LEESBURG, Va., April 28, 2015 – The National Conference Center, one of the largest meeting and training facilities in the nation located within close proximity to Washington Dulles International Airport and just outside of Washington, D.C., combed the top meeting and event planning apps and talked with some industry professionals to create the following list of top apps that will help meeting and event planners stay on schedule and keep everything organized.
In addition to more than 250,000 square feet of meeting space, the property also features West Belmont Place Events Center with a 16,500 square foot ballroom (the largest ballroom in Northern Virginia.) In 2013, West Belmont Place was named Best Venue by the International Special Events Society.
As a property that specializes in hosting meetings, training meetings, trade shows, weddings and special events, employees of The National and West Belmont are a great resource for information. “We have hosted just about every type of training session, special event, meeting or wedding you can think of,” explained Geoff Lawson vice president and general manager of The National Conference Center and West Belmont Place. “Our team is very creative and flexible and we’ve had everything from high-end weddings and wine dinners to employees of a sugar company creating large sugar sculptures as a team building exercise. Whatever our clients can dream up, we’re here to help execute their ideas and ensure they have a successful meeting or event.”
Following are The National’s and West Belmont Place’s top ten app recommendations:
Eventbrite—Advertises that “if it’s happening out there, you’ll find it here.” Allows you to see events or create your own event, sell tickets, or check in attendees. You can even customize your seating plans for an event. Eventbrite is free.
Super Planner—Super Planner is a business app for the professional event planner. It provides a variety of planning tools, including calculators for venue capacity, staffing, catering, staging, projection and dance floor, as well as useful tips and planning recommendations. If you’re an event planner and want to keep all of your event information in one location, the $9.99 price tag for Super Planner will be worth it.
World Time Buddy—When you need to schedule a meeting in the future across different time zones, Time Pal will set the correct meeting times and send emails to participants. It’s free.
iClicker PowerPoint Remote—Turns your iPhone into a remote and lets you see your PowerPoint presentation on your phone screen. It also will record your presentation. You can exit the app to take a phone call and then return to the point in your presentation where you left off. Cost is $9.99 but try the “lite” version first for free and make sure it’s compatible with your phone.
Scanner Pro—Snap photos of multiple documents and use quick cropping, resizing and light adjustment before emailing them or saving them, or printing them. Scan receipts, white boards or paper notes or any multipage document. Cost is $2.99.
My Meeting Pro HD—Described as “for EVERYONE who wants better meetings.” The app has note-taking, planning, preparation and time keeping tools to keep meetings on-track. Powerful…with whiteboard (iPad only) and 2-hour audio recording capabilities – keeping notes organized. The app to help plan, conduct and document effective meetings. Cost is $2.99.
Evernote—Event planning is a team effort. This app can help you delegate and manage the event as a mobile filing system, organize everything from venue research, travel itineraries, and menus. Share notes and update seamlessly with the members of your team by syncing this app across multiple devices so that everyone will receive the latest information. The app is free.
Bizzabo—Promoted as “all the features you need for an awesome event.” Bizzabo will update an agenda and content in real time, generate social buzz as attendees share your event with their networks, increase revenue with sponsorship space on the app, amplify attendee engagement with in-app messaging, include everyone with a platform that works for almost every device, track your event’s success with analytics and social metrics. And, it’s free.
Heytell—Good internal communication is essential to a successful meeting and Heytell has the ability to turn phones essentially into walkie-talkies. This app is free.
Asana—Allows for teamwork without email. Put conversations and tasks together. Keep track of all of the details and communications. Founded by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and ex-engineer Justin Rosenstein, Asana was initially designed to improve productivity of employees at Facebook. This app is free.
