As Laura Richards explained last week in her piece on event trade shows, the shift to digital is doing nothing to halt the tremendous importance of meeting, engaging, and interacting in person: you just can't replace face to face. But - let's face it - getting people to meetings and conferences inevitably involves guests struggling to get there, turning up late, and sometimes not at all.
So, Tommy Shane has assembled for you the top five London conference venues with excellent transport links – everything from tube stops to airports - to help you and your business stay connected.
1. Asia House
Asia House is situated in the pulsing heart of London, minutes away from Oxford Circus. With six separate conference rooms, ranging from seated capacities of 30-120 people, this venue is intimate yet versatile, while also providing disabled access. We especially recommend The Library, designed by Sir John Soanes, for a distinguished setting to make an impression. But this venue's silver bullet is the fact that it is minutes from Oxford Circus and Great Portland Street, offering the Bakerloo, Victoria, Central, Hammersmith & City, Circle AND Metropolitan lines - a whole rainbow of tube connections!
2. Kings Place
For those looking for a larger London conference venue, Kings Place offers the 400-seating Hall One. With tiered theatre style seating, advanced AV and high speed internet and a open plan mezzanine level for catering, Hall One is an ideal space for a conference, presentation, AGM or product launch. There's even 5 breakout rooms within close vicinity.
And, better still, it's only a few minutes walk from Kings Cross & St Pancras International Stations serviced by the Circle, Metropolitan, Hammersmith & City, Piccadilly, Northern and Victoria lines and the Eurostar.
3. Gracepoint
When it comes to the largest conference venues around, businesses are often forced to look further afield from the centre of London. But this needn't mean compromising on transport accessibility. Gracepoint , with a whopping capacity of 940 people, is minutes away from Essex Road rail station. With London and National Rail links providing connections to the entire country, you can connect with UK-wide divisions of your business with ease, all in one place.
4. The British Library
Not to be confused with the museum, the British Library is the answer to the most ambitious conference plans in London, being only 300m away from not only one of best National Rail connections, King's Cross, but also the international rail destination, St. Pancras station. Paris is only a few minutes walk away, with the Eurostar on your doorstep.
5. Radisson Blu Edwardian Heathrow
Ultimately, there is one holy grail of transport connectivity for a London conference venue - truly launching your event into the international scene - and that is Heathrow Airport. Heathrow handles more international passengers than any other airport on the planet, and it's just a short shuttle bus away, with capacity for up to 400 people – an entire plane's worth of people.
But why limit yourself to the planet? With spaceports planned across the UK, perhaps Hire Space will go on to offer venues with transport connections to the final frontier...
