10 Best Event Planning Apps for Managing Wonderful Events
The best event planning apps can make event planning feel like a breeze. And with the influx of these apps in the event planning market, planners will surely be spoilt for choice!
This is great, as events are increasing in scale and complexity every year.
All things considered, the large number of event-planning apps is a welcome addition to an industry that’s trying to reduce the financial burden and unpredictability behind planning an event.
Whether you’re in charge of planning a conference, wedding, or farmer’s market, we’ll help you find the best event planning apps for your needs.
Keep reading to learn more about what these apps can do for you and the various challenges you can resolve by using them.
Role and Importance of Event Planning Apps
Simply put, event planning apps streamline the processes of managing events from conception to execution to teardown. These apps help planners maximize their time and budgets and organize successful events. These tools also reduce errors and risks in the process, thus boosting ROI for event planners.
As per Statista, the global event industry was valued at $890 billion in 2020. It is expected to grow to more than $2 trillion by 2028. So, event planners will have plenty of opportunities to grow their businesses and make their clients happy.
Finding the best event planning apps to set them up for success is essential.
10 Best Event Planning Apps to Simplify Event Management for You
From simple personal parties to global conferences with thousands of attendees, there are plenty of event-planning apps that cater to your specific needs.
Here are some of the best event planning apps that can simplify your workflow and give you more control over how your events turn out:
1. Nest Egg Inventory Management App
Nest Egg is an event inventory management app that helps event managers and party planners to track and deploy their assets. It scans items, tracks inventory using QR or barcodes, analyzes data, generates reports, and manages customer/supplier information. You can share all data from the app via print, email, and the cloud.
It is the best event planning app for teams who need to manage a large, complex, or expensive event inventory.
Nest Egg accommodates inventories of all sizes. The app comes in 32 languages and has a user base across 123+ countries. It is optimized for the latest iOS and Android devices and supports multiple integrations to bring all your operations under a single platform.
2. Planning Pod
Planning Pod is an event management solution that helps planners manage bookings, track schedules, manage attendees, design floor plans, manage food and beverages, build websites, collaborate with team members, and more.
It is ideal for planners who custom design their event spaces, for restaurants and bars managing corporate booths, and for employees planning corporate seminars.
3. Strayboots
If your focus is on making the event engaging and fun, Strayboots is the best event planning app for you. From virtual team-building events to in-person scavenger hunts and onboarding games, Strayboots helps you plan the perfect activities.
Features include real-time activity monitoring, interactive maps, team feedback, and more.
4. Decibel X: dB Sound Level Meter
Decibel X is a great app to use when you need to be conscious of the amount of noise generated by your event. It is a smart sound level meter app that measures sound levels in decibels (dB). You can also capture data from past events and share them with others.
5. Bizzabo
Bizzabo is the best event planning app for those managing B2B conferences. It has a comprehensive list of features for registrations, marketing, collaboration, agendas, website building, attendee interactions, and more.
The app can be customized to your brand and even personalized for each attendee. You can easily capture live audience behavior data and boost engagement via gamification, wearable tech, and other solutions. It is also great for evaluating sponsorship ROI and improving forecasting.
6. Whova
If audience engagement is your priority, Whova is the best event planning app for you. It has various interactive tools for real-time attendee communication, live streaming, social media integrations, surveys, etc.
Of course, it also comes with essential event planning features, such as task assignment, progress tracking, marketing, attendee management, agenda management, and more.
The app is popular among large-scale event organizers who face logistical difficulties and need event space customizations. Its wide range of features is great for many different events, such as conferences or farmers’ markets.
7. ClickUp
If you need to manage multiple teams for an event, you should use ClickUp. It is a productivity-boosting app where you can easily collaborate and coordinate with your team members, vendors, and clients.
It has many different tools for budget management, attendee information tracking, marketing, etc.
8. Pro Party Planner
Pro Party Planner is the perfect solution for your needs if you’re a party planner managing small events. Seating charts, RSVPs, shopping lists, team collaboration—everything is manageable in this app!
