7 Tech Tools to Help You Plan Better Events

When it comes to event planning, it’s always guaranteed that you can expect to experience a certain amount of stress. Nevertheless, each of us would like to reduce the stressful aspects of our job. What comes to mind as you think of stressful situations when planning and executing your events? Maybe you’ve had problems with the venue equipment or catering services, or your attendees had a difficult time navigating their way through the event and finding session rooms. Having to juggle numerous service providers and employees rarely goes perfectly as planned.

How do you plan better events?

It’s simpler than you think – work smarter, not harder.  That’s where event technology can be your best friend. Many of the common challenges that event planners face can be solved using tech. Even if you still feel most comfortable with the traditional pen and paper, it pays to explore what kind of tools are available to planners. Technology is becoming increasingly focused on user-friendliness and affordability. In many cases, you don’t even need to have any prior knowledge to get started. 

Here are seven ways event tech can help you keep things under control and minimize some of your stress:

1. 1. Catering platforms
      Do you need a catering company but are just overwhelmed with all the options?  With a platform like CaterCow, you can save a lot of time. The platform helps you discover and order a wide range of local catering options with the click of a button. They currently provide a selection of over 500 local restaurant, chef, and catering partners. Geographical locations are limited, but there are also other competitors that should be able to cater to your area.
   2.  Human resources management
      Depending on the type and size of the event, there are often numerous jobs to fill. But how do you best inform on-site staff outside of your direct team, such as waiters and security personnel about last-minute changes? A human resources management tool such as InitLive can help you easily send direct messages to employees.  
      
   3. Interactive tools
      One great fear of a speaker is seeing the audience about to fall asleep during their session. But if you make your visitors active participants in your session, they’re guaranteed to be engaged. This can easily be accomplished using an event app equipped with interactive tools. Through an event app, audience members can participate in live voting or ask questions to the speaker. A gamification component also makes your event more interactive and adds a fun factor. You can encourage participants to complete various tasks in order to win points and create friendly competition. For example, each participant can have a code on their name badge, and people can network to exchange codes. A leaderboard can be displayed on digital signage throughout the event as well as in the event app.
   4. Digital goodie bags
      To be honest, who actually likes having to carry around a bag full of flyers and giveaways throughout the course of the event?  You can spare your attendees the workout, and as a bonus, your team doesn’t have to worry about packing bags in advance. But at the same time, this doesn’t mean that you need to do away with goodies and giveaways your attendees would appreciate. Instead of a print version, you can offer these in a digital format through a platform like Eventbaxx. Without any knowledge of coding, you can promote your sponsors’ products in an interactive way by including discounts, raffles, and surveys – all through a smartphone.
   5. Smart matchmaking
      Events such as tradeshows are intended for attendees to make valuable business contacts on-site. But how do you make it easy for people to start those conversations and network? That’s where something called intelligent matchmaking can come in handy. Using a platform like Grip, participants can be suggested contacts with whom they have common characteristics. Participants can contact each other directly through the app and network. 
   6. Location selection
      Finding the right venue that matches the size and nature of your event is not always easy – plus you always need to keep an eye on the budget. Platforms such as Spacebase can easily help you find a space according to your needs. Just indicate your requirements and you’ll be matched with a list of event locations.
   7. Project management
      Project management tools are already really popular with event planners. And for good reason – they make the organizational process so much easier to manage. When looking at project management platforms, be sure to research those that are specific to event planners. EventCollab simplifies gaining access to your event data and documents, distributing tasks in the team, managing the schedule, and a lot more that will give you peace of mind at the end of the day.
      
      These are just seven tools amongst a sea of possible solutions. No matter what challenge you have as an event planner, there is technology out there that can help you achieve your goals and alleviate your stress. If you’ve never considered using an event app before, request a demo from us and we can show you how it can help you save printing costs, increase attendee networking, and create an overall fun and engaging event experience that your attendees will love.

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