Event technology goes hand in hand with events these days and it’s rare for any event not to incorporate some sort of digital element, even if its electronic evaluation post event. Additionally, many events have their own App in addition to the more traditional platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter so when it comes to Apps, what should we, as event professionals be using?
There is a wide variety of event apps available to help meeting planners and event professionals to increase efficiency, keep organised and create a more engaging experience for attendees and what’s great, is that most of them are free and simple to use. From short lists to lengthy research, no matter what form your writing takes, Evernote keeps you focused on moving those ideas from inspiration to completion and the fact that you can easily gather everything together really makes a difference. Clip web articles, capture handwritten notes, and snap photos to keep the physical and digital details of your projects with you at all times.
You can also connect your work with the people who help you get it done. Communicate, collaborate, and share in real-time with anyone in the world without ever leaving Evernote, and additionally you can have fast and, effective meetings by presenting your work as it evolves. No need to build slides, just one click and your notes are transformed into a beautiful screen-friendly layout. The basic version is simple but if you want to go pro, as with most apps, you can upgrade to include additional features.
The Pocket Planner is a handy event and meeting calculator that uses Convention Industry Council (CIC) standards to recommend food, beverage, service and safety quantities for events based on attendance. You can input your own settings and make last minute changes so that even if you can lots of last minute bookings or cancellations, any event confirmations you have made will still be on track and your financial situation completely clear! Always a plus with events!
Along similar lines is Super Planner, which is also a business app for the professional event planner. It provides a variety of planning tools, including calculators for venue capacity, staffing, catering, staging, projection and dance floor, as well as useful tips in several areas so it has more features that the Pocket Planner, and is as equally useful for #eventprofs. Incredibly good for keeping a track on event finances as the project progresses.
And whilst we are on the subject of finance, revenue from sponsors and stakeholders in events can be easily tracked, and you can attract new sponsors and exceed your revenue goals using the EventPilot conference app’s unmatched variety of sponsorship opportunities and ad placements. Use the calculator to estimate your meeting app revenue potential.
Asana is a great app for those running events as everyone involved can be assigned tasks and you can check on the status from anywhere of who has done what and when. Against the speed, complexity, and scope of our modern work, email is no longer up to the task. Figuring out what needs to get done, getting on the same page, and finding the right information in email can be inefficient so Asana has re-imagined team communication from the ground up. Conversations and tasks are in one place, so everything is actionable and transparent. When less of your time is spent in email, you’ll have more time to get work done. As email is the bane of our life here at Cloud 9 towers, this is an invaluable little app and we’re on it!
If you have ever had a tough time collecting photos following an event, then Eversnap solves this problem perfectly. Just ensure you get your guests and attendees to to download the app and then upload event photos to one place. Instead of having to ring round or email for images to share, Eversnap can store than all in one handy place ready for anyone to access. This is also a great tool for when it comes to promoting the next event of its kind, as you won’t spend ages trying to remember just where you digitally filed the photos and images! And, should anything horrible happen to your computer and you have failed to store any images in a cloud or backed them up, then they won’t be lost.
EventHero is a real productivity booster and the software aims to bolster your day-of event management capabilities. EventHero offers real-time alerts, on-site badge printing, a lead retrieval system for exhibitors, and access control management. It’s the total package for serious event professionals. If you need to print badges on site, then this app has you covered. Use standard Brother™ label printers and blank badge shells for perfect, uniform badges, every time, you can also allow sponsors and exhibitors to easily scan badges and you can even offer them alerts or other data in real-time.
Additionally, imagine if you could run the entire floor of your event every 3 seconds. EventHero Real-Time Alerts allow you to set up the activities that you want to be made aware of. Has your keynote made it to the facility? Is a VIP from your largest exhibitor on the expo floor for you to talk about renewal? Wouldn’t your exhibitors like to know which attendees went to the 3 sessions that talk about the problems their product solves? You set up the alerts, EventHero sends you a text, email or both at the speed of light when it happens. Whilst its note free, it is a pretty amazing tool for busy event people and probably a must if you are running a major event with multiple sessions at a time.
Finally as anyone knows with running event, you can end up wasting a lot of time keeping track of all your event related contacts. Full Contact pulls in all your connections, updates them with social info, and syncs them back to your Apple devices or Gmail. This can save you time when integrating data into your CRM or scouting sponsorship opportunities. Just think, no more excel spreadsheets to worry about! Again, this is a free app, or you can simply upgrade to include all sorts of great additional features.
So, there you have it, lots of great apps for you to consider using for your next event, whether during the planning or for using live at the event. If you know of a great App that can make our members events easier, do please share, we’d love to hear from you.