Venue

When choosing a venue, look for

• Availability on Sundays once a month

• Affordability

• Seating

• A place to enjoy refreshments

• Possibly a place for child care

Determine whether they have or will let you bring in

• A projector and screen to display slides and videos

• A sound system that works well for music and speakers

Some venues that other Assemblies have met in:

• Halls

• Lodges

• Centers

• Churches

• Comedy clubs

• Cafes

Finding a suitable venue for your Sunday Assembly

Finding a good space for your assembly to meet is a key topic when you’re starting up. It makes a big difference; a nice, useable and affordable space with supportive people makes life so much easier. You’ll be hoping to use the space regularly so it pays to make a bit of an effort at the outset to find something you and your congregation will enjoy.

Looking around

First up, are there places in your city with existing connections to humanism, free-thinking, science etc that would be suitable? Having your assembly in an already-known and sympathetic space will help you gather people.

Look around community centres and places where similar events get held. You’ll be looking for:

·       Enough space, chairs etc for your crowd. Moveable chairs are good because you can put out as many as you need, without it looking like acres of empty seats.

·       A PA system and video/computer projection. In a perfect world your venue may have this already available – if not you’ll have to bring it. There are portable PA systems which can work very well for 30-60 people.

·       Kitchen facilities. Most assemblies like to include coffee/tea and cakes/biscuits as part of their on-the-ground offer. Others use venues with cafes where such refreshments can be purchased.

·       Cost. You’ll likely have to pay to hire the space and obviously you want to keep it manageable. Some venues have reduced rates for community groups. Sometimes there is a minimum slot (maybe three hours) which gives you enough time to get in, set up, be ready to welcome your people and then clear up afterwards.

·       Accessibility. Sunday Assemblies like to be as inclusive as possible, so is there step-free access? Is it family friendly? (Buggy access, cleanish floors for crawlers, space for a kids table etc.)

And finally – is it a nice place? This is a bit subjective, but some places make you go Wow and others make you go Urgh. You’ll want a place that people are keen to return to. Comedy clubs smelling of stale beer are usually in the Urgh category 😊.

It’s worth remembering that even if a venue doesn’t have absolutely everything you need, you can bring it or even buy it for the venue; one assembly bought a new projector screen and a boiling water urn which the venue can use (and the assembly can use too, of course).