Event Technology Resources
All event planners know the challenge of keeping up with the changes in event technology. There are so many amazing tools, but it’s too difficult to vet each of them. Recently, I’ve been featuring some new resources on my blog and I thought it would be helpful to create a resource list as well.
I haven’t personally tried each of these tools so that’s why I will rely on your feedback. At the bottom of each post, you’ll see a button to add a review. If you’ve used a tool, please leave your feedback for the community.
If you know of a tool that needs to be included, please email us at liz@lizkingevents.com.
Enjoy!
Audience Interaction
As an event planner, one of your main roles is to engage attendees. You can use various meeting formats or a plethora of tools to connect attendees in a deeper way. Here are a few companies who can help create a closer interaction between your event’s attendees.
Content Management
Your events are packed with content. You are managing speaker information, bios, attendee lists and so many more details. Content management systems can help you organize all of that, keep everything (and everyone) updated and make sure that you are not missing a single thing for your event! Rather than organizing a 5″ binder, these systems give you access to consistently updated content from your mobile device and beyond!
Entertainment/Speaker Booking
Whether a special event or corporate, we all need entertainment and speakers at our events. Most of us find leads through word of mouth, but there are some very cool organizations who allow you to search, vet and book talent online.
Event Data Collection and Analytics
More attendees in seats, exhibitors on the floor and sponsors on banners is a goal of every organizer. Event data solutions allow you to collect and view the data you need to enhance and showcase the value of your event.
Event Management Software
From the catering and budget to the agenda, event management software is designed to help keep you and your team organized throughout the event planning process.
Mobile Event Apps
Take your agenda and speaker bios and share them with your attendees via mobile apps. More and more of our attendees are accessing content through their mobile devices so it is more important than ever to focus on the mobile experience of your events.
Name Badges
It’s time to spice up your event name tags, and here are some cool ways to do so!
Networking
Meeting people at events is hard, but using networking apps makes it so much easier. Using algorithms based on attendee registration information, they will match your attendees and create an initial talking point. It really helps to take a big crowd and break it into manageable chunks for your attendees.
Online Communities
Rather than meeting someone for the first time at your event, make the networking process easier and more comfortable by leveraging an online community. Have your exhibitors set up virtual booths or ask your speakers to hold Q&A chat sessions to enhance the experience and value for your events.
Presentation Management
For large conferences, it’s important that you are able to update and present your speaker’s content at the drop of a dime. If the room location is changed, presentation management tools allow you to easily redirect the content and update on a regular basis without all the stress of a million email attachments.
Photo Management
At every event, hundreds of photos are taken. Managing the images that your photographers, attendees and photo booth companies take is a huge task and there are many companies out there making this entire process much easier.
Seating Arrangements
Social Media Integration
It seems that the rage these days is to integrate social media into events through live Twitter streams, Facebook photos and more. Here are a few companies who can help you implement and measure your event’s social influence.
QR Codes
Using Quick Response codes is a great way to enhance your attendee’s experience. Share speaker bios, quick facts or direct people to information on your mobile site. Use the services below to customize the code itself and create killer mobile sites for landing pages.
Venue/Hotel Search
Finding the perfect venue for your event can be incredibly time consuming. These services make it all the easier by searching, vetting and even booking your venues right online!
Webcasting
Want to share your events with a larger audience? Try webcasting to broadcast your events to a remote audience – in another room, or around the world!
Website and Registration Solutions
Whether you want an incredibly branded site or looking for a simple ticketing solution, these offer you some great options.
