For anyone working in events, being able to organise and run any kind of event efficiently and effectively is essential. In an events world that is ever more demanding and ever changing — caught between pressure to change and returns to established practice — that means being able to count on tools that are practical, secure, efficient and flexible, and first among them event management software.
Whatever the type of event, its characteristics, its size or how its activities are arranged, event management software is the centre of everything. It is the place where the plan for an event comes to life, where it grows and from which it is then run, before, during and after. It is the aggregator of all the people who will work on it directly or indirectly, or be helped to do their own work better and sooner, and of all the functions and tools — from access control to gamification, for example — that will make up the event. In short, it is the hub, the node, that holds everything together: it lets you manage the various parts, coordinate them, change them and have — crucially, and all the more so these days — an overall picture of what is happening and of how each activity is going.
And if that is true (and, believe us, it is), then not only is management software a tool you do badly to go without, assuming that is even possible, but choosing it well is essential, since it can become the platform on which we build the plan not just for one event but, potentially, for many. Good event management software becomes a trusted companion worth investing in over the medium to long term because, once it has been optimised around your needs, it lets you create successful templates that can be repeated indefinitely and build variants on them for every requirement. It lets you compare data and procedures, build on experience and bank practices and functions. Because if it is good, event management software becomes rather like a diamond: forever, or nearly.
So how do you choose good event management software?
There is certainly no one answer that suits every need — which is why we too sell our own event management software only after running a personalised live demo with the customer, so that we can get to know each other and start from the real needs (and the doubts and constraints) of each company, person and event. But some qualities strike us as more important than others. Here they are.
1. Managing the full life cycle of the event
First of all, event management software should let you manage the entire life cycle of the event, whatever the event may be. Good software should be able to offer a suite of tools covering every stage of the event: from planning and organisation to promotion, from attendee registration to check-in, from logistical coordination to communicating with attendees, from running marketing activity to producing post-event analysis.
2. Different tools, a single logic
Flexibility and integration: these are the words on which much of the future of successful events turns. In a fast-changing world it becomes ever more important to be agile in the face of change, of variation, of innovation. All of which sits in tension with the solidity that organising events requires, especially complex ones. In event organising you cannot improvise, because that is asking for disaster. The “secret” to holding all of this together is therefore to have systems that are reliable and stable and at the same time modular and customisable, dependable in how they operate and in what they produce without becoming rigid and closed. Systems that speak a single language but can also talk to third-party tools, integrating them when needed to handle particular situations and specific requirements. Systems that can be customised without pushing costs up excessively and that can at the same time accommodate, as far as possible, the ways things have always been done in the company. Because you do not always have to reinvent the wheel, as long as it turns.
3. Put the experience at the centre
It is by now as overused an expression as “storytelling” and “resilience”, but it still holds: successful events are the ones capable of putting at the centre the experience of everyone who takes part, in whatever capacity and whatever role. If we want to give attendees, sponsors, investors and speakers — and staff too, who then work better and produce better results — “an experience of real value”, we cannot avoid building it around their needs, their objectives and all the constraints that might get in the way. And that is only possible if the tool you use lets you put those elements at the centre of the table from the earliest stage of planning any event, and build everything else around them. It sounds obvious, but it is not. Because experience is often something soft and fluid that clashes with the rigidity of a lot of software, still too black and white for a world in colour.
And now the thorniest question of all: where do I find event management software like that?
Our answer is that by now there are plenty out there. The sector has matured, and many ventures have been founded, grown and developed in Italy, in Europe and around the world. Of course, if you want one that is Italian and close at hand, you could start with ours, and you can put it to the test for yourself.
Just request a live demo.