Event planning requires an extreme amount of organizational and time-management skills. It’s a fast-paced and often stressful career that includes the management of meetings, parties, conventions, conferences, and more. Without proper planning, an event can quickly spiral into complete chaos. For this reason, many companies will have an event planner on staff, or hire an agency or individual to make sure their event truly shines. But unless a planner has assistants or other helpers, taking on a big event solo can be a daunting task. That’s why many event planners are turning to event management software tools. The right tool can help them put on an event that goes off without a hitch!
Top Eight Event Management Software Tools
1. Cvent
Cvent “turns events into experiences,” and boasts more than 300,000 active users in over 100 countries. Cvent online event management software is easy to use, allowing planners to navigate every aspect of the event process and increase attendance and engagement. The platform also offers powerful reporting, strategic integrations, and award-winning 24/7 customer service (reviews on G2 Crowd often highlight this aspect as well). For hoteliers and other large venues wanting event booking software, Cvent enables them to get their hotel or destination in front of thousands of eyes, targeting buyers at the moment they’re sourcing and ready to buy.
2. DoubleDutch
This award-winning event planning software rightly notes that “the average Fortune 500 company runs more than 1000+ live events per year.” According to Double Dutch, they can power them all (they’re also happy to work with planners hosting an event for 50 as well). The company’s simple yet effective four-step attendee journey involves event promotion, pre-event engagement, community-building, and post-event engagement. One area of expertise Double Dutch is very proud of is the level of engagement they can achieve; the company is always looking to stay ahead of the curve, delivering excitement through its event apps. In fact, their apps average an impressive 70% adoption rate.
3. Eventbrite
One of the most popular event management solutions, Eventbrite has helped host three million events in over 170 countries in 2017 alone; this includes everything from small meetups to large conventions, pop-up events to music festivals. Organizers can get started quickly, creating an event listing page with built-in payment processing, analytics, and support; custom-branded websites are also available. Another popular feature is the Eventbrite app, which lets planners manage and track sales with real-time reporting from any device. Three packages of varying cost and support are available, Essentials, Professional, and Premium.
4. Everwall
Not exactly an event management software tool, but certainly an event engagement tool that can make your event stand out! Formerly known as Tweetwall, Everwall collects Twitter tweets and messages and photos from a variety of other platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Slack, SMS texts, and more) which can be embedded directly onto a planner’s site to build excitement leading up to the event, and used to notify attendees and invitees on any new event information. The communications are published in real-time (or when you schedule them to be), and a leaderboard helps drive engagement. All posts can be monitored and edited, and analytics are collected so you’ll know who your influencers are for the next event and much more.
5. Hubspot
While Hubspot is a developer and marketer of software products for inbound online marketing and sales, the company also understands that offline, face-to-face events are the oldest and most successful way to connect with others. To that end, Hubspot developed event planning software. As a subscriber (and there are many different levels), event planners can create RSVP landing pages, develop and manage invite lists, develop emails to promote the event, and more (you can get a better sense of its capabilities with this Hubspot blog post). Another cool aspect of using Hubspot? It integrates with Eventbrite if you’re a member, bringing the power and scale of Hubspot contact and marketing automation to any event.
6. Social Tables
This event management tool, now part of Cvent, has helped set up over 5 million successful events. It began in 2011, with a vision for event collaboration that would connect planners and properties. Through collaboration, little details can be ironed out—and brought to life. By simplifying everything from seating charts to room layout, event sales to guest check-in, Social Tables is perfect for just about any event. Want to learn how they can help you? The site provides a plethora of customer success stories from some of the world’s most popular hotel chains to companies like Forbes and events like Live Nation and the Latin Grammy Awards.
7. Trello
Rather than provide a holistic view of your event, Trello is more like an event planning checklist, taking a more project management-style approach to event planning. It offers boards, lists, and card that enable users to organize and prioritize tasks as they are accomplished; this makes it ideal for the planner who likes the “to-do,” “in progress,” and “done” approach to planning. Trello provides a strong visual interface, is easy to use, and has collaborative features when working on tasks with others.
8. Whova
While many event management software tools are meant for one application, Whova aims to streamline the process by handling events from beginning to end. However, Whova doesn’t lock users into all its tools; users have the flexibility to opt in or out of certain functionalities according to their event-specific needs (such as logistics management tools, conference management software, and attendee and exhibitor engagement solutions). Whova is also mobile-friendly, and has won numerous awards including the People’s Choice Award in the Event Technology Awards and is highly rated in app stores among app events. No event planner should have to go it alone or simply rely on online party planner tools like Evite (those free event planning websites are used mainly for small, private affairs). Organizing an event, whether it’s for 50 or 50,000, requires more because it can be a challenging job (but also a very rewarding one when it’s done right). With the right event planning software, you can stay better organized, keep attendees engaged, capture valuable insights, and much more. Of course, every good event needs some pizazz, so don’t forget about including some dynamic audio and visuals. While there may not be an app for that, the experts at One Way Event Productions can help make your event come alive through superior A/V solutions.
