Top 10 Collaboration Tools for Event Planning

As an event planner, you constantly juggle multiple tasks, coordinating with vendors, speakers, performers, caterers, marketers, and the media. It often feels like your trusty notebook bursts at the seams with countless scribbled notes and reminders. Luckily, there are several collaboration tools to help streamline your event planning process. 

With the advent of cloud-based collaboration tools, you can stay organized and connected no matter where you are or how hectic your schedule gets.

These powerful collaboration tools will revolutionize how you plan and execute events, making your life as an event planner much easier and more efficient.

What are Collaboration Tools?

Collaboration tools are software applications or platforms designed to facilitate effective collaboration among team members, both within an organization and across different locations.

These tools offer a range of features and functionalities that enable individuals and teams to communicate, share information, collaborate on projects, and coordinate tasks seamlessly.

Common features found in collaboration tools include:

Messaging and Chat: Instant messaging and chat functionality allow real-time collaboration among team members. It enables quick exchanges, brainstorming sessions, and clarifications, reducing the need for lengthy email chains.

File Sharing and Document Collaboration: These tools enable the sharing of files, documents, and presentations among team members. Multiple users can collaborate on a document simultaneously, making it easy to gather feedback, make revisions, and maintain a single, up-to-date version of shared files.

Task Management: Task management features help in creating, assigning, and tracking tasks associated with event planning. This ensures that everyone is aware of their responsibilities, deadlines, and progress.

Calendar and Scheduling: These tools often include shared calendars, allowing team members to schedule meetings, events, and milestones. It helps avoid conflicts and ensures everyone is on the same page regarding important dates.

Project Management and Collaboration: Advanced collaboration tools offer project management features, including timelines, task dependencies, progress tracking, and resource allocation. This helps in managing complex event planning workflows and ensuring effective collaboration across different teams and departments.

Benefits of Using Collaboration Tools for Event Planning

Collaboration tools in event planning brings numerous benefits, including streamlined collaboration, enhanced efficiency, and flexibility. Embracing these tools can significantly contribute to the success of event planning by ensuring effective coordination, seamless workflows, and excellent stakeholder engagement.

Enhanced Team Communication: Collaboration tools provide a centralized platform for team members to coordinate in real-time. This eliminate the need for lengthy email chains, reducing response times and ensuring everyone stays informed and connected.

Improved Coordination and Collaboration: Collaboration tools enable multiple team members to work on shared documents simultaneously, streamlining the process of gathering feedback, making revisions, and maintaining up-to-date files.

Streamlined Workflow Management: Task management and project management features in these tools help in organizing and tracking event planning tasks, ensuring that everyone knows their responsibilities, deadlines, and task dependencies. It facilitates efficient workflow management, reduces confusion, and enhances productivity.

Increased Efficiency and Time Savings: By providing a centralized hub for collaboration, file sharing, and task management, these tools save time by eliminating the need for switching between multiple platforms or tools. This streamlined approach reduces administrative tasks, boosts productivity, and allows event planners to focus on strategic aspects of planning.

Remote Collaboration and Flexibility: Collaboration tools are particularly valuable for remote or distributed event planning teams. They enable seamless collaboration regardless of geographical locations, making it easier to work with remote team members, vendors, and stakeholders.

Enhanced Stakeholder Engagement: These tools often include features like video conferencing, which facilitate virtual meetings and presentations. This enhances stakeholder engagement by providing a platform for interactive discussions, virtual demos, and real-time updates, even when stakeholders are unable to attend in person.

Top 10 Collaboration Tools Designed For Event Planners

Here are the top 10 collaboration tools designed for event planners:

1. Airtable

Airtable is a versatile spreadsheet app that goes beyond traditional spreadsheets. It offers a unique twist by allowing users to expand each cell, known as a “record,” and fully customize it with details like due dates, attachments, labels, and more.

The ability to link records to one another and create different views, such as Kanban and calendar views, makes Airtable a powerful collaboration tool for event planning.

For event managers, Airtable is an invaluable resource for tracking attendees, press releases, marketing materials, and more. The app provides an Event Planning template that streamlines the process of building schedules and keeping track of staff, sponsors, and budget.

Pros:

• Flexible and customizable database tool for managing various aspects of event planning.
• Collaborative features for team members to work together on projects and tasks.
• Integration with other tools and platforms for seamless workflow.
• Versatile project management capabilities with a visually appealing interface.
• User-friendly and intuitive for organizing and tracking event-related information.

Cons:

• Steeper learning curve for users unfamiliar with database management.
• Advanced features may require technical expertise to fully utilize.
• Limited reporting and analytics features compared to dedicated project management tools.
• Pricing plans may not be suitable for all budgets, especially for larger teams.
• Customer support response time may vary.

