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Training Spaces
March 19, 2008
"Location, location, location" is the real estate mantra. And it holds just as true when it comes to choosing training venues.
By Margery Weinstein
Selecting venues for your training events is a balancing
act. On the one hand, you don't want anything distracting. Las Vegas is great and a real draw—except your learners may be more interested in the slot machines than your seminars. A retreat in the Ohio countryside provides just the quiet your employees need to concentrate and focus, but they may resent the lack of afterhours entertainment. Too little stimulation also can be an issue. A little excitement, after all, goes a long way to keeping employees engaged in the event. And layered on top of these concerns are budgetary restrictions and a need to minimize travel time.
Before that dark conference room in the basement of your building starts looking better all the time, here are some things to keep in mind when choosing a site for your training program or event:
Training venue locations enjoy upswings and downswings in popularity, and some destinations—due to convenient location and relatively low cost—have been surging for years. But no matter where a venue is based, there are some common characteristics that determine whether it's a good fit for training, says Kristin Kurie, vice president, new business for The Wilderman Group, a provider of customized hospitality management services. "With training, what facilitators consider, not only from their own perspective, but from a participant perspective, is how the space can be used," she says. Since many training events are "breakout intensive," Kurie explains, the perfect venue accommodates a need for smaller meeting rooms, in addition to the larger settings used for lectures and presentations. If you're running a sales training program with role-play sessions, for example, Kurie says you not only need smaller rooms for groups of eight to 10 employees to gather, you also may need those rooms to be close together for the sake of efficiency.
The time lost moving long distances between rooms makes a difference to the amount of training you're able to cover. "Time is money, and return on investment," she says. That also goes for logistics external to the venue such as distance from the nearest airport, and from the home offices of participants. "You can't just look at it in terms of the cost of the property," she stresses. "It's the cost of delivering the content, whatever facilitators are needed, as well as time spent taking learners out of 'the field' to participate in programs."
Fitting Choices
It is for those reasons that Atlanta has been a prime spot for training for more than a decade, says Kurie. "Much of it has to do with airline travel," she says of Atlanta's popularity among trainers. "So many organizations are located in Atlanta; it's easy to get people in and out of there; it has many venue options; and rates there are fairly favorable." The migration of businesses to the Southeast—Charlotte, NC, in particular, which Kurie says has become a major hub in the finance sector—also played a role in boosting Atlanta as a key training location. The entertainment options in the city, and its mild weather, also don't hurt. Chicago, she points out, has a wide range of venue options, and the price often is more affordable than the Northeast, but Atlanta frequently wins when the two locations go head to head—especially in February. "The climate," she notes, "makes Atlanta viable for meetings for a greater period of the time."
After Atlanta, the New York metropolitan area is a top pick for training, says Kurie, despite the comparably steep prices and cold winters. The proliferation of businesses around New York City makes venues located nearby in places such as New Jersey and Connecticut an appealing option. Like Atlanta, the New York area offers easy transportation, with three major airports, and a variety of training venues. When scouting a location such as Atlanta or New York, remember to consider the expectations of your learners, in addition to their training needs. Kurie says that while high-level executives might be less than enthusiastic at anything less than a plush resort/conference setting, a mid- or lower-level employee likely would be content with training at a more modest venue.
For companies with half their employees in the Northeast, and the other half on the Pacific coast, a venue in Texas might be perfect—particularly if something large is needed. And these days, notes Kurie, big is in. If your organization primarily is based on the West coast, on the other hand, a venue in the San Francisco Bay area might be best. Thanks to this location's reputation as "Silicon Valley," training venues that accommodate the growing tech sector are available. Plus, with a picturesque city and wine country to the north, the view isn't bad, either.
Bottom-Line Blues
Of course, your ideas about the ideal training venue, and the wishes of your learners, go down the drain if the price isn't right. Properties typically offer meeting packages that include overnight accommodations, meals, refreshment breaks, meeting space, and presentation technology such as LCD projectors. All that is bundled together in a package priced according to a per-person, per-day rate. An upscale venue in the New York metro area might run you "in the mid- to upper $400-per- person, per-day" range, Kurie says, while a similar venue in Atlanta might be at "the low- to mid-$300-per-person, per-day" level. "Pricing in D.C. for a complete meeting package ranges from the low $200-per-person, per-day range to the low $400-per-person, per-day range," Kurie says.
Looking for some places to consider? On the following pages, Kurie and Jody Wallace, president and CEO of hospitality management solutions company EMCVenues, share their top property picks for training events.
Click here for a list of "Training Hot Spots" in a handy PDF.
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