I sat on the Federal Conference Committee (FCC) for several years – which I thoroughly enjoyed – and like most newbies I asked questions about the venues we used. Why do we seem to rotate the Autumn Conference between two towns on the south coast? What about other places further north with good Conference facilities? The reasons soon became apparent.
FCC does look at as many potential Conference venues as possible, and in the end it comes down to two things – facilities and cost.
Nick da Costa is the current Chair of FCC and he is regularly asked the same questions by members, so he has published a paper that breaks down the issues in some details. You can read it here. It is rather long, and includes some useful tables and charts, but here are some extracts:
The Conference Office and FCC regularly review future venues; this is an iterative process, and we regularly review over 40 venues in relation to costs, suitability and availability. We have looked at venues in Scotland, Wales and in England, and continually try to identify new opportunities.
In many cases, unfortunately, the venues are simply either far too expensive for our budget, or are simply not suitable for our requirements.
For example –
- Lack sufficient accessible fringe space
- Lack a suitable conference hotel within easy reach of the main conference venue
- Have insufficient back of house space for the many staff and volunteers who make Conference happen and contribute to its success
- Too expensive
- Unsatisfactory transport links
The document goes on to list the requirements in more detail.