Using VenuesOnline

USING THIS SITE

This web site, www.venuesonline.com, provides corporate meeting and special event planners with an easy-to-use, comprehensive tool for seeking out venues, all other related event products and services, and useful how-to and reference content. It has a robust library of reference articles, checklists and trend pieces to help planners understand the ins and outs of their profession, help spur new ideas and opportunities, and get information they need when in a planning mode.

Best Events redesigned the website following extensive dialogue with industry professionals and audience research that suggested planners were in need of a search tool that allowed them to enter very detailed criteria - more than what exists with current search vehicles -- before generating search results. They also confirmed that finding the right venue is the primary decision from which all other planning decisions follow.

The site allows planners seeking a venue to enter criteria including but not limited to: region, neighborhood within a region, type of venue, type of event, capacity needed, number of attendees projected, atmosphere and ambience desired. Best Events has entered into its database thousands of venues and event services providers and has gathered detailed information on them, ensuring that most searches will generate meaningful results. Planners also have the ability to save searches on desired venues and services, place them into their personal "shopping carts" and eventually send out a Request for Information to appropriate vendors.

SUMMARY OF VENUESONLINE.COM

FIND VENUES. The ability for planners to search through thousands of detailed venue entries to pinpoint possible event locales based on their specific criteria. Planners can search by region, neighborhood, capacity, attendees, atmosphere and ambience. They can then save desired results in their online shopping cart and eventually send a Request for Information to appropriate vendors.

SEARCH RESULTS PAGES. Depending upon a venues' level of listing, this could include detailed product descriptions, contact information and web address, the type of venue, type of atmosphere, product specs, videos showing the venue, multiple images, floor plans, maps showing the exact location, and "What's New" boxes highlighting news, upgrades and special deals at the venue.

FIND EVENT SERVICES. Planners have the ability to search for event products and services in multiple categories, including: audiovisual, lighting/staging, entertainment, event registration services, catering/food & beverage services, decor/design services, destination management companies, equipment rental, event agencies/planners, event production, florists/floral design, and many more. Planners again can then save desired results in their shopping cart and eventually send a Request for Information to appropriate vendors.

ARTICLES/RESOURCES. Planners can seek out how-to and reference articles in many topic areas relating to meetings and events. They can find checklists, newsletters and cutting-edge ideas from the pages of Best Events magazine, Event Marketer magazine and numerous other industry sources.

BEST EVENTS NEWSLETTERS. Check out the latest industry trends and find new ideas on different topics each month in Topic One or discover promotions and special deals offered by event industry suppliers in the Current E-Vents newsletter.

SAVE BUTTON. This feature allows users to store information on venues, products, services for later reference, as well as articles and listings for the purpose of sending a Request for Information to appropriate vendors.

For venues and event products and services that want to confirm their listing on www.venuesonline.com or are interested in acquiring an enhanced listing with more product details and a priority listing on search results pages, please visit the web site or contact Lee Elman at lelman@red7media.com, 617-645-2541.