The Best Conference Venues in Glasgow

How to Plan Your Conference

What do you hope to achieve with your conference? It might be an opportunity to exchange ideas between attendees or a forum for guest speakers to share their knowledge - either way, you will fare much better if you take the time to properly plan the event beforehand. 

Choose Your Theme

The theme of your conference should reflect what you ultimately want to achieve. For example, if the goal of your Glasgow conference is to give attendees an opportunity to exchange and debate ideas, choosing a theme will help to direct their conversations. If teamwork is an issue in your business and is it something that you would like your workforce to improve upon, you could make this the theme instead.

Ask for Help If You Need It

If there are any aspects of planning a conference that you aren't confident with, don't be afraid to ask for some help. Whether your conference is ultimately successful or not will largely depend on the quality of your planning beforehand. There aren’t any shortcuts here; just booking a venue and sending out invites won’t be enough for a business event of this scale.

Work Out a Precise Budget

So you know that you want to hire a conference venue in Glasgow, but have you worked out the costings? Having an accurate budget to work with will make all of your planning that much simpler.

List Your Venue Requirements

With a firm grasp of exactly how much money you have to work with, you can set about listing the essential features that your venue needs to have. For example, if you are going to have one speaker at a time addressing the entire room, you will want to choose a venue with good acoustics. If there are going to be any presentations given using laptops, overhead projectors, or any other kind of equipment, remember to check all the necessary infrastructure is in place.

Travelling To and Around Glasgow

There are hundreds of flights a day to and from Glasgow Airport, and it’s located just 20 minutes away from the city centre. Naturally, this makes Glasgow the ideal Scottish location for those who want to host a conference and will be welcoming guests from outside the country.

The city itself is home to one of the oldest underground rail systems in the world. The Glasgow subway is the easiest way of getting around and tickets start at just £1.55; it takes 24 minutes to complete a full circuit of all 15 stations. It’s certainly not as extensive as the London Underground, but Glasgow’s Subway system is still mightily impressive.

The city is well-served by trains, taxis and buses. There are two main train stations: Glasgow Central - which links the city to southern Scotland - while Glasgow Queen Street runs to Edinburgh and the north.

Travelling to the city via car is also simple with it being located just off the M8.

Why should I host a conference in Glasgow?

Glasgow is a city of vital importance to both the economy of Scotland and the UK as a whole. Plenty of businesses have made the city their home, including Trespass, Optical Express and Tunnock’s.

One thing sure to impress you about this fine city is the beauty of the many Glasgow conference venues. This is a place awash with old stone Victorian buildings, turning to metal and glass as you move out into the financial district, and the ever-fashionable west end of Glasgow is marked by blonde and red sandstone terraces.

The more upmarket areas of the city, such as Pollokshields, feature imposing mansions in a traditional style, a stark contrast to the more futuristic architecture that Glasgow‘s planners have adopted for newer buildings like the Glasgow Science Centre. Many of the venues in the city also provide an impressive view of the River Clyde.

VenueScanner has a brilliant portfolio for conference venue hire in Glasgow, covering a diverse range of spaces and styles. Whether you want to host a small business meeting or a large-scale conference, Glasgow is a city of endless opportunities. 

We have more than 200 venues in Glasgow that are suitable for conferences, catering to anything from a dozen to more than 300 attendees.

Choosing a Location in Glasgow

With such a wide range of different venues for you to choose from, there is something in the VenueScanner catalogue to suit every kind of event. 

Whatever the style or substance of your conference, Glasgow has a bit of the city just for you. It’s always good to try to match your conference to your surroundings, so if you’re planning a relatively informal affair, there are a couple of cinemas that rent out screens for business events - ideal if you want a conference room in Glasgow city centre. If you’d prefer a more classic, upmarket setting for a larger event, a hotel or a boardroom would make for one of the more elegant conference spaces Glasgow has to offer.

Got attendees coming to your conference from overseas? We’d tip Merchant City - one of the oldest quarters in the city - for your conference. Alternatively, take a look at the Grosvenor Casino if you need a large Glasgow conference venue for up to 250; it’s ideally set-up for presentations.

No two conferences are the same, but whatever your individual needs and requirements, the sheer number of potential conference venues in Glasgow all but guarantees there will be something suitable for you. All you need to do now is find the right fit on VenueScanner.