There's an app for that

Savvy planners know that mobile apps are no longer the wave of the future—they’re the wave of the now. That’s why every day, more and more meetings are being planned with the assistance of cutting-edge technological tools.

To help you stay in the loop, here’s a step-by-step guide on how to utilize your smart phone to run a smart event:

Step 1: Site selection and budgeting
The first thing a planner needs to do is budget for money and space. That’s where the new app Party Aficionado comes in. It includes a meeting space calculator to help you discern how many people can comfortably fit inside a particular venue—a valuable tool during the site-selection process, when you must choose the right-sized spot for your group size.

The app also comes equipped with a handy event budget calculator. Plug in your attendee count and expenses, and the number cruncher will tick off the cost per attendee. Cheryl Lawson, creator of the app, says this is a great way to budget for extra costs such as flower arrangements, and is “practical for the do-it-yourself planner.”
Platform: Android

Step 2: Arranging for flight and food
If you’re planning an off-site event, one of the most important components to the process is managing flights. A comprehensive tool to help with this is MobileXtend, an app with the trusted American Express name behind it.

The service allows you to search for the best flights, change your reservation and receive up-to-date status alerts. Even better, it can suggest flight alternatives if necessary. Besides airline information, it also delivers car, hotel and rail alerts, and allows you to search for restaurants and make reservations.

The latter service is especially appealing, because every planner knows off-site meals can make or break a meeting. To ensure your food is high-quality and in line with your budget, another good option is the Menu Pages app. Based on the popular website of the same name, it enables you to search for restaurants via ratings, distance or price; pore through complete menus; and book a reservation by placing a call or using the OpenTable service. Currently, the app is available in the major markets of New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and South Florida.
MobileXtend platforms: iPad, iPhone and  iPod touch
Menu Pages platforms: iPad, iPhone and iPod touch

Step 3: Registration and check-in
Once you have your venue, flight, food and budget in order, it’s time to get your attendees registered and check them into your event. Ootoweb optimizes registration sites for smart phones, and allows attendees to sign up for an event with their mobile device. According to the company’s marketing director, Rini Ghose, the service requires minimal back-end work on the part of the planner.

The Eventbrite Easy Entry app, meanwhile, provides a convenient way to register and account for attendees. Traditionally, the check-in process has involved a clipboard and pen, which Eventbrite spokesperson Alan Cooper says is “both inefficient and unwieldy when it comes to plugging that data back into an event management system.” Instead, the Eventbrite app creates an alphabetized, digital list of event registrants, so that, as they arrive, you can easily find their names and tap the screen to account for their presence. This can be done at multiple entry points, and the information can later be conveniently reviewed.
Ootoweb platforms: iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch
Eventbrite platforms: iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch (Android on the horizon)

Step 4: Managing a successful event
Now comes the really important part: making sure your event runs smoothly. Both Ootoweb and the Taptopia Digital Show Guide apps can help here. Each one allows you to upload event information digitally, diminishing the need for cumbersome (and eco-unfriendly) meeting binders. The apps are also more flexible than hard copy agendas, because information can be updated at any time.

“If the meeting organizer has a last-minute change to the schedule, exhibitor information or even the event floor map—all of this can be immediately pushed to all Digital Show Guide users,” says Mike Foster, Taptopia’s executive vice president of sales and marketing.
Platforms: iPad, iPhone and  iPod Touch
(Blackberry on the horizon)

Step 5: Getting feedback
Now that your event has come to a close, it’s time to glean feedback from attendees to make your next meeting even better. In the old days, you would do this by sending out an e-mail or snail-mail survey. Today, you can rely on apps such as Survey Analytics, which allows you to receive survey answers immediately from attendees via their iPhone. You can even upload a survey onto the iPad, place it on your event floor and have attendees answer questions on it. Voila! Without any post-meeting legwork, you have a log of reactions. If you’ve used smart apps to help plan and execute your event, chances are that feedback will be very positive.
Platforms: iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch