Top Notch Event Planning Software You Must Check Out

Events with large gatherings of people are carefully planned for a reason. These can be anything from festivals, academic events, conferences, and business conventions to weddings.

To put one of these events together you need coordinated event management, event scheduling, and event planning.

Managing an event is very much like project management and you’ll benefit from an event management program.

Both scheduling and planning fall under the umbrella of event management and have their own specific programs:

Event planning uses an event planning program. You choose a theme for the event, create a budget, select a venue, plan the menu, hire guest speakers, handle the ticketing, and set the date.

Event scheduling is part of your event planning. This includes picking a time and date for your event and setting up an appointment/booking system. Typically, you start your event planning with scheduling. You can use time scheduling tools to have planned time management, for instance, Jira time tracking, to manage your time effectively and set up your tasks and appointments.

So, that’s the theory. Overwhelming? It is. But in practice, these separated tasks often overlap. These tasks can be done through management software, event planning software, and event scheduling software. The functions of these apps overlap as well, simplifying the process.

In this article, we will explain in more detail how event planning software and planning apps help you with the different aspects of your event management process.

Great Event Planning Software Examples

Trafft

Trafft is a great option to use because it’s not just a scheduling tool. Trafft is a professional service business management software, a professional tool, and a digital business partner that covers different aspects of running a business.

It’s the kind of app that small and medium business owners, administrators, managers, and key staff in the service industry are using to take their processes and businesses to the next level.

How does it do that? Well, Trafft is a combination of an online no-code platform and human service from a team of service business automation experts. While that’s a mouthful, we can make it simple by saying that it provides all the necessary tools to organize schedules, accept bookings and payments, send reminders and integrate with other tools.

Trafft differentiates from typical apps and tools that automate smaller tasks like online bookings or personal schedules, and are usually hard to configure and maintain, and support is hard to get.

The Trafft app and its team do that by providing support for the complete workflow cycle of a service business, and has an extremely intuitive interface and UX.

What does that mean practically for you? You would not need to waste time on repetitive tasks like calling clients and confirming or rescheduling, and you won’t even need to hire additional people to do that.

It also comes with all the features that you need to get started, such as:

Automatic online payment processing through multiple providers
Two-way synchronization using external calendars (such as Google Calendar and Outlook)
The ability for clients to reschedule
The ability to create a call-to-action (CTA) booking page
In-depth overviews of your business performance using key performance indicators
Client management using email and SMS notifications and reminders
Discount/loyalty coupons when managing appointments
Ability to manage bookings, employees, locations, services, schedules, and more

Amelia

Amelia is a simple yet powerful automated WordPress plugin, working 24/7 to make sure your customers can book events and pay online even while you sleep.

The Amelia booking plugin provides business owners and managers with a dashboard page that summarizes all business-critical KPIs and displays them in widgets, charts, and tables that allow checking the performance with a 5 seconds glance.

Admin and employees can track the appointments in a dynamic calendar view. The calendar can present appointments for monthly, weekly, daily, and timeline views, and can be filtered by each employee, location, service, or service category.

Amelia has a minimalistic user interface, with only several colors used in the design, which you can quickly adjust to match your theme and your business branding best.

If you want to discover how Trafft and Amelia stack up against each other, delve into our in-depth Trafft vs. Amelia comparison.

Cvent

Cvent, a software-as-a-service company, offers 3 types of solutions for you: conference management software, enterprise event solutions, and support for virtual events. Since it’s part of Cloud computing, all are user-friendly.

When we have a closer look at their online event management (virtual events), we discover a pretty complete solution.

Cvent’s emphasis is on building effective marketing campaigns, streamlining the registration process, and keeping guests engaged. Not in the least by delivering an engaging online experience.

Handy tools are easily accessible agenda and include live Q&A, polling, and the possibility to schedule virtual appointments. Hence, many of your tasks get automated.

One of the management solutions on offer is event planning software. From start to finish your event planning gets automated. It’s an all-in package.

Social Tables

As an extension of the services of Cvent, Social Tables develops cloud-based software. It offers a platform for hospitality, events, and catering industries.

This company has existed since 2011. Even though it became a subsidiary of Cvent in 2018, its well-deserved reputation invites you to make good use of event planning software.

Just take a look at Social Tables’ event diagramming. It’s simple to use and very efficient.

Eventbrite

One of the things you have to handle when organizing an event is the registration of your attendees and ticketing.

Eventbrite is an independent event hosting platform that is much more than a ticketing website. Use Eventbrite to create and promote your local events. Eventbrite has an event creation wizard to guide you through the process.

Eventbrite boasts 2 million+ happy customers every year.

BTW, you don’t need to pay a fee for free events. For paid events, you pass on the fees to attendees.

Ticket Tailor

If you require a straight-up online ticket selling platform, do check out Ticket Tailor. Whether you want to complement your corporate event management software or have a charity event in mind, Ticket Tailor will come in handy.

Event organizers that use Ticket Tailor talk about its exceptional user-friendliness. It is a simple and fast payment system.

