Oh, the life of an event organiser! You’re responsible for a billion different things, and half of those need attention right-now-this-minute. Staying focussed and keeping on track requires boundless energy, superhuman organisational skills and a day with substantially more than 24 hours.
Staying organised can sometimes feel like it takes the power of a thousand supermans
We can’t make the days longer (believe us, we’ve tried), but we can share a few of our favourite project management and productivity tools for events professionals. This tried-and-tested applications will help you stay productive Think about what you can do with all of that lovely time you’ll save!
1. Trello
Trello, says their site, is the fastest, easiest way to organize anything, from your day-to-day work, to a favorite side project, to your greatest life plans. It’s a project management app that lets you create a board for each project you’re working on. Within each board you can create running lists – to do, doing and done – and assign tasks to other team members if you need to. It’s a collaborative tool so you can add multiple people to a board to work on a project – or keep them private so that your own to-do lists get to-done!
It’s free to sign up with an optional business class plan available for those who want to extend Trello’s usefulness throughout their organisation. It’s available on Android, iPhone, iPad, Windows 8 Tablet, and your web browser.
2. Self-Control
Self control is a free mac application (sorry, Windows) that lets you ruthlessly eliminate procrastination. If you know you’re prone to getting sidelined by emails or have a tendency to let Facebook or Twitter carve chunks out of your time, this a simple but brutally effective tool for keeping you on track. You simply add your list of distracting websites to the application’s blacklist and set the timer. Once it’s on, there’s absolutely no way of going back – even if you restart your computer or delete the application.
3. Concentrate
Similar to SelfControl, but with much more functionality, Concentrate helps you to work more effectively by building profiles around the different types of tasks you need to accomplish throughout your day. It then lets you assign actions based on that task – when you’re ready, click “Concentrate” and all your actions will run and a timer will appear to keep you focussed.
For example, a task could be something like “volunteer scheduling.” For this you know you’ll need your database of volunteers, your doc outlining requirements for the event, and a templated email to send out to your willing helpers. Using Concentrate, you can set all of these to open automatically and block out any unwanted distractions.
Available for Mac.
http://www.getconcentrating.com/
4. Ommwriter
Ommwriter is a beautiful application that’s perfect for those times when you need to focus on piecing together a killer piece of copy. The creators describe it as, “your own private writing room where you can close the door behind you to focus on your writing in peace.”
Ommwriter creates a serene environment on you mac, PC or iPad complete with gentle ambient background noise and a clean, calm interface for typing out your thoughts. It also strips away all of the editing features you find in Word or other writing programs, meaning that you pay complete attention to what you’re really trying to say with your content. It’ll make you feel very zen!
There’s a free version and an enhanced package, available for a suggested donation of $4.11.
5. Lean Canvas
Take a tip from the startup scene next time you’re planning out a new event, and have a go at mapping it out using a Lean Canvas. It’s a fast, effective and super useful alternative to writing a whole business plan. Business plans take too long to write, are seldom updated, and almost never read by others but documenting your hypotheses is key. Lean Canvas solves this problem using a 1-page business model that takes under 20 minutes to create. Not only is it super quick, it’s also a great visual tool for communicating your strategy to your key stakeholders.
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About Noodle Live
Noodle Live brings a seamless social experience to events, conferences and exhibitions using a combination of mobile applications and RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) swipe cards to streamline information sharing.
For more information check out our video or visit www.noodlelive.com
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This post was written by Clemi Hardie, founder and MD of Noodle Live.