Event Automation: The New Age of Event Planning

“Plans are nothing without planning”Great events don’t happen overnight! Whether it is a grand exhibition or just a farewell party, a lot of dedication is needed to turn every event into a memory. From event planning to management, every process needs to be handled carefully and efficiently. Therefore, nowadays people hire event managers to make their events flawless.

Event management was in Forbes’ list of top 10 most stressful jobs (three years in a row). Event managers used to work in stress till the time they realized the potential of automation. They understood that introduction of innovative tools in event management processes can not only save their time, but it might also optimize the whole process. In this blog, we are going to discuss how event automation can make event planning less stressful and more joyful. We will also explain how quick integration among two software can simplify event planning workflows. Before proceeding ahead, let us check out the importance of automation in planning an event.

What is Event Automation?

From managing the long guest list to sending the thank you card post-event; event managers need to plan everything. Earlier, managers used to maintain various spreadsheets, set manual reminders, hire many volunteers, and put lots of effort to plan and manage a single event. But, nowadays, technology has made event planning much easier and simpler. Thanks to automation! Event automation is all about automating the manual tasks related to event processes. When an event management team automates a certain task, they rely on event management software to complete that task quickly. For instance, to send the invites before an event, you can integrate Google sheets containing a list of attendees to MailChimp for automatically sending them email invites. This can save you from importing and exporting contact lists from one software to another, thereby reduces the chances of manual error. Thus, event automation enables event planners to automate the entire process of event management right from event registrations and promotions to feedback. It is like a pain reliever for event managers which can ultimately result in increasing their productivity and efficiency. It may also in creating better event planning checklist.

Why Automation is Important in Event Planning?

Introducing automation in event planning is no more a luxury but a necessity for managers. Event automation can benefit event planners and managers extensively. Let us find out some of the major benefits.

Simplify Processes

Event automation can simplify processes like- email marketing campaigns, social media promotions, ticketing and registration system. It just requires the integration of a few software to automate and simplify the processes.

Minimize Errors

While planning an event, a huge data chunk needs to be imported and exported among various software. Manual transfer of data increases the chances of errors. However, marketing automation can help in the free flow of information among various software, thereby minimizing errors.

Time and Cost-Effective

Companies in event management industry have two major aims of increasing profits and reducing the time spent in completing a particular task. By introducing automation in event planning, these two aims can be easily fulfilled.

Real-Time Data Exchange

Plans involved in managing an event always keeps on taking twists and turns, they change at every moment. Informing individually to every team member about the plan change might be a tedious job. However, event automation can assure real-time data exchange. As soon as changes update in any plan of the event, every member related to the task will automatically be informed once the workflow is automated.

Analytics

One of the major benefits of automating event processes is that data analysis becomes easy. Automatic generation of the detailed report can be assured by event automation. For instance: by integrating event registration system with Google Sheets, an accurate and reliable database of attendees can be generated.

Event automation is still in the nascent stage but would certainly become new normal for the event managers due to the number of benefits mentioned above. Now, let us understand how actually various workflows related to event management can be automated.

How Automation Can Help in Event Planning?

For automating the event planning workflows, you need to get rid of localized spreadsheets, various individual devices, and in-office systems. Then, you have to upload all of your data related to event planning and management into the cloud. Once the data is on cloud, you can start integrating various software and automating workflows. You can either take help of third-party software like Appy Pie Connect to trigger the workflows or can create your own event management app with the help of no code platforms like Appy Pie’s Event App Builder. You can learn to create your event management app with the help of this video.(Above video is a part of a more elaborate course on Academy by Appy Pie. To access the complete course, please Click Here, or continue reading below.) Let us have a look at some of the major tasks that can be automated to make the management of event easier and simplified for event managers.

Email Management

In this digital and paperless era, invites are generally sent through emails. Sometimes email invites are sent after grouping the guests in several categories. Managing each category and updating the status of attendees after every email can be a daunting task for event managers. To automate this task and various other tasks related to email management system during event planning, you can integrate Gmail with Google Sheets. After setting up this integration, whenever a new email matching the specified label/category is found in users’ Gmail account, the details will automatically get updated in Google Sheets.
Connect Gmail + Google Sheets

Social Media Integration

Social media is one of the powerful tools for event promotion. For spreading the word of public events and improve the outreach, event managers post frequently on various social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, and many more. Posting on every media individually and keeping track of engagements is really a tedious task for event managers. However, event automation can prove boon for social media integration processes. For instance, event managers can integrate various Facebook groups with Instagram Business to promote their event. This integration can automate various workflows between both the platforms.
Connect Facebook Groups + Instagram Business

Team Management

Event planning and management is not a job of a single person. A well-trained professional team is required to manage any event successfully. However, a team without proper coordination is of no use. Every member needs to be updated with new tasks added, old tasks completed, and every other task taking place. Event automation software can help in improving coordination and communication among members. For instance, by integrating Slack account of your event with Todoist, you can easily automate several tasks and can achieve better coordination among members.
Connect Slack + Todoist

Automating Reports

Reports help in turning the information gathered into usable knowledge base. They can help event mangers to discover the sore points, accountability of team members, and various other information. Event automation can help in automatically managing different databases, categorising, and analysing them for further use. For instance, data related to attendees can be automatically categorised and utilised for future events.

Summing Up

Event automation can transform the way event managers work streamlining numerous processes, making a memorable guest experience, and building loyalty among your guests and other members. So, automate your workflows now and turn your event an exclusive one! Try Appy Pie Connect now!