants the criteria, weights and evidence written into a brief before venues are approached.
Want the location decision set out as a brief?
An Event Blueprint can record the delegate origins, the criteria and weights, the journeys still to verify and the date by which the area must be decided, so venue enquiries start from a clear brief. The committee makes the final choice.
Questions organisers ask
Does the tool calculate journey times?
No. It uses only the minutes you enter. It does not use a map service or turn distance into time.
What happens to a journey I do not know?
It is excluded from the average and flagged with the number of delegates affected. It is never counted as zero.
Why is an area marked provisional?
It was compared on fewer criteria than the others, or some of its delegates have no known journey.
Related resources
Content record: Draft. Written from the cited sources and checked by automated rules; not yet independently reviewed.