Easily Build Your Event With Inspherio

There is one word to describe the event industry and that word is ‘chaos’. Even the most professional wedding planners can have something go wrong, or get so busy that key details fall through the cracks.

Don’t get caught up in a hectic frenzy, while trying to manage guest lists, pay vendors, keep up with the event activities, and more. Instead, stay on top of your event and easily manage every aspect of it with Inspherio.

What’s Inspherio?

Inspherio is the business management solution for all professionals in the event industry. From wedding planners, DJs, photographers, and more, Inspherio is the perfect assistant that simplifies managing your event. It’s full of innovative features for online payments, event progress, online
marketing, contracts, and more.

Building Your Event

Before planning an event it’s important to know what your clients want, which is why Inspherio makes it easy to learn about what your clients want by having them fill out the Know Your Event form. They can log into Inspherio and answer questions about what time of day the event is, the venue location, if anyone is a vegetarian, and more. You can also customize the know your event form by adding your own questions.

Then you can create contracts for your clients to sign online. The information from the know your event form will auto-fill on your contract, so you won’t have to enter in all of the information yourself. You can create custom payment plans with your contract, and your clients can log in to securely sign the contract online, and make payments.

Invoices for your event will be automatically created based off of the payment plan created with your custom contract. You’ll receive reminders for invoices that haven’t been sent out, and for outstanding payments. You can also create invoices for lost or damaged rental equipment.

Make sure your event runs smoothly with an itinerary that you can check on location right from your smartphone. The itinerary has pre-made templates that you can customize for your event, and you can share it with your staff, vendors, and clients to make sure everyone is on the same page as far as knowing when and where to show up. The itineraries can also be easily printed or mailed.

Are events even possible without guests?! Prepare an organized guest list with your client online, and even send out invitations directly from your Inspherio account. As more guests RSVP you’ll know how many people to expect, and how many guests to bill your client for. Plus, you can pull up the guest list from the Inspherio app no matter where you are to quickly make any changes that your client needs.

Events are expensive, easily keep track of expenses with Inspherio to avoid letting them get out of hand. Record each expense in relation to different events, keep up with which of your employees incurred expenses, and keep track of when you reimburse those employees for those expenses right from the palm of your hand.

Make sure that you have the right inventory to cover an event, and add these items to your contracts. Once an item is added to an event it can be checked out and can be checked back in later. These items will be added to your load list so you can make sure you have everything when preparing for the event. Also, when you return items to your inventory you can add notes about any damages and the condition of your items.

Manage your contacts. Keep track of your staff by adding them to events and assigning them tasks, and keep up with the payroll to make sure they get paid for their hours. Also, organize different vendors into groups related to different events and easily pull up their contact information in a matter of seconds.

Give Inspherio a Try

Enjoy a complimentary 30-day free trial to take advantage of Inspherio’s intuitive features that will help you plan and manage your event with features for managing guest lists, keeping track of vendors, keeping note of your inventory and it’s condition, email marketing, and more.

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Event Planner's Top 5 Pet Peeves—And Our One Solution

Ugh! Once again, your clients have changed their mind on the reception flowers, and now you have to start all over on the design. That’s enough to make your head spin, right? I mean, they’ve only changed it about seven times already. But as a professional, you take a deep breath, resist the eye roll, and say, “OK, what flowers were you thinking about?”

Mr. Webster, famous for his ability to define words, would categorize this as a pet-peeve moment—you know that one incident or occurrence you find especially annoying? But don’t feel bad; you’re not alone. We rounded up five of the most common pet peeves every planner has when planning an event:

1. RSVP Nightmares

Late RSVPs are enough to drive you completely event-planner crazy. You and your clients send out RSVPs for a reason: so you can get an accurate headcount for seating, food, bulletins, and countless other items. But when someone sends a late RSVP, you have to completely reorganize the venue layout to accommodate for them. Why do these even exist?!

2. The No Shows

This happens at every. single. event.

The guests RSVP’d on time, you ordered them a meal, and you saved them a seat, but when you look around, they’re not there. Maybe they didn’t want to insult your clients by checking “No” on the RSVP slip, but what the guests fail to realize is that you arranged tables, prepared food, hired staff, and might have even delayed the start of the event just for them. This one is a big event planner pet peeve!

Related: 15 Wedding Expenses You Forgot to Budget For

3. Vendors Arriving Late

It’s the day of the event and everything is on time, except the DJ. He is over an hour late and you could just scream. He needs to run AV cables, set up his table, and do a sound check—all before the guests arrive. As an event planner, you rely on vendors to help you implement a successful show. However, when one part of the event runs behind, everything else does too. And yes, we understand problems with vendors do arise, but a good vendor will ensure they show up early to silence your event-day worries.

4. Hidden Costs

Your clients depend on you to plan the event of their dreams within the means of their budget. And nothing annoys you more than a vendor who gives you a quote, but neglects to include the hidden service charges. Sneaky, sneaky! Knowing the exact prices up front helps you plan a realistic budget because no one likes asking the clients for more money at the end of the event.

Related: Event Contracts: Your Armor and Your Shield

5. Lost Guests

You tried your best to paint the prettiest signs, and you made sure every sign post had the directional arrow guiding guests to the event. But it never fails, a guest always gets lost and then gets mad at you. Although you have a great poker face and apologize for the miscommunication, all you want to do is roll. your. eyes.

