19 Tech Tools for Meeting Planners and Attendees

Posted by: Jessica Levin

Monday, August 9th, 2010

We are always hearing about Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, but there are many more new technologies that can make our jobs as a meeting professional easier and create unique and engaging experiences for attendees

Here’s the list of my favorite tech tools as shared in my 20 New Tech Tools for Meeting Planners, Attendees and Anyone Who Likes to Connect webinar.

Communications

• Skype – A great way to have face-to-face conversations in a virtual world. It’s free and can make a difference by allowing you to read the body language of the person that you are chatting with.
• Digsby – Instant messaging (IM), Email and social media. One of my favorite tools because it combines all IM accounts in one place and allows me to read my social media feeds too. Ebuddy is the alternative for your mobile phone.
• DimDim – Online meetings, webinars, demos – A great solution for companies that are on a budget, but want to host webinars.
• Google Voice – Free phone numbers that can be forwarded to any phone number. If you have an Android phone then the additional features make this the only number that you will want for your business.

Productivity

• Meeting Wizard – For scheduling meetings, this tool makes life so much easier when coordinating the availability of multiple people.  Simply send out suggested times and find a time that works best for everyone.  A definite time saver.
• Dropbox – Store, sync and share files.  I use this on my PC, MAC, iPad and phone. All of my files are backed-up and are accessible from any device.
• Evernote – Makes it easy to remember things.  If you are a big post-it note person, this app will help you save a few trees and accomplish the same thing.  Make notes, sync to your phone and laptop. Take screen shots.  It’s like having a second brain.
• Jing – This tool allows you to do screen and video captures, annotate with arrows and text. Perfect for creating short demo videos.
• Google Wave – A free collaboration tool by Google. It’s great for creating agendas, sharing meeting notes, and brainstorming.
• HootSuite – Aggregate your feeds from Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Watch hash tags, schedule tweets from multiple accounts and track hits.  A great tool to help with time management of social networking activities.

Events-Related

• Almost.at – Real-time search/monitoring events. This is a great way to promote your event and to see how is saying what when.
• Event Brite – Online registration and ticketing.  Easy to use registration tool. It’s free for free events and low-cost for paid events. Helps create a professional invitation in minutes.
• Event Apps – Mobile devices are nearly in everyone’s hands. There are many apps that can be used by event planners to make the attendee experience better before, during and after the event.
• QuickMobile – This can develop really cool apps for your event. They developed recent apps for MPI WEC 2010 and Meet Different.
• Foursquare – Know where others are and location sharing. This tool has tremendous applicability for meetings and events and is still in its infancy.
• Unvarnished – Build, manage and research professional reputation.  This could be a game-changed invention.  The service provides candid reviews designed for business. Will it help provide better service? Time will tell.

Just Because Their Cool

• Logo Tournament/99 Designs – Quick, inexpensive and high-quality design work. A great place to get a lot of options for your new logo or event brochure.
• Stumble Upon – A new way to browse the web. If you struggle for content for posts or are just looking for interesting information, this toolbar helps find content that you like. If you don’t like something give it a thumbs down and Stumble Upon won’t show you similar content in the future.
• Firefox Add-ons – Firefox is a web browser that can be completely customized based on your needs. Check out the wide variety of add-ons that Firefox developers have created.
• iPad – Truly a great piece of technology. Take it onsite to your next meeting and have all of you data at your fingertips.

Other Free Tools To Look at:

• Cheapskate freelancer – A web site dedicated to free and low-cost tools Beth Ziesenis
• Free Meeting Tools – A slideshare presentation covering a variety of apps and tools by ASAE’s Amy Hissrich

Please share other tools you think Meeting Professionals should have in their tool belt.

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