Hannah R - mastertheevent.com

There are no shortages of event planning websites for you to visit. Before I wrote this article I did a Google search for event planning sites. At the time, my search returned was over 90 million possible event and party planning websites to choose from. Obviously way too many for me to know which ones are better than the others. If you’re like me, I tend to review or go to the sites that are lucky enough to rank on Google’s first page (if we could all be that lucky). So for this post I’ve put together a quick review of three websites for event planners that I feel are worthwhile visiting. Be Careful of Websites That Pretend to Be about Event Planning As a general rule of thumb I consider a good event planning website as one that actually offers meeting planners assistance and tools they can use when planning their events. I always become leery with websites that seem to be only promoting their services or products. Unfortunately there are a lot of websites that claim they are focused on meeting and event planning, however, upon a closer look they are really only promoting their own company’s products. That’s not to say that these companies are not great companies, as I’m sure many of them are. However the point I’m trying to make here is that in my opinion a good planning website will offer both tools and assistance. Three of the best event planning websites worth a review are: BizBash – in their mission statement, BizBash says they exist to inspire effective special events and meetings by offering insightful editorial and sharing the latest ideas and strategies. BizBash, in addition to being a free planning website, also has print magazines for many popular meeting cities. Why do I think BizBash is worth a visit? Well, my first impression is that they offer objective opinions of the various suppliers available. Now don’t get me wrong I’m sure they focus on those suppliers which spend advertising dollars with them. However there are enough reviews and selections available to make their supplier lists valuable for planners. Not to mention their ideas. Cvent – Cvent established themselves in the late 1990s as an event management software company. They were very successful at reaching a large and impressive audience with their event management software. From there Cvent has expanded to include a resource for meeting and event planners looking for vendors and suppliers. The company stays on top of the latest technology trends within the industry and is very effective at getting their message out. Members can set up event management, surveys and a multitude of additional tools. Like other top event planning companies, Cvent has utilized the cloud-based platform which has become quite popular today. Velvet Chainsaws (Jeff Hurt Blog)”s Midcourse Correction– this one is a bit more unique than BizBash and Cvent in that its creator, Jeff hurt, provides expert advice on how to improve meetings and events. Jeff does this in a number of ways. Since its inception I’ve followed Jeff’s blog and have found it to be very useful for insight and tips – especially leaning towards the technology aspect of our industry. Jeff is taking trade shows and exhibits to a new level by implementing strategic social media strategies alongside traditional meeting formats. They are more of a consulting type business. But I would certainly recommend any event planner, that is looking for advice and tools to make their meetings successful, to take a look at this site and consulting services provided. As a disclaimer none of the event planning websites mentioned above are advertisers on this website. These websites all differ in one way or another and not one of the event planning website templates appear to be better than the others. But anyone that is planning a meeting or event won’t be disappointed by visiting these websites, using their resources and/or services.