2. Asana

Asana is a robust project management app that is particularly well-suited for event planners. Its flexible structure allows users to create multiple projects and organize them using either List or Board views.

Event planners can utilize Asana by listing tasks as speakers, performers, vendors, etc., and attach relevant contracts, promotional photos, and other necessary files to each task.

With subtasks, tags, attachments, and the ability to set due dates, Asana empowers event planners to break down complex event planning processes into manageable tasks.

This collaborative tool ensures that everyone involved in the event stays on track and can easily access and update the relevant information.

Pros:

• Powerful project management platform with intuitive task and project tracking.
• Collaboration features for team members to communicate and work together.
• Integration with other tools and platforms for streamlined workflows.
• Customizable project templates and task automation for efficiency.
• User-friendly interface and mobile app for on-the-go access.

Cons:

• Pricing plans may be costly for small teams or individuals.
• Advanced features like timeline and workload management require higher-tier plans.
• Steeper learning curve for users new to project management software.
• Limited customization options for task views and visualizations.
• Some users may find the interface cluttered for complex projects.

3. Bit.ai

As an event planner, you must often share various materials with stakeholders, including marketing teams, vendors, and sponsors. Bit.ai simplifies this process by allowing you to store important documents and track engagement with them.

You can easily share schedules, brand guides, and other event-related documents and gain insights into who accessed and reviewed them.

Bit.ai offers a user-friendly interface and real-time collaboration features, making it easy for event planners to collaborate with their teams and external partners. By centralizing document sharing and tracking engagement, Bit.ai enhances communication and ensures all parties involved in the event planning process are on the same page.

Pros:

• Collaborative documentation platform for creating and sharing event-related content.
• Real-time collaboration and editing features for teams to work together.
• Integration with other tools and platforms for seamless workflows.
• Versatile document formatting options for creating visually appealing content.
• Accessible from various devices with cloud-based storage.

Cons:

• Advanced features may require technical expertise to fully utilize.
• Limited project management capabilities compared to dedicated tools.
• Pricing plans may not be suitable for all budgets, especially for larger teams.
• Customer support response time may vary.
• Some users may find the interface overwhelming for simple document management.

4. Brief

Event planning often involves numerous conversations and discussions that can be scattered across different messaging platforms. Brief solves this challenge by providing a dedicated space to sort conversations into hubs.

It allows event planners to streamline collaboration, share files, and even convert messages into tasks for better organization and accountability.

With Brief, you can create dedicated conversation hubs for specific topics or teams, making finding and referencing important information easier. By consolidating communication within one platform, Brief helps event planners maintain clarity and efficiency throughout the planning process.

Pros:

• Task management and assignment features for organizing and tracking event-related activities.
• Collaboration tools for team members to discuss and share ideas.
• Real-time updates and notifications for streamlined communication.
• User-friendly interface and intuitive navigation.

Cons:

• Limited integration options with other tools and platforms.
• Advanced project management features may be lacking compared to dedicated tools.
• Pricing plans may not be suitable for all budgets, especially for larger teams.
• Some users may find the reporting and analytics features to be basic.
• Customer support response time may vary.

5. Chanty

When managing external stakeholders like vendors, performers, or sponsors, Chanty offers a valuable solution. This tool lets event planners sort conversations into channels and share files with relevant parties.

Additionally, Chanty’s predictive typing feature saves time during communication, allowing event planners to focus more on the crucial aspects of event planning.

By providing a dedicated channel for each group of stakeholders, Chanty ensures that event planners can easily communicate and collaborate with the right people. This streamlines communication, enhances productivity and ultimately contributes to successful event coordination.

Pros:

• Team communication and collaboration tool with a focus on chat-based communication.
• File sharing and task management features for organizing event-related information.
• Integration with other tools and platforms for enhanced productivity.
• User-friendly interface with intuitive chat functionality.
• Affordable pricing plans suitable for small teams.

Cons:

• Advanced project management features may be limited compared to dedicated tools.
• Some users may find the interface less visually appealing compared to other communication tools.
• Customization options may be limited.
• Customer support response time may vary.
• The platform may lack more advanced features required for complex event planning.

6. Dropbox

While Dropbox is commonly known for file storage and sharing, it offers several features that make it an excellent collaboration tool for event planning. Beyond viewing and sending large files like poster PDFs, Dropbox is a centralized location for document feedback. It also provides document templates and meeting notes through its Paper feature.

Event planners can leverage Dropbox to organize project files and easily share them with clients for review. Event planners can facilitate seamless communication and feedback exchange with their team members and stakeholders by utilizing Dropbox’s collaboration features, such as file commenting and version control.

Pros:

• Cloud storage and file-sharing platform for event-related documents and assets.
• Collaboration features for teams to work together on shared files.
• Integration with other tools and platforms for seamless workflows.
• User-friendly interface and accessible from various devices.
• Version control and file recovery features for efficient document management.

