Organization is definitely in the top five most important qualities for an event manager to have. I spend most of my day coordinating people and assigning tasks to be done, then following up with those people and making sure those tasks are done. So when it comes to organizing events any tool that can help you run a better meeting, fundraiser, potluck, office party, or volunteer event is helpful.
When it comes to organizing an event where people are responsible to bring something, volunteer for something, or schedule a time to attend something I look to a great event tool: Sign Up Genius.
I was introduced to Sign Up Genius at my previous job where people would sign up to volunteer for our monthly Meals