9. Eventbrite
Eventbrite is the go-to event-hosting app. Its features include ticketing, guest check-ins, real-time analytics, and more. If you want to market your event to larger audiences, their attendee discovery solutions, ads, and marketing tools should help, too.
It is one of the best apps for those planning music festivals, food and beverage events, performing arts events, workshops and classes, or online events.
10. Social Tables
Social Tables is one of the best event planning apps for teams that need to design venues. You and your team can collaborate in real time and visualize event spaces in photo-realistic 3D.
Other features include guest list management, lighting, seating charts, catering, and more. The app is perfect for planning weddings and parties.
Event Planning Challenges That Are Resolved by Event Planning Apps
No matter how much effort and dedication you put into planning an event, problems can crop up unexpectedly at any point in the process. With the help of the best event planning apps, you can gain more control over all the elements of planning and reduce the risk of unexpected events.
Here are a few common challenges event planners face when managing different types of events that can be resolved with the help of event planning apps:
Budget Constraints and Overspending
Staying within the budget is one of the biggest challenges for event planners. And overspending often results from the lack of high-end tools to track expenses.
Most event planning apps have budget management features so you can account for all costs. Planners can keep an eye on spending and make adjustments to the budget if needed.
Time Management
Many event planners fall short on time while planning an event. Apps can help organizers manage short lead times by improving time management.
You can create timelines for the event, assign responsibilities, create check-in dates, and map out execution plans. Teams can automate tasks like website creation, registration setup, marketing campaigns, and more.
Venue Booking and Management
Venue availability is another big problem in the event industry. Scrambling for a location can lead to overspending and poor event design.
Some event planning apps specialize in event spaces, which help event managers find and book the best venue for their needs. They also have features that visualize floor plans and manage various venue details.
Attendee/Guest Management
On-site guest management comes with the challenge of tracking check-ins, ticketing, registrations, no-shows, and more.
These are quickly resolved with the help of an event management app with ticketing and registration features. Some apps even allow you to manage check-ins with the help of QR code technology.
Promotion
Do you want to reach a broader audience when marketing your event? In the digital age, advertising online is crucial—you must add this to our already-full plate as you plan event logistics.
Thanks to event planning apps, you can take care of all marketing-related tasks. You can reach the audiences interested in your event and set up reminders to increase turnout.
Attendee Engagement and Retention
Modern event planning apps allow you to plan team-building activities, gamify events, and more to boost engagement. Many apps include social media integrations, live streaming, and such features to improve retention and increase the number of return attendees for the next event.
Some apps also provide key insights to improve your planning processes.
Legal Regulations and Restrictions
A successfully executed event can go awry if you don’t follow the city or county’s laws and regulations. A great example is noise level regulations, which events might violate.
Event planning apps for sound level detection can help you keep an eye on noise levels and ensure law enforcers don’t shut down your event, or you won’t incur penalties.
Data Collection and Analysis
Lack of data analysis prevents event planners from making better decisions. The best event planning apps have robust features for data collection and analysis. They deliver reports that are easy to understand, with actionable information to take your event planning to another level.
Communication
Resolving conflicts, providing updates, receiving confirmations from vendors—seamless collaboration is critical for successful event execution. Event planners must stay in touch with their teams, clients, and vendors at all times.
Event planning apps enable easy communication among all parties. Instant sharing can be a lifesaver.
FAQs
How much does an event app cost?
Some event apps are free to download but require subscriptions. Plans can cost $3 to $200 per month, depending on included features. Most apps offer free trials so you can see firsthand if their features suit your needs.
What is the difference between party planners and event planners?
Event planners generally work for corporate clients to execute conferences, seminars, trade shows, etc. On the other hand, party planners typically work for individuals or organizations to manage parties and other social gatherings.
Summing Up: Best Event Planning Apps
An event planning app can streamline all the tasks involved in successfully planning and executing an event. However, you cannot simply choose any app without looking at its features carefully.
Selecting the best event planning apps involves considerations for cost, customization, device compatibility, integrations, usability, and support. Above all, you need to know how an app can help your team.
We hope this guide has set you up to make the right choice when you’re picking the best event planning app for your needs.
Good luck!
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