The One Solution: Inspherio

Pet peeve moments happen, but the Inspherio Crew is here to make them less of an occurrence. As experienced event professionals, we know there are certain moments that can drive you crazy, which is why we designed the perfect anti pet-peeve, event planning solution. When you join the Inspherio family, you’ll have access to features that can help keep people on time, track and update guest lists, budget events, and a vendor contract feature to ensure every event is spectacular.  Don’t believe us, try it free for 30 days. You’ll be glad you did.

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Follow up to Last Week's Guest Post

Inspherio would like to thank Sharon Hill for her guest post last week. She has a lot of experience as a wedding and event planner, so her expertise is always appreciated.

Sharon provided several good tips on ways to reduce any stress or worries you may have as a wedding planner. We will now take a closer look at each of her points and discuss how Inspherio can resolve each matter.

1. Quit trying to keep all the details in your head 

"By getting things out of your head and onto paper or into your computer, you won’t have to keep worrying that you’ll forget something."

Inspherio is a one stop shop for organizing your event details. Whether it custom pricing, client/vendor information, or invoice/payment status, your Inspherio account keeps everything organized for you.

2. Enter all of your appointments and deadlines into a calendar 

"Keeping an up-to-date, fully detailed calendar will reduce your stress and the possibility that something will fall through the cracks.

Your Inspherio calendar allows you to add events, appointments, and tasks. Additionally, you can invite clients, vendors, and/or employees to appointments or assign employees to events and tasks. Add reminders to these calendar items so that you and others will not forget anything.

Furthermore, Inspherio acts as your own personal assistant. It will remind you whether or not you have sent out invoices, if you have payments due from your clients.

Also, by adding deadlines for your client to send you information for their wedding, you greatly minimize the risk of letting any information fall through the cracks. More on this in the next point. 

3. Take copious notes 

"Whenever you get a call or have a meeting, immediately record all of the relevant information."

 Inspherio's KYE (Know Your Event) Form is a thing of beauty for wedding planners.

• First, set exactly which questions you have for the bride and send them to her with a couple clicks of the mouse. It is now the bride's responsibility to provide you the correct information, which means you not only save a lot of time, but she also cannot come back later and say you had the incorrect information. Once she fills out the questionnaire, the answers save to your Inspherio account automatically in real-time.
• Should you want to fill out the information yourself, or edit any of her answers, you can do that, too. The same fields are readily available to you.
• You can set deadlines on when certain questions are locked and the answers cannot be changed. By setting these deadlines, you are guaranteeing that you receive the information in a timely manner and that the bride cannot change the information without your knowledge.
• You can choose which information will automatically populate into your contract and itinerary. By doing so, you avoid having to double-enter any information (potentially incorrectly).

Your Inspherio account also lets you add notes, tasks, and uploaded documents to each individual event as you see fit.

 4. File all of your information in one place 

 "[E]verything that has to do with a bride and her wedding should be organized and kept together in one place. This way whenever you get a call or need to do some research, all of the information is at your fingertips."

Not only does Inspherio let you keep all your information in one place, but it also lets you access it anywhere you want. Working from home instead of the office? Simply log in and have all your information at your fingertips rather than having to move data back and forth via a zip drive. Out on the road? Access all your client data via your iPhone or Android app.

Also, this applies to all of your clients and vendors. If you are planning multiple weddings at a time, you can have access to all of each bride's information at hand and neatly organized at all times. 

5. Share with your assistants 

"Always make sure your staff knows where they can get information when they are assisting you with a wedding."

Your Inspherio account allows you to manage your employees as well. Not only can you assign them to events and input their hours/pay, but you can also grant various privileges to each individual employee as you see fit. Should you want a certain employee to be able to send pricing and sign contracts, no problem. If you just want them to be able to view the bride's information, you can do that, too.

As you can see, Inspherio is a dream organization tool for wedding planners. You never have to worry about losing detailed information or letting anything fall through the cracks. Your account is there to make your job less stressful and more efficient.

If you are new to Inspherio , start your free 30-day trial now (no credit cards required) and experience what Inspherio can do for you!

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Getting tech-sy at PlannerTech

For those of you who could not attend or simply may not be aware, happening today in NYC is the the premier Event Tech Conference and Showcase - PlannerTech.

Presented by Liz King Events, PlannerTech's goal is to educate professionals in the event industry on how technology can be strategically implemented to improve the efficiency of events and/or have a lasting impact on event guests. It's a great product and one that continues to grow each year.

In addition to educational speakers, PlannerTech partners with many exhibitors who can showcase their new event tech. While Inspherio is an outstanding tool for the beginning-to-end planning process, there are several other great tools you can utilize that offer other creative services once the event begins. For example, CoatChex is the first and only digital ticketless coat/bag service; they've taken a traditional service and made it more efficient using technology.

Inspherio uses the same concept. We've taken what you already do and made it much more efficient. Instead of scribbling down information on notepads, sticky notes, spreadsheets, and emails, Inspherio allows you to keep all your information organized in one central, web-based location. Instead of having to create, amend, fax, and sign client contracts, Inspherio automatically generates it for you and allows both you and your client to digitally sign. Instead of you forgetting whether or not that invoice has been sent or the payment received, Inspherio will act as your personal assistant and keep track of each lead or event's status. Not to mention, like most of the other event techs, we are completely mobile for your iPhone or Android.

For more information on PlannerTech, its speakers, and exhibitors, check out PlannerTech.com. If you want to follow everything going on, or if you are attending and want to share what you've learned, utilize hashtags #plannertech and #techsytalk.

And as always, check Inspherio and its benefits and sign-up for a 30-day free trial!

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