TKP Conference Center
It's Fall season and everyone's promoting or partaking in learning programs, whether it's seminars, workshops or training sessions. I know I'm in the midst of learning Japanese (Konnichiwa!). But what if you need to organize a learning program and have no venue?
Visit a conference center. If you haven't used one before, please consider it as it could be a viable and cost-savings option (versus using a hotel). Why? Because most conference centers have a menu package (breakfast, AM/PM break, lunch) priced per person from a preferred caterer, and room rental includes all the AV equipment, furniture and WiFi Internet. And with using a conference center, you're not obligated to fill a room block. In this day and age, with so many options such as Hotels Tonight, or AirBnB or even someone having an unusually high amount of hotel points, it's best left for students to figure out their own lodging.
In New York, there are plenty of options, but I happened to visit three that I liked, which I plan to cover this week. The first one is the TKP Conference Center in Midtown. I liked the location of this center and it was very easy to find - it's very close to Bryant Park. I thought this center was large because of the number of meeting rooms they have. Here's a floor plan:
As for the interior, I found the space to be clean and in good shape - very professional looking. I would recommend this venue for any kind of business training or small conference. The only "downside" (it's not really a downside though) is that the the built-in registration desk on the 2nd Floor is reserved for whoever is using the rooms closest to it. So if your program takes place on the Concourse level, you would just have your registration desk outside of the meeting room (and maybe beg the center to do directional signs to your meeting).
Most people tend to overlook conference centers as a potential venue but I consider some of the more quality conference centers like TKP a good value because its cleanliness, the meeting rooms sizes, all the details that are included in the price. Of course, pricing can vary based on the type of program.
Contact TKP Conference Centers for more information: http://www.tkpny.com/Venue/Venue.aspx
~T~
