technology and event planning: help or hinder?
DESCRIPTION
Workshop delivered for Toronto Net Tuesday / Netsquared. Time is the essence of event planning - and while software, hardware and apps of all sorts can help to gain time, adoption is also inherently risky. This session was aimed at non-profit professionals who don't work primarily in event planning but have occasional needs to organise a conference, fundraiser or series of workshops, to help them define their actual needs and their capacity for adopting new tools.TRANSCRIPT
Toronto Net Tuesday
12th November 2013
Taking Events to the Next Level with Tech: How to Think
Like an Event Manager
Fanny Martin @artoffestivalsBen Raffi @benraffi
A. The Tech Shift
Event Pros Survey Results
Q: In the past 10 years or so, what is the one single piece of software, equipment or technological tool at large that has radically changed the way you work?
A: - Remote servers, cloud- Smart phones- Internet everywhere!
Q: How would you describe your attitude to technology?
A:
Q: What’s your latest top tech discovery? A: - Square (process payments with phone)
- RFID wristband (contactless info) - Log Me In (remote log in) - Yast (task timetracker) - Smartsheet (project management)
Q: When choosing a new tool to help with event or project management, what are the most THREE important criteria for you? A:
Q: In which instance(s) do you go low-tech and use pen and paper?
A: Brainstorming, draft schedules, site sketches, meeting or interview notes, to-do lists, thank you notes.
B. Tech or No Tech?
What’s in an event?
• Concept– Brand / USP
• Content– Programming
• Finance– Budgeting– Fundraising– Accounting
• Sales & Marketing– Communication– Ticketing
• Operations– Scheduling– Volunteers
• Evaluation
Do you need tech?
C. Selecting a new tech tool
Example: Volunteer Squared vs. Volgistics
1. Define features to compare2. Establish comparison scale 3. Pick priority criteria
• Special points: –Monthly vs. yearly pricing – Data transfer & set-up costs– Customer service
Live Demonstration: Ticketing Platforms
EventBrite vs. MeetUp vs. Uniiverse
0. Assess your needs
1. Features to compare2. Comparison scale3. Priority criteria
Questions? Comments?
• Fill the feedback card – ? = blog post suggestion– ! = feedback
• Email: fanny@artoffestivals
[email protected] • Tweet: @artoffestivals
@benraffi