Auckland Museum
has a range of unique venues which are available for
corporate hospitality events, product launches, weddings
and private events.The venues include the impressive
Grand Foyer, which seats 250 and is the perfect setting
for a cocktail party, product launch, banquet, ball, or
wedding reception; Oceans Gallery, which features a
magical sea display; Origins Gallery, which tells the
story of continental creation and the beginning of
prehistoric life on our planet; the Members Lounge, best
suited to after hours small dinners or cocktail parties;
and the nostalgic Centennial Street, with replica
streets and houses from Auckland's past.
In January 2007 the Museum dramatically increased its
venue capacity with the completion of the three-year
Grand Atrium project. This included the
purpose-built Events Center on the roof, which seats
450, the 200-seater Auditorium, and a few smaller
function rooms. These new facilities are available
during the day as well as in the evenings – adding
to the Museum’s revenue potential.
Managing events in such a venue presents unique
logistical challenges. Preparing an area like the
Grand Foyer, which is open to the public all day,
for a fully catered dinner event, takes careful
planning and coordination. Timing is everything, and
it's vital for the Museum to be able to capture
information and easily report to all concerned.
After looking at several alternatives, Auckland
Museum chose the Rendezvous venue management
solution from software reseller Savio Solutions.
Auckland Museum's commercial manager, Scott Ashton,
says Rendezvous more than meets the needs of the
Museum. "It delivers all we want but is obviously
capable of a whole lot more," he says, referring
to the extensive capability of Rendezvous to manage
in-house catering, inventory control, marketing, and
all ancillary requirements for convention-type event
centers.
According to Ashton, the Museum chose Rendezvous
because there was no simpler venue management tool
on the market, and customized software would be
costly. "To have something custom-made was obviously
going to be more expensive than buying something off
the shelf and tinkering with it a little bit," he
says.
For less than the cost of a custom-built solution, the
Museum has implemented a future-proofed system which
will grow with its expanding requirements.
The Savio team customized Rendezvous to match the
Museum's existing venue management systems and
practices for booking rooms, services, and
equipment. The software also generates invoices,
online quotes and customized contracts for venue
bookings, and can integrate with third-party
accounting software.
Another possibility Rendezvous offers is the ability
to create a graphical layout of room and floor
space, ensuring clear understanding between venue
and client.
The Museum's events manager, Lucy O'Mahony, says the
software has been simple and easy to use. Savio's
events solutions manager, Claire Webber, notes that
the installation was seamless. "We were able to
adapt the software to ensure a smooth transition,
and Rendezvous slotted in nicely with existing
systems and processes used by the Museum's venue
management team," she says. "Scott and Lucy
seemed to find the web-based interface simple to
navigate, and learning the software was quick and
easy."
Another influencing factor in the Museum's decision
was Savio's local support and service. "The other
packages we looked at were serviced offshore,"
comments O'Mahony. "With Savio the support people
were actually in NZ when we needed assistance."
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