Weddings, bar mitzvahs, exhibition openings, hen do's, stags, birthdays, corporate celebrations... how many events can you name that are worthy of a glistening party?
That's right: the list to celebrate is pretty much endless. And with the event industry contributing an estimated £40 billion to the UK’s economy every year in the UK alone (RB Group 2014), you'll find that there is no shortage of hard-working individuals making their clients' party dream demands come to life.
But as event planners continue to get swamped with work - most report working more than 40 hours per week to meet Great Gatsby-level demands - they have traditionally received little in the way of genuine innovation. But that is no longer the case. Thanks to the increasing permeability of disruptive technologies, the event planning sector is seeing signs of an overhaul - which is great news for the overworked event planner.
However, in an endless sea of ‘disruptive startups’, it’s hard to know which ones are actually worth paying attention to. That's why we're giving you a heads up about these
7 startups that can game-change your event planning business, reduce your workload, helping you streamline your schedule and manage your ballooning list of 'to-do's' without descending into panic... (most of the time).
1. Appear Here
Appear Here is a marketplace for short-term retail space that 'originally launched to ride the ‘pop-up’ shop craze'. Over 1,000 spaces are listed by Appear Here in the UK, with 1,000 in New York, where it launched last year, and even more in Paris.
'There's a pricing issue in real estate," CEO Ross Bailey says. "It's based on 10-year leases. That model doesn't work anymore. Now we're seeing rent is a variable cost, not a fixed cost.' (TechCrunch) So how does any of this help you as an event planner? Well, if you're looking to host a pop-up event, you can now seamlessly choose an available space, adjusted accordingly to your budget and location desires.
2. Showslice
Showslice is a platform for event buyers to easily enquire about available dates at venues that are adjacent to current confirmed events in order to share the similar infrastructure and save up to 70% on venue and event set-up costs. In short, it's the sharing economy for the meetings and events industry.
What's the biggest Showslice perk? Well, it helps you make value connections to save money and host better events. Better yet, it is absolutely free to use, with a small fee only being charged following a successful match and proven benefits.
3. Rentuu
As an event organizer, there's a 90% chance that you've been in a situation where you are left frustrated with the lack of fast quotes, poor customer service and muddled pricing provided by equipment rental companies. Rentuu is changing all that.
A B2B marketplace successfully disrupting the online rental industry, Rentuu is every event planner's dream: it not only acts as a single point of contact for virtually thousands of products, but it also provides absolute price transparency and real time quotes. Rentuu's flexible deliveries, installations, and collections, coupled with their streamlined, fuss-free website, makes for a powerful event planning tool.
4. Eventscribe
If you're looking for a powerful platform to help manage meetings, look no further than EventScribe. It focuses on the needs of event planners and aims to provide solutions for all of their concerns, from organizing the event to building native apps for attendees. The service also helps users efficiently manage event data, including information for both speakers and attendees. Streamlining your event planning has never been easier!
5. Greenvelope
Greenvelope's mission statement is simple, but powerful: 'uniting beautiful design and integrated event management tools to design elegant, effortless, and eco-friendly digital cards for every occasion.' Sure, digital invites aren't for everywhere, but if you find yourself with a digitally progressive client, Greenvelope can save you tonnes of time - and your client a hefty amount of money!
6. Speaker Hub
Finding a speaker for an event is never easy. Thanks to Speaker Hub, you can now find a quality speaker, with minimal hassle. Here is their mission statement:
'We believe in the power of live presentations and personal connections, which is why we created SpeakerHub. We are not a speaker agency but Europe's fastest-growing community of professional, independent, or amateur public speakers and trainers who'd like to be found by companies, event organizers and schools. We welcome anyone with expertise in any field who is open to speaking at conferences, events or schools as a paid or pro bono presenter.' Sounds pretty great to us!
7. Inkpact
Ever had to face the excruciating task of hand writing 50 'thank you for attending our event' notes? You no longer have to. Inkpact is a simple, but much needed concept: it's a company that enables you to send handwritten communications at scale at a touch of a button. No longer do you have to worry about your handwriting being eligible, or run the risk of carpal tunnel: you simply outsource all your writing to Inkpact.
