Event ideas, secrets and time savers

1. Social Wall

If your event is public chances are people are already tweeting and sharing. Capture the excitement and display everything begin shared using a large screen or projector. My favorite software for this is Walls.io.

2. Information Screens

A question you will get asked a lot: "Excuse me, where is session X"? Solve the issue with just a little bit of preparation. For every hour (or half hour) create a slide deck with the next presenter's information. Add big arrows pointing them in the direction of the room. Use the built-in task scheduler to automatically load the right slide deck. Now all you need is a spare computer and a big screen or projector. Voila you've created a simple but helpful information system.

Pro-Tip: put those files on a network drive that you can access from another computer. This way you can update the information on the fly and cater for any last minute changes.

3. Charging Stations

Phone, tablet and laptop batteries always run out faster than expected at events. Borrow the appropriate cables from your colleagues for one off events. If you host a lot of them buying a set of chargers and cables would be better. Make sure you have a micro-usb and iPhone cable. Put them near where people are likely to socialize. Also make sure to distribute enough power strips around the venue. Especially in the session rooms people are likely to want to charge their laptops.

4. Voting Question Systems

The loudest person in the room always gets to ask his question. Often nobody is really interested in the answer. Sound familiar? A better solutions is to let the audience submit and vote on questions during the talk. The presenter can then choose the top questions and answer them. Solution like Sli.do are great event ideas for any event. They offer a bunch more neat features for events.

5. Session Broadcasts

This is one of those event ideas that is most useful when there is more than one simultaneous presentation. Pop a camera enabled mobile phone or tablet into each presenter's room. Put a laptop with a large screen in the common area. Start a skype call from the laptop to both phones and people can see what's going on in each room.

One bonus item for our list of event ideas: Toilet Notifier

For longer events people will be visiting your bathrooms. You may run out of things like toilet paper. You can rely on people telling you or go check every half hour. A simple solution is to install a basic door bell in each toilet. You can get them with a light instead of a gong. Gather all the lights at the reception. You'll be notified when there's a pressing issue in one of the stalls.