Cons:

• Advanced project management features may be limited compared to dedicated tools.
• Pricing plans may not be suitable for all budgets, especially for larger teams.
• Some users may find the interface less visually appealing compared to other cloud storage options.
• Limited document editing and collaboration capabilities compared to dedicated document management tools.
• Customer support response time may vary.

7. Evernote

For avid note-takers, Evernote is a valuable collaboration tool for event planning. It allows users to sort notes into different notebooks and adjust sharing permissions for each notebook.

Event planners can create separate notebooks for marketing, sponsors, and other event-related aspects, ensuring that information is properly categorized and shared with the relevant individuals.

With Evernote, event planners can set reminders on notes, attach PDFs and images, and collaborate with others in real-time. Whether capturing ideas, collecting research materials, or collaborating on event plans, Evernote provides a flexible platform for effective communication and information management.

Pros:

• Note-taking and organization platform for capturing and managing event-related information.
• Syncing across devices for easy access to notes from anywhere.
• Collaboration features for sharing and working together on notes.
• Search and tagging capabilities for efficient note retrieval.
• User-friendly interface with intuitive note organization.

Cons:

• Advanced project management features may be limited compared to dedicated tools.
• Some users may find the pricing plans to be costly for the available features.
• The platform’s focus on note-taking may limit its appeal for more complex event planning tasks.
• Customer support response time may vary.
• Limited integration options with other tools and platforms.

8. Google Drive

Google Drive, Google’s answer to Dropbox, offers event planners a comprehensive suite of collaboration tools. While it is the storage platform for Google Docs, Google Drive also enables users to upload and share various document types.

Event planners can customize sharing options for different folders within Google Drive, ensuring that sensitive information remains secure while allowing the right individuals to access and collaborate on event-related files.

Pros:

• Cloud storage and collaboration platform for event-related documents and files.
• Real-time collaboration and editing features for teams to work together.
• Integration with other Google tools and third-party applications for enhanced productivity.
• User-friendly interface with easy file sharing and access control.
• Free storage options and affordable pricing plans for additional storage.

Cons:

• Advanced project management features may be limited compared to dedicated tools.
• Some users may find the interface less visually appealing compared to other cloud storage options.
• Limited document editing and collaboration capabilities compared to dedicated document management tools.
• Customer support response time may vary.
• Offline access to files may require additional setup and configuration.

9. GoToMeeting

For event planners organizing conferences or meetings with remote participants, GoToMeeting is an excellent choice. It offers a platform for hosting conference calls with features like screen sharing and the ability to draw on shared screens.

This functionality is useful for sharing showroom layouts, vendor maps, or other visual elements during remote meetings.

GoToMeeting also provides the option to record and store meetings, allowing event planners to share them with individuals who join the planning process later.

Pros:

• Video conferencing and meeting collaboration platform for remote team communication.
• Screen sharing and presentation features for virtual meetings.
• Integration with other tools and platforms for enhanced productivity.
• User-friendly interface and reliable video and audio quality.
• Secure and encrypted communication for sensitive discussions.

Cons:

• Advanced project management features may be limited compared to dedicated tools.
• Pricing plans may not be suitable for all budgets, especially for larger teams.
• Some users may experience occasional connectivity issues.
• The platform may lack more advanced features required for complex event planning.
• Customer support response time may vary.

10. MindMeister

MindMeister is a go-to tool when event planners need to visually plan their events or create interactive event maps and flowcharts. This mind-mapping software enables users to map out ideas, color-code nodes, and attach links, images, and icons to enhance visual representation.

Using MindMeister, event planners can easily brainstorm event concepts, visualize the flow of activities, and share interactive event maps with their team members and stakeholders. This collaboration tool fosters creativity, clarity, and effective communication during the event planning process.

Pros:

• Mind mapping and brainstorming tool for visualizing and organizing event-related ideas.
• Collaboration features for team members to contribute and work together on mind maps.
• Integration with other tools and platforms for enhanced productivity.
• User-friendly interface with easy-to-use mind mapping functionalities.
• Accessible from various devices with cloud-based storage.

Cons:

• Advanced project management features may be limited compared to dedicated tools.
• Pricing plans may not be suitable for all budgets, especially for larger teams.
• Some users may find the interface overwhelming for simple mind-mapping tasks.
• Limited customization options for mind map visualizations.
• Customer support response time may vary.

Conclusion

With collaboration tools for event planning, you can say goodbye to the chaos of endless notes and disorganized processes.

Embrace the power of cloud-based technology to streamline your event planning workflow and enhance collaboration with your team, vendors, and clients. By leveraging these tools, you can plan and execute successful events more efficiently and professionally.