By – Jody Long

You’ve just decided on location for your upcoming event, a huge hurdle in the event planning process no matter what size event. The next step? Figuring out the perfect event site that will best suite your needs. Hotel ballroom? Convention Center? Professional sports stadium? Here are some ideas that may help you decide and brainstorm on what will work best and help make it the perfect event.

Event Management Companies:

Explore destination meeting spaces, hotel space, venue options, and other event ideas on Cvent’s website, here:  http://www.cvent.com/rfp/hotels. Just type in your zip code, and they can help with planning your event at a special venue, restaurant, or special landmark. They can even assist with transportation & travel, marketing & promotions, entertainment, and much more.

If you’re looking to work directly with an expert, check out event management companies such as Helms Briscoe (http://www.helmsbriscoe.com/) or Conference Direct (http://conferencedirect.com/). These type of companies offer similar services to each other, and can be a great help to you if you are new, or even if you just need assistance with hotel bookings. They work directly with hotel chains, and have the ability to connect you with the best options for your event. They may even help to save you time and money in your planning process.

Tourist & Visitor Websites:

Most large cities will have tourism websites that will have information that will help attract event planners such as yourself. They will post information offering venues, hotels, attractions and more. For example, Denver, Colorado has a tourism website, VisitDenver.org. This website is dedicated to everything Denver and beyond, for those visiting. There is even a section specifically geared towards meeting planners, including an online submission form for you to request more information about hosting your event in Denver. Be sure to search online for a website that caters to the city you’ve chosen for your event.

If your search doesn’t bring up any tourism websites, or your city isn’t large enough to post information online for tourists, check out your state government website. For a complete list of state websites, click here: http://www.usa.gov/Agencies/State-and-Territories.shtml. Once you get to the state website, you’ll be sure to find some ideas for what to do in that state for your event for event venues, site selection, hotel recommendations, attractions, and more.

Last but not least, a simple Google search of “event sites” along with your state or city name, will always bring up a list of great ideas and possibly more websites for you to browse.