Whatever event you are planning, Ticket Tailor will prove to be a customizable and reliable tool. You know what you’re getting into with the pay-as-you-go and monthly plans.

EventBookings

EventBookings is an Australian based pure online event ticketing platform. It’s no event management platform, but it is, in a sense, a free event planning software. That’s because there are no set-up costs and you know how many attendees you can expect.

EventBookings free downloadable app checks guests in. And use can use the built-in ticket scanner once your guests arrive.

With EventBookings, all your events are in one place on your allocated events website.

Bizzabo

We aren’t quite ready yet for hosting full-time holographic events, but if you are a fan of modern technologies, Bizzabo is the platform for you. Next to in-person and virtual events, Bizzabo specializes in hybrid set-ups.

Hybrid events combine in-person events with virtual guests. Thus cost-effectively expanding participation possibilities. Events like this need even more careful planning, and that’s where Bizzabo comes in handy.

Bizzabo puts your event on a larger scale. Marketing, ticket sales, skyrocketing ROI, … everything is provided.

This platform for event planning seriously looks at the big picture. So, if you want a complete system that connects all the dots, now and future-wise, look no further.

Eventzilla

Now that we’re talking about science-fiction, Eventzilla is another all-in-one-place live, virtual and hybrid events platform that may seem too good to be true. Rest assured that this isn’t science-fiction we’re talking about.

Create an event landing page, complete with invitations, registration, payments, check-in, and on-site registration.

Features include an event mobile app and automated marketing of your event. After, the custom reports and analytics give you valuable feedback to plan your next event even better.

Eventzilla promises low event registration costs and higher ticket sales.

idloom

This is a Cloud-based complete event management and online registration software solution. Yes, idloom-events is a force to be reckoned with. It would have a very good chance of placing first in the best event management software competition.

It’s also very reasonably affordable for an event management and production tool that covers all aspects of event planning software. Plus, there’ll be no sweat in developing your event website, registration, check-in, and invoicing. It enables automated email messages and provides you with a ready-made template for you to personalize. Extensive analytics are the finishing touch.

Whova

Thumbs up to Whova for the free for free events registration and the marketing facility. Whova is time-saving event management software that takes care of anything you can imagine.

Among event management apps and event planning apps, Whova’s Mobile Event App promotes your event like no other. It connects attendees and guarantees a better overall customer experience. It will also attract sponsors for your event.

Announcements about changes, surveys, and logistics keep your attendees updated — all Necessary ingredients for planning a successful and appreciated event.

The app is available for conferences and community events, expos & tradeshows.

Top Table Planner

Sometimes the terminology used in event management is confusing. We hear about conference scheduling, wedding planners’ software, and so many specialized programs However, Top Table Planner can’t be more transparent. It’s straightforward event planning.

Weddings, banquets, and conferences need a seating plan. With Top Table Planner, you handle this by dragging and dropping your guests and tables. This is done strictly online; no software needs to be called in. The finished plan can be mailed to the venue and the suppliers.

monday.com

It’s event management software with visualized event planning. Monday.com is ideal when you’re preparing your event as a team. Thanks to the visual concept, you see who’s busy with what straight away.

A checklist and a pie chart facilitate you to tick milestones or mark what’s in progress or is stuck. This system allows flexibility when you feel the need to adjust or make changes.

Ready-made templates, drag-and-drop building blocks, and shareable boards continuously connect your entire team. Ideal for planning your events.

Azavista

Azavista focuses on steering Business Events in the right direction, aiming at corporate events and conferences. They provide you with all the tools you need to organize your event: task and project management, check-in, event registrations, ticketing and payments, and an event app.

Azavista’s international mission is crystal clear: applying technology to solve the problems of event organizers and conference professionals, resulting in an all-in-one event solution. Your team capitalizes on simple automated processes from start to finish.

Tripleseat

Perfect for if you are active in the restaurant or hotel business and are looking for original angles to organize your events at exciting venues. With Tripleseat, you can stay relaxed knowing you’re giving your customers what they need.

Tripleseat is an intuitive web application. What does that mean? It means that you will know exactly what to do, without losing time figuring out how it all works. The developers of the Tripleseat app have the experience to know how to be productive and profitable when trying to set up an event.

This convenient application also generates increased attendance and sales.

Gather

It happens that you just don’t have enough time to organize your event from start to finish, all by yourself.

Luckily, a complete event management platform like Gather provides a solution. Gather works with an experienced team of former chefs, waiters, hostesses, and events managers. So, they know how to work venues, manage events, and help new customers find their way to your venue.

Gather consists of a booking network with reporting tools that give insight into how well your business is doing. Plus seasoned support specialists are there to help you along the way.

Checking availability, sending a template response, and payment all go through the 24/7 Gather event portal.

Boomset

There’s a lot of competition for event management providers. They better stand out from the pack, and there are 2 ways to do that: offering more than your competitors or being extra user-friendly. Boomset excels in both.

