Event technology is advancing, making it easier than ever for planners to truly monitor how successful an event is and what their attendees are responding to. There are dozens of apps and tech tools to help keep you organized and sane during the planning process. Here are our faves to help your next event be the best ever.
1. HootSuite – With over ten million users, HootSuite gives you a wide scope of your social media activity with options like helping manage social networks, scheduling messages, and measuring ROIs (return of investments). With listening tools, you have the ability to hear what your audience is saying about your brand, in addition to measuring how your social media efforts are being received with analytics, so your business has the opportunity to change directions or run with what is working for your next event.
2. Speecho – Speecho launched in January and will be essential for all events that include presentations. Audience members can easily take notes while speakers and planners can view what parts of their presentation were most popular. Attendees can view presentations on their mobile devices and take notes right along side the presentation. Speecho captures the social aspect of business as well, allowing users to share specific parts of presentations they found most interesting on social media. Planners then receive which parts of the presentation was most shared and captured. Speecho is awesome for business meetings to measure if your message really got through to your staff.
3. Check In Easy – Certain Inc., an event technology company, has recently added a signature feature in their Check in Easy phone application. Offered on iPhones and Androids, the app is suited for events that need to collect signatures for whatever reason, whether it be attendance verification, gift pick ups, or compliance requirements. The signatures can then be exported as an Excel file that shows check in times. This can even be used for venues if guests promised a certain amount of guests and didn’t deliver.
4. ScannerPro – Keep receipts, order forms, and all papers secure and organized with ScannerPro, an app that allows you to scan documents immediately with a snapshot. It converts all snaps into PDFs and emails them right away ensuring organization all through the planning process.
5. HeyTell – HeyTell helps you plan like a spy. This walkie-talkie like app is awesome when you need to reach the check-in person ASAP while you are dealing with a crisis in the cocktail lounge. This app is perfect in fast paced, high stress events (ughm, like all of them?) when you need the communication to be snappier than texting or email. Add your whole team in your contacts list so you can stay connected through the whole event.
6. SmartCrowdz is a tech platform where event planners and managers can create mobile apps, websites, and event directories where participants can find events near them that match their interests and passions. This event website and management application helps event planners improve their marketing, monetization, and management. SmartCrowdz works towards the three m’s of event planning by striving to expand event turnout, maximize commercial goals through a wide range of online revenue generating functions, and efficiently coordinate and manage event participants and tasks through their integrated web app. SmartCrowdz supports all sizes and functions of events.
7. Eventbrite – The future of tickets lies within Eventbrite, a paperless way to keep track of guests without the annoyance of collecting printed tickets. The ticket provider App speeds up the check in process when y0u integrate it with your tablet or phone providing you with the most up to-date guest list. The App will scan the bar code making check in a breeze and leaving guests happy.
8. Eventsage helps you find and book event suppliers for all your event needs. From finding unique venues, to getting quotes, to finding suppliers that match your utmost specific event requests, Eventsage makes planning easy. Simply fill in your event requirements and watch as a list of suppliers comes to life. Planners then choose their top three prospects in each category and then the systems sends requests to vendors for information and suppliers. The “Sage Board” is where the planner communicates with all their suppliers, for multiple events at a time. Eventsage has a database of curated event suppliers from hotels and caterers to entertainers including suppliers in Vancouver. They plan to add Toronto, Montreal, and Calgary next spring and San Francisco and Seattle by the end of 2015.
9. Bizzaboo works to create a highly interactive community for your event. Helping organizers, sponsors, and exhibitors engage directly with guests and seek out meaningful new business opportunities, Bizzaboo wants to take your conference to the next level. With integrated schedules, guests can keep updated on last minute changes to itineraries while also getting their feedback on individual sessions. There are seven features including: sponsors, marketing, agenda, analytics, polls, networking, and web platform. Bizzaboo keeps attendees connected with hosts and helps track the success of each conference. The entire program costs $1300, but testing out the basic platform entirely free.
10. Loopd – Loopd is a big investment, but very worth it for large events. Loopd is a system that uses bluetooth beacons to provide a variety of location tracking tools for planners and attendees. Guests wear lanyards attached with chips that communicate with beacons around the venue. When guests interact, attend sessions, and visit booths, the chips track their movements which are stored into a log. Movements can be tracked at anytime, in case an attendee forgets what booth they attended or planners want to see what guests exactly did at their event. Excellent for networking, guests can tap their badges together to exchange personal information. Guests will be buzzing about this technology way after the event has come to a close.