Event planners are naturally nomadic creatures. But sometimes we need a little help getting our events off the ground when we’re out of town.
I say let your tech do the heavy lifting. Whether you’re throwing up pop-ups in Portland or throwing down dance floors in Denver, these apps and tools for traveling event planners will help you save your time and money, but might also just save your sanity.
Designed specifically for business travel, Travo lets you create end-to-end itineraries complete with flight, hotel, and transportation options wherever you’re headed. With forecasted traffic, weather, maps, and public transit intel, you’ll never be late, or accidently book a hotel hours away from your venue in an unknown city.
Getting stuck at the airport is so last year. This crazy-smart airline insurance app allows you to rebook a new flight in seconds for free if yours happens to get cancelled or delayed. No more excuses.
One of the coolest services for event planners. Shyp picks up, safely packages, and sends your items, all in one service for a fair price. No boxes. No bubble wrap. No leaving the office
Your trusty friends at Fedex also run a tight operation and their mobile app is a super reliable way to get stuff from one place to another. If you don’t have a hotel or venue booked yet, you can always hold your deliveries at local FedEx locations, so you can grab your stuff on your own (hectic) schedule.
Planning to head straight from the airport to your venue for a walk-through when you land? Lugless lets you ship your luggage to a destination of your choice so you don’t have to haul your weird-sized suitcases (or golf clubs) to and from the airport.
Have a large group that needs to arrive in style? Book buses, limos and vans in a snap with Buster. No more quote forms, phone calls or shady deals. Just your own stretch limo, where and when you want it.
Have a car or a truck full of supplies? Stop driving in circles. Find and reserve parking spots in lots and garages in more than 40 cities in real-time.
The easiest way to book last-minute awesome hotels deals same day. It also works for reservations in advance, but it’s not nearly as a fun that way.
Booking a block of rooms for a client? Request rate quotes and reserve discounted rooms for groups without wasting time negotiating contracts with the hotel staff.
This service lets you find and book temporary rental space for your pop-up shop or your experiential marketing demo. Plus, their RetailGrade service helps you evaluate locations based on visibility and foot traffic. (Their cool $1 Million in general liability insurance coverage for each listing doesn’t hurt either.)
Browse local event spaces from ballrooms to boats. Fill out your information once, and submit quotes to as many crazy-cool venues as you like.
Venuebook
Same idea: Their platform allows you to browse event spaces and get in touch with venue contacts fast. They even have an ExpressBook option, guaranteeing you’ll hear back in under 48 hours. Party on.
Need a last-minute photographer? Book online with Pretty Instant and they’ll find you an available photographer who will show up on time, capture all the best stuff, and send you a link to an online gallery of your photos within 36 hours. Brilliant.
Kitsplit
Have talent, but no gear? Or just don’t want to risk shipping your stuff? Kitsplit helps you rent camera or video gear on-demand wherever you are, sourced from hundreds of local vendors.
No time to buy Facebook ads? Evvnt will publish your event listing to 90 plus marketing sites in minutes. Get thousands of eyeballs on your event site, mobile included, without spending hours striking promotion deals.
Spingo
This event app boasts a network of more than 5,500 event calendars including major news sites, entertainment sections, lifestyle blogs, and city collectives. You can list your event in their app for free or you can pay for their custom digital marketing services for extra visibility.
This do-everything service lets you post a need and pass off your errands to trusted people in the local area. While you’re busy setting up your venue, you can hire task rabbits to make copies, run out for extra extension cords, or pick up your dry cleaning. It’s the best way to be four places at once.
If you’re looking for a bonified butler, then Hello Alfred is your man, err, service. Set up one time or weekly to-do lists and carefully vetted “Alfreds” will do your supply shopping, laundry, or last-minute prep tasks so you focus energy on your event.
Need to fulfill a rider for your performers? Or stockpile some granola bars for your staff? Do it ahead of time and get it delivered to the venue with Instacart. No plastic bag burns required.
Drizly
Pre-schedule your booze delivery (beer, wine, bourbon, you name it), no matter how big, via local liquor stores with Drizzly. Pro tip: Stick to screw-top bottles if you are building your own bar (or send your task rabbit for a handful of wine keys in advance).
Hoping for more fringe? 8tracks has millions of free playlists, all lovingly handcrafted by people who love music, a lot of them abstract and artsy. You can search by artist, genre, or activity, no curating required.
If you’re more of a radio fan, Tune In lets you listen to more than 100,000 live radio stations for free. Their premium upgrade gets you 600 commercial-free stations, too.
Festify
Using Spotify to power your playlist? Festify gets your guests in on the action by allowing the crowd to vote for songs on their phones via a link and code you share. The more people that vote for a track in your playlist, the higher it moves in the queue. Happy crowd, happy life (right?).
Think you can’t plan for the weather in advance? You’re wrong. Weather Planner use the same planning technology Fortune 500 businesses have been using for years to provide an outlook for your event location (or wedding or vacation) for the next 365 days. years.
If you’re wondering when to pop up your tents, Dark Sky is your best friend. With their state-of-the-art technology, their app predicts when to expect raindrops (or flurries) down to the minute at your exact location.
In the middle of a meltdown? Fight the overload by using Headspace, a mindfulness training app that teaches you how to meditate in just 10 minutes a day.
Calm
Just need a moment of zen? In addition to its guided sessions, the Calm app has a series of visual and sound screens (babbling brook, windy mountainside) that can chill out just about anyone.
Yep, we’re pretty fond of this one. You can update your event page, share check-in capabilities with anyone and everyone manning your door (via the app itself or a universal link, you choose), and post all the saucy party pics your heart desires. With new features rolling out as fast as we dream ‘em up, it’s kind of a no-brainer to have the Splash app on your home screen.
Find killer restaurants (currently available in NYC, LA, Boston, SF, Chicago, Philadelphia and D.C.), book reservations, and pay the check—all in one app.
OpenTable
For a bit more selection, the OpenTable app boasts 32,000 restaurants across the globe, so you and your scrappy, nomadic team never have to wait in line.
Resy
Want a specific dinner reservation so bad you’re willing to cough up some dough? Try Resy and you’ll never look back.
Ben Hindman is co-founder and CEO of Splash, the country's fastest-growing event marketing platform that helps businesses and brands more effectively market through their events. An event planner turned tech entrepreneur, events are in Ben’s DNA. Prior to starting Splash, Ben was the Director of Events at Thrillist, where he produced large-scale events from concerts to mystery fly-aways.
