The Meeting Professionals International – Chicago Area Chapter NEXT (MPI-CAC NEXT) conference is an event I look forward to every year. It brings together meeting planners, marketing professionals and industry experts for a jammed packed day of sessions, panels and interactive programs on meeting planning techniques and strategies. After attending sessions on event technology and meeting planner apps, we thought about a few apps that appeal to us not only as meeting professionals, but also as people that appreciate efficiency and simplicity. Below are a few apps that my colleagues and I find helpful in our everyday professional and personal lives.
Flip Board: Choose the topics that are important to your event or clients. You can also create customized magazines for your meeting planning team or clients.
Real-world use: Do you have an upcoming event with a safari theme? See the latest examples, get the latest news on the landscape and curate the ones you want to share in one easy spot for reference.
Photo Math: Solve a math problem in a cinch. Take a complex math problem, snap a picture and let the app do the work.
Real-world example: Need to divide the event room up in sections and figure out how many tables and chairs will comfortably fit in one area? Write it down and let the smart camera calculator figure it out.
Office Lens: An app that lets you scan documents from your phone. It will automatically flatten the image and enhance the text readability. It works well with Office 365 and lets you convert the image into a PDF, Word document or JPG.
Real-world use: Keep track of your receipts – scan them and upload them automatically into your Office 365 OneDrive cloud or take a picture of a floorplan and reference it later. You can also take pictures of business cards and save the address.
Hipmumk: A travel app that provides insight into the cheapest and easiest routes. It takes layovers, airports and shopping areas into account. Real-world plus: It also includes Airbnb accommodations!
Found an app you can’t live without? Let us know about it. Find us on Twitter: @meetingexp
