Plan an Event

Galas & Award Nights · how to plan in Toronto & the GTA

Everything on EventPlans.ca for Galas & Award Nights: planning guides, ideas, lessons from the free Academy and the vendors who work these events in Toronto and the GTA.

Where to start

Set the budget with the budget calculator (it shows HST and contingency).
Build the dates backwards with the timeline generator.
Shortlist rooms in the venue directory and acts with the entertainment finder.
Run the day from a run of show.

Hands placing figures and arrows on a cardboard floor model

Venues

Palais des congrès de Montréal

300+ guests

Near transit

Montréal's convention centre, with 113 meeting rooms and about 353,000 sq ft of meeting space next to the Place-d'Armes metro station.

Rows of empty red theatre seats facing a stage lit by a work light

Venues

Canadian War Museum

300+ guests

A national museum on LeBreton Flats that rents its lobby and other spaces for receptions and dinners, with caterers chosen from an…

Magenta and teal light circles on an empty dance floor in haze

Venues

Fairmont Château Laurier

300+ guests

A historic railway hotel next to Parliament Hill and the Rideau Canal, with 36,000 sq ft of space in 16 meeting rooms.

Parking attendant waving cars into rows on a field lot at golden hour

Venues

Rogers Centre Ottawa

300+ guests

Ottawa's convention centre beside the Rideau Canal, formerly the Shaw Centre, with 192,000 sq ft of meeting space over four floors and…

Crew hauling ropes to raise a striped tent canvas in morning mist

Venues

Royal Saskatchewan Museum

150–300 guests

Saskatchewan's natural history museum, which rents its lobby, auditorium, boardroom and T.

Hands tracing a route on a blank aerial site printout with toy cars

Venues

TCU Place

300+ guests

In-house catering

Saskatoon's downtown arts and convention centre, with 21 meeting rooms, a 2,074-seat theatre and in-house catering for banquets of up to 1,200.

Venues

Canadian Museum for Human Rights

300+ guests

In-house catering · Outdoor space

A national museum at The Forks that rents a main hall, a garden, terraces and a dining space at the top of…

Team seen from behind facing a projected rising curve at a debrief

Venues

RBC Convention Centre Winnipeg

300+ guests

Winnipeg's downtown convention centre.

Server from behind carrying a tiered cake with lit candles toward a table

Venues

Fairmont Hotel Macdonald

300+ guests

In-house catering · Outdoor space

A historic downtown hotel with eight meeting rooms (about 13,500 sq ft) and more than 9,000 sq ft of outdoor event space…

Rows of gold chairs facing a small stage in a sunlit salon

Venues

Edmonton Convention Centre

300+ guests

Edmonton's downtown convention centre, built into the river valley below Jasper Avenue, with an 80,000 sq ft hall, a Riverview Room and…

Two masquerade masks on a tray at a gala entrance

Venues

Heritage Park: Gasoline Alley Museum

300+ guests

Near transit

A living-history park in southwest Calgary whose Gasoline Alley Museum hall hosts events of 150 to 1,000 guests among vintage vehicles, with…

Several hands holding walkie-talkies together in a backstage huddle

Venues

Fairmont Palliser

300+ guests

A historic 407-room railway hotel in downtown Calgary with 13 meeting rooms; the largest is about 4,800 sq ft.