You need some dates to ask the location for them. So first step is to find a date for your conference.
- Check other events you don't want to interfere with
- when are competitor conferences?
- check in your country / city and your continent
- Check other events in your city
- avoid fairs or sport competitions as the accommodations are booked and more expensive)
- Check your holidays! Especially in the end there will be a lot work to do. So in the best case no long holidays away from the internet the month before the conference.
Have a selection of dates available that you can use for choosing locations.
Depending on the conference setup and type your needs for a location will change.
The type of location depends on:
- the amount of attendees
- conference tracks
- extra rooms for workshops and child care
- space for sponsors
- catering
Keep in mind that you need a lot of infrastructure. You will need:
- seat
- projectors
- screens
- sound equipment
- Wi-Fi
- rest rooms
- barrier-free access to everything
For conferences universities work great. They have large lecture rooms, pre-equipped with projectors, sound equipment and seating. In many cases they already have Wi-Fi too. Sometimes you can get a better price in return for free tickets for their students.
Smaller events don't need that much space. They can also happen in the rooms of a sponsoring company or a co-working space.
If you aim to have a big conference with a lot of attendees and surrounding events consider even using a cinema or a big event space.