Essential Checks before Booking a Community Venue
The planning phase allows you to vet community venues based on their suitability for the event. Here are the checks to consider when making your pick:
- The venue capacity. Due to fire safety recommendations, you must choose a venue whose maximum permitted capacity aligns with the number of your guests. Not only is this necessary for legal purposes, but also for the safety of the event attendees.
- The availability of public liability insurance. Many venues require you to provide proof of insurance, especially if you will bring in external vendors to provide services. Again, this protects them and you, so it is important to either get the insurance or find a venue that offers safe alternatives.
- The need for licensing. If the event involves activities such as playing loud music or selling alcohol, you will need to apply for licenses to do so. You should find out if this is the case before booking a venue, as license approval can take a while.
- The emergency provisions. As you assess all possible venues, keep your eyes out for those with emergency exits, clear assembly points, accessibility for people with disabilities, and adequate safety equipment. Knowing this information beforehand can be crucial in case of an emergency.
- The neighborhood rules. Each neighborhood is different, and knowing the rules that apply for each venue is important, as this can help you choose the venue whose neighborhood rules most align with the event you have in mind. This guide includes a template you can use to communicate with neighbors before the event.
With these out of the way, you can then select the venues that meet your other criteria, such as location, aesthetics, and more.
Safety and Responsibility Checks during the Event
Events can easily get out of hand, be it in terms of noise or commotion. As such, it is your responsibility to maintain calm to not only adhere to the terms of the venue hire but also protect everyone in the event. So, how do you do this?
- Exercise fire safety. Prohibit people from using candles, fireworks, or any other items that can cause fires. Where the event features the lighting of candles or fireworks, ensure that fire safety checks are in place and that these activities are supervised. Additionally, have fire extinguishers and blankets within reach.
- Have a first aid contact person. Even with enough safety measures in place, accidents happen. It is thus important to have a contact person with a first aid kit who can tend to cuts, bruises, and other minor injuries that event attendees suffer. Where needed, this person can contact emergency services.
- Hire stewards to manage the crowd. Appoint some adults to supervise the crowd, especially at the entrances, exits, and other areas with a large number of people. Their role is to ease movement and respond to emergencies or problems as they occur, which prevents escalation.
- Comply with the neighborhood rules. Ensure that your guests remain within the venue and do not wander into neighboring properties. At the same time, if your event carries on into the night, minimize your noise by closing the doors and windows and turning down the volume of the music.
While you can manage a small event on your own, you will need more hands on deck for a larger event, as you will have many moving parts.
Making a Clean and Quiet Departure
As guests leave, there is often a lot of noise and movement, which can be quite disturbing to the neighbors, more so at night. What’s more, there is a tendency for chaos and littering. But luckily, you can prevent this in a few simple ways:
- Advise your guests on the need to be quiet. During the event, announce that there will be an official closing time, after which guests will be required to head out with minimal noise in order to avoid disturbing the neighbors.
- Have the stewards in place. Their role will be to remind the guests to get into their cars and head out without making noises or loitering in the neighborhood.
- Clean the venue continuously. Rather than wait until the guests leave, designate people whose job it is to clear rubbish and wipe down surfaces as the event continues. That way, come the end of the event, not much cleaning will be necessary.
Once everyone has left, put everything back in its rightful place and hand over the venue to the host or staff member attending the close.
Essential Templates for Venue Safety
1. The Event Safety Checklist.
| Item | Status (Done/ In Progress) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Venue Details. | ||
| Capacity confirmed and Suitable. | ||
| All fire exits have been identified and unlocked. | ||
| Disability Access Confirmed. | ||
| Fire Assembly Points. | ||
| Neighborhood Rules. | ||
| Preparation. | ||
| Risk Assessment completed. | ||
| Public Liability Insurance verified. | ||
| Stewards assigned and briefed. | ||
| Number of Stewards. | ||
| During the Event. | ||
| Fire safety rules communicated to key staff. | ||
| Noise reduction measures are in place. | ||
| First Aid Kit Contact Person Designated. | ||
| Closing and Handover. | ||
| Quiet dispersal managed by stewards. | ||
| All rubbish has been cleared/removed from the site. | ||
| All doors/windows are securely locked. |
2. Informing Your Neighbors of the Event.
You can fill this out by replacing the underlined words with the specifics of your event.
Subject: Event Notice - [The Name of the Event] at [The Name of the Venue] - [The Date of the Event]
Dear [The Name of the Neighbour],
We are writing to respectfully inform you that we will be hosting a private event at [The Name of the Venue, e.g., Chislehurst ABC Hall] on [The Day and Date of Event] for [The Type of Event, e.g., a family birthday party].
Event Details:
Start Time: [The Time the Event Starts]
Music/Entertainment will conclude by: [Time, e.g., 11:00 PM]
All attendees will have left the premises by: [Closing Time, e.g., 11:45 PM]
We have instructed all our attendees to leave the venue as quietly as possible, and we will have staff monitoring the outside area at closing time to ensure there is minimal disturbance.
If you experience any disruption, please contact the organiser directly on [The Mobile Number for the Event Host or the Designated Contact Person] so we can address it immediately.
Thank you for your understanding.
Sincerely,
[Your Name or the Name of the Organisation]