Right This Way: A Venue Amuse Bouche @Convene

Today we’re talking about: Convene

Today, we are incredibly excited to feature one of our favorite venues in the U.S. – Convene! Not only are they the home of our techsytalk LIVE event, but they are also changing the meetings industry when it comes to the standards we expect from our meeting and conference venues. Their work extends far beyond venue rentals. Their research is propelling our industry forward and their attention to millennial meetings is going to transform conferences of the future. Today, we’re interviewing Brittany Valente, Marketing Coordinator for Convene about their spaces and why what they are doing is so unique.

Venue Name: Convene
Address: 32 Old Slip (bet Water St. and FDR) New York, NY 10005
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Featuring: Brittany Valente – Marketing Coordinator for Convene, “Home of TechsyTalk Live”!

Give us your best elevator pitch for Convene?

Convene is the easiest place to host a better meeting. We have five, soon to be six locations where meeting planners can bring their functions and not worry about anything other than being with their guests and developing great content.

What would you say is Convene most unique offering?

Our people are 100% dedicated to providing the perfect meeting experience and we’ve purpose built every detail of our service and space to support that same end.

Brag a bit about your technology offerings:

1. It works.
2. Our prices are fair and based in logic. We don’t nickel and dime our guests or sell them things that they don’t need.
3. Tech is state of the art and built into our meeting rooms.
4. Too few people know how to ask the right questions about WiFi but if they did then they’d be pressed to learn that we not only have the bandwidth but we also have the capacity to distribute all of it. Plus we have instantaneous back up lines in place (because no matter what vendor you have, the connection goes out once or twice a year and that might be the day of your big event).

What is your philosophy around the type of food you guys cater in house in terms of attendee experience?

We have gone to great lengths to design the perfect meeting menu. Every single menu has options that satisfy a range of food preferences from healthy to hearty. Every meal has gluten free, vegan and vegetarian options without having to ask and we don’t serve tree nuts or shellfish as some folks are highly allergic. Beyond that, we source seasonal, local ingredients. Oh, and the food is absolutely amazing! (see our blog “designing the meeting planners dream menu” for all of the dorky details)

Describe your ideal client:

We love working with planners who understand the strategic value of their meetings and bring us into the fold to help make the meeting as successful as possible in achieving whatever its overarching objective is.

What do you think would surprise most planners to know about your space?

The attention to detail. You can have a good time doing a scavenger hunt looking for all of the little accommodations that have been made to support our mission, “to be the easiest place to host a better meeting”.

What is one thing you wish more event planners knew about your space?

I wish that planners challenged traditional formats more and organized people in creative way that meaningfully support their meetings strategic objectives. If they ask us, we can tell them what life looks like beyond “classroom style” seating.

What is the most memorable thing you’ve seen an event do with your space?

We had one client shoot a three minute long, single frame video that flew through every room and featured their team members doing absolutely ridiculous things. Their imagination for how the space could be used challenged even our most imaginative assumptions.

If you could host one dream event, what would it be?

I’d love to host a TED Talk on the future of workplace and collaboration.

This weekly series spotlights venues that can accommodate groups large or small for private and corporate events, conferences, meetings, weddings, film and photo shoots, business dinners, teambuilding activities, cocktail parties, and more.