So Many Tools, So Little Time

Image by Jungle Jim's International Market

I've recently taken a look at a number of tools designed to make the lives of event planners just a little bit easier.

There are a lot of tools out there and it can be overwhelming to pick the ones you want to try. I'll try to make it a little easier.

1. For the bride or the perennial party planner: PerfectTablePlan

This tool bills itself as "the easiest way to create a table seating plan for your wedding, celebration, or event." I haven't tried another tool for this so I can't compare, but I can assure you that it is much easier than trying to tackle this task manually.

The program, which can be downloaded for a fee (US$34.95), is essentially a contact manager for your event (and, yes--you can import data from Outlook) that lets you track meal choices or dietary constraints, RSVPs, and seating preferences. You can group attendees as couples, families, or groups, and once you've done that, you can specify whether various guests should be close to (or far from) other guests. Play with your table options (size and shape), click "auto assign," and voila--you're done. You can select to do the seating arrangement manually, as well, but why would you?

2. For the poor soul who organizes small meetings for the busiest people on the planet: GatherGrid

This free tool allows an organizer to find out what times work for multiple people when setting a date. It is probably best used for smaller events, meetings or teleconferences, or for events where you want everyone to be able to make it or where you need a certain number to attend (for example, if a quorum is required for a meeting). We've all had the headache of trying to pull together people's schedules from various phone calls and emails. GatherGrid is our Aspirin. 

3. For the event planner who wants a one-stop shop: Cvent

Cvent has been offering event management solutions for 10 years and currently has about 10,000 event planning clients. It offers services that take a planner from venue selection through survey results, with a database of venues (including meeting rooms and descriptions) and e-RFPs, full-scale online registration and event website management, and electronic suvey creation and evaluation. Fees vary for the different services, but you can browse the venues and submit your e-RFP for free.

4. For the event planner who wants her attendees to share and spread the word: Amiando

Disclosure: This company is, of course, the sponsor for an upcoming event I organized for the Event Planning and Management LinkedIn Group, but its product also has some sharing features I would like either way.

Have a great event? The kind people will recommend and talk about? Amiando helps you harness that word-of-mouth energy. The invite page prominently features a "Share" button and, if your event has a fee, attendees can be given a specified number of discounted tickets to share with others. One thing I would love to see Amiando add is the ability to track how people come to the invite (and eventually purchase a registration) so we can better evaluate how various marketing and social media efforts are influencing registration.

The service is free for free events. For all other events, they charge 1.5% for each registration.

Know of any other great tools? Leave them in the comments or send the info my way.

Related post: Get a Jump Start on All that Networking with EventVue

Comments

[Rose]

I'm a big fan of the Perfect Table Plan software and wish I'd had this for my own wedding. Such a fantastic tool and what a savior for charity event organizers. I really like the feature that you can print your seating plan as a floor plan or an excel list with seat numbers with just a click.

[Alli Gerkman]

Thanks, Rose. Good call on it being a great tool for charity event organizers.

[Franklin Winstead]

I've been a fan of BusyEvent for some time now.