Running an event outside SUSU premises

To run any event, the first thing you need to do after having a concept is to find a suitable venue. If any SUSU venues aren’t available or suitable for your event, you can begin to look off-campus. When mapping out your perfect venue it’s important to think about:

• Required capacity – what is your expected turnout? Do your society need to be seated or standing?
• What are the essentials inside the venue? For instance, a stage, a bar, dressing room(s), a performance area of a certain dimension, a box office area, catering, parking.

If you’re shopping around for a venue for your event and you haven’t been there before, it’s always best to go and view the space before booking it! This will help to avoid any unexpected issues on the day of event and will also help you to create a more accurate event plan.

Once you’ve found your ideal venue, get in touch with them via phone or email to see if they have your preferred date available. If they do, it’s normal for a venue to ask for an upfront deposit to secure the booking. In many instances this may be 50% of the full booking amount if there is a charge so be prepared for this, but you may be able to negotiate on this front. If something doesn’t seem right about venue booking terms or deposit, please come and have a chat with the Activities Team on Level 2, Building 42 or email suactivities@soton.ac.uk.

Some venues may offer a deal where your hire fee is discounted based on bar expenditure or audience numbers. Ask your venue contact about this. 

If your venue hire is in fact free, it can still be normal for a venue to ask for a deposit to secure it which is usually returned after the event has taken place. Again, please seek advice from the Activities Team if this doesn’t seem quite right or seems very high. Important: when making any payment whether card or cash, always ask for a receipt.

Once you have the venue confirmed as well as your act / concept, it’s time to get to marketing and tell everyone about it! If you’re charging for tickets make sure they’re on sale online. As an affiliated society you’re able to utilise the SUSU box office for ticket sales, even if the venue isn’t within SUSU. Download the box office request form here.

It’s good practice to ask how a venue can support your event with marketing at the time of booking, as they may be able to offer support with their own social media pages and poster spaces.

Whether the event is outside of SUSU or not, as an affiliated society you’re still able to utilise Union marketing channels. Contact sucomms@soton.ac.uk if you have any marketing requests and click here to find out how to add your event to our website's 'What's On' section.