When you want to organize a big event, you will appreciate the high-tech extras Boomset has in store. A QR scanning and facial recognition check-in and RFID-enabled wristbands to track participants are only a few of the great benefits Boomsets offers. Radio Frequency Identification wristbands serve as contactless payment and access control. Increased profits and more efficient payment systems are probably very important to you.

Ungerboeck

Ungerboeck Software is a ticketing and event management solution. Small, medium, and large businesses use the software’s service in e.g. catering management and registration management. Big player Ungerbroeck covers the same fields as Eventbrite, Eventzilla, and so on.

The software comes up with event sales and marketing management. It provides info about client histories and requests. It manages seating, registration, and guest list management. As well as vendor management, badge management, and space and room planning. Updates of information are stored live in the CRM database.

24me

The smart personal assistant 24me hardly needs introducing. It’s a to-do app, designed to remind you about tasks, so you can enjoy better time management. You can use it as a handy little event planning app, too, as it gets tasks done automatically. It helps you to stay organized and that’s what every event planner needs.

What’s interesting is that the 24me Smart Calendar integrates with your other online calendars.

Regpack

Regpack is the right choice if you’re mainly interested in software that handles the registration of your attendees. What you will get are personalized registrations and secure online payments on your website, accessible through any device.

The layout and functions are mobile optimized. On the road, you and your team always keep an eye on the registration progress and the reporting from the analytic tool.

Your attendees’ data is stored securely in real-time in a centralized online event database. This will keep your event up and running at all times.

XING Events

Xing is the German answer to LinkedIn — a social networking site connecting professionals and sharing career-related details. Often people use it looking for a job, to add new business contacts, and to stay in touch with existing ones. Marketing companies search and collect details from decision-makers for profiling new marketing campaigns.

It’s no surprise Xing introduced Xing Events. 17 million members represent a huge playground for event managers and planners. Xing Events acknowledge that “targeted marketing is based on knowledge about attendees.” Their products on offer reflect this. Xing offers event promotion, online registration, payment processing, entry management, and so much more. Check it out for yourself!

Konfeo

As mentioned in our introduction, creating a budget belongs to your event planning program. It’s not far from the heart of event planning in general. Besides promoting registration forms, ticketing, online payments, etc., Konfeo underlines budgeting.

“Estimate the budget,” a blog writer on the Konfeo website writes. With an unlimited budget, you may as well schedule an event in the location of your dreams. Most likely, however, it’s not like that.

Estimating the number of attendees is another factor that will shape your plan. Your choice of venue will affect this number. Enjoy instructive reading while allowing Konfeo to help with efficient event management.

Explara

Explara is an all-in-one platform to monetize events, online selling, and crowdfunding. On the one hand, Explara assists you with revenue, on the other hand it helps with getting a healthy budget by raising funds.

The ExplaraEvent pillar covers selling event tickets and registrations and collecting payments.

ExplaraGiving helps raise money from supporters and gifts from anywhere in the world. This meets the ‘identify and establish partnerships and sponsors’ part of event planning.

OpenConf

OpenConf sounds a bit like Open University. This conference management software platform wouldn’t be out of place in one.

Even Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ old Princeton University discovered the services of OpenConf. On the homepage, we read that OpenConf “has powered thousands of events and journals.” When you click the hyperlink, a page opens with an impressive list of events, such as conferences, workshops, and symposia. And more than journals alone used the peer-review management system.

This conference management giant is the driving force behind countless events organized all over the world. The SaaS Hosting Service has you covered, while you concentrate on organizing your event.

EventMobi

EventMobi accommodates in-app messaging. This makes conversations between the host(s) and guests possible. It also assists with attendee engagement, which is very client friendly. There is a gamification element, analytics, live polling and surveys, and so on.

All good from the attendee’s perspective. How about you, the organizer? Well, EventMobi certainly helps you to organize your team, as well as to create a publicity plan and brand your event, establish partnerships, and sell your event.

How? This mobile app comes with built-in audience response, networking opportunities, and registration tools. Let’s not forget the brand customization feature that helps make sure of brand consistency during the entire event.

Splash

Four features stand out and will help you with preparing and step by step execution for your event strategy.

Customizable event marketing with good content, email, and personalized event invites are a given with Splash. Splash lets you build a customized event landing page using their event design software with branded event marketing templates and custom on-brand event pages and emails. The guest management tools with easy mobile check-in and kiosk mode are a great addition.

All 4 of these features take care of an aspect of event planning. This makes the Splash platform worth investing in.

Ending thoughts on event planning software

Looking for free event planning software or willing to pay up a modest amount to get the best event software?

Software for event planning is all-around useful and worth considering. More than that, event software programs are a must for every self-respecting event planner.

It’s almost impossible to come up with a homogeneous list of straightforward event planning software and apps. This would ask for endless filtering.

That’s partly because even the big players hardly make any difference between planning, scheduling, and managing. Just like it’s difficult to put the finger on the differences between let’s say project managers and product managers.

Luckily, most event management software solutions deliver a fairly all-encompassing product, including event planning features. So, whatever app or software you choose, you’re sure to get useful benefits that will help you with your event planning.

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