IET London: Savoy Place shares five top tips for hosting the perfect awards dinner to event planners, covering location, space, AV, catering and entertainment.

  1. Consider location. Award ceremonies often attract guests from various locations, so choosing a central location to hold your event can be integral to its success. Consider its proximity to major roads, rail, underground stations, buses and even airports.
  2. Select space wisely. Choose a venue which has an iconic room that helps bring the event to life and convey the grandeur and celebratory feeling you are looking for. The superb views from the Riverside room at Savoy Place add a sense of occasion to an awards evening as guests watch the London skyline twinkle from the room’s private balcony.
  3. Choose high-quality AV. Make sure you choose a venue whose AV will help take your event to the next level. For example, Savoy Place have recently invested £280k into the AV offering in the Riverside Room, with new cameras that allow presenters to be filmed from any angle and live relayed onto new 4k video walls and screens for full visibility.
  4. Cater well for guests. Guests expect to be well fed and watered at award ceremonies. The catering you choose could be anything from a three course sit down banquet to bowl food or interactive food stalls, but ultimately choose something that wows your audience.
  5. Tailor entertainment. From the compère during the ceremony to the music or band afterwards, it’s important to choose something that resonates with the audience. Magicians and acrobatic performers can be a great choice for keeping guests entertained and tend to suit most age groups.