Choose A Seminar Venue In London

It's not much fun trailing round London looking for the right venue - and unfortunately you won't know what each venue will really be like until you've held an event there for real...

Will they rattle the coffee trolley while you're delivering your presentation? Will they keep the lunch hot if your morning session runs over? Will they help late delegates find your room or leave them floundering at reception?

There are lots of factors which make the difference between good, fantastic or even (ouch) awful. We've run nearly fifty events, all over town. Here's our run down of the top spots, each suited to a different kind of event.


Inspirational, low cost, workshop venue
Wallace Space
We really like Wallace Space. It's bright and friendly and quite funky, all at the same time. We like the fact that there are lots of different rooms with different moods so there's plenty of choice. Our favourites include the green room (great for mini meetings - very fresh) and brown/grey room which is ideal for larger numbers and kind of school-retro. We like.

Wallace Space is a bit like home - you can make yourself comfortable, open the windows and there's lots of natural light.

It's also very reasonably priced (although the pricing structure is a bit of a headache).

Even more 'out there' but slighly more expensive workshop venue
The Old Laundry
?What If?, the innovation consultancy, hire out two of their funkiest meeting spaces as workshop venues. As you would expect from a company which has outlawed landlines and given employees unlimited holiday, the two rooms are borderline bonkers. In a good way! The bottom floor is a brick lined womb-like space and the top floor is akin to a Manchester loft appartment, complete with big kitchen table for everyone to eat lunch round.

Both rooms make you want to hold an event there, right then, but it's worth a careful think before plumping for The Old Laundry. At £1000 per day, it's not cheap - and this doesn't include food or drink. The venue is tricky to find, down a couple of narrow alley ways. Certainly no grand entrance. And the furniture is definitely unusual. If you're inviting 20 HR Directors to debate the future of L&D technology, can you really ask them to sit on a banana pouffe?

For the right event, this is an outstanding venue. But select it with care!

Smart but low cost small group space
MWB Business Exchange
We loved MWB Business Exchange the most, until we found Wallace Space. However the chain still has a place in our heart because it has numerous locations all over London - many of which look lovely from the outside too. Very unusual for what is basically a serviced office provider.

The customer service is excellent and the rates are pretty unbeatable. So for a test event, it's a great way to spend not very much money and still be sure of a creditable venue.

Funky, but not too expensive
New IoD
In our opinion, the venues at the new IoD (123 Pall Mall) are the poor relations of the old IoD at 116 Pall Mall. However they are smart, modern and perfectly servicable. The IoD itself lends a touch of grandeur and the meeting rooms (in the basement) are nice and private so you don't feel you're in the way or about to muddle up your delegates with those from the Clay Pigeon Shooting Association annual convention.

The main meeting room is ideal for 20-30, with an unusual shape and carefully positioned pillars so the room never feels empty (important if you think no-shows are possible).

We've found it to be noisy on occasions, but a word in the ear beforehand might well do the trick.

Heavyweight and formal
Old IoD
The original IoD is definitely a formal affair complete with velvet curtains and the most enormous paintings you have ever seen. They have around 6 medium sized rooms - ideal for 20-60 delegates with room for lunch too.

In our experience, the plasma and projector screens sit a bit uneasily along side all the grandeur, particularly as the wiring doesn't really have anywhere to go. But there's no doubt that the IoD makes a fantastic impression.

It's important to note that here, like many venues, the catering and event management is run by a completely separate organisation from the IoD facilities manager and reception staff you will book your room with. The two can seem to avoid each other at all costs, assuring you that any mistake is the other's fault. If all runs like clockwork, there's no problem. If not, it can be difficult to pin down someone to help you.

Large formal conference venue
BMA House
It's an unusual find, but BMA House is one of our top choices for larger conferences. Despite the fact that it is home to the British Medical Association first and a conference venue second, the organisation and facilities seem to be better than most pure venue providers.

We like it because the key room for hire has its own entrance so you can run your own reception desk without worrying about anyone else. The room is really big, without having that 'rattling round' feeling and there's a great space at the back for lunch and mingling.

The plasma screen is absolutely huge so you get a lecture theatre experience together with the romance of a historical building.

There is a dedicated conference manager as there are only two rooms for hire, you really get a great deal of attention from him/her during your event. They also provide an IT panic button so you can call a techie immediately if there is a problem with any of the AV equipment. Brilliant!

BMA House comfortably seats 80-140.


High prestige/interest conference venue
Cabinet War Rooms
And finally... it's wouldn't be a Good Venue Guide without giving the Cabinet War Rooms a mention. This is a fascinating venue which scores highly on the quirky stakes.

For a historical venue, it has wonderfully modern meeting rooms (no natural light) although they are on the large side and unlike BMA House, you really need to fill them to feel at home.

Delegates gain free admission to the exhibition as part of the venue package which is a nice 'extra' to boost take up.

The main downside is that the conference rooms are a long way from the entrance so there's a need to ferry delegates to and fro. In addition, delegates enter through the normal ticket desk with potential for confusion. For us that has proved just a bit too annoying a couple of times. We often feel that the first ten minutes after arrival at a seminar are crucial for setting the tone for the whole event. If you're made to feel silly because you can't find the room, it's easy to see the remainder of the event in a negative light.

However, for some (particularly if the event topic links well with the venue theme), the Cabinet Wars Rooms is an awesome and highly memorable conference venue.

Fishtank top 5 venue tips

  1. Don't forget to haggle. It's like advertising - the rate in the brochure is the top price that nobody pays.
  2. Confirm the last date you can cancel without paying in writing. Don't lose money because you didn't read the small print.
  3. Ask to test some slides on their plasma screen. Then edit the slides to indicate the smallest font size that can be comfortably read from the furthest point. Use this as your guide when creating presentations.
  4. Don't take their word for it - if you have a concern about noise, light or any other aspect, ask them to dummy run an event.
  5. Be clear about how refreshments will be dealt with - will they bring coffee into the room at the scheduled time whether you have finished or not, or will they wait outside? Will they use their initiative and keep lunch warm if you run over or will it sit limply on the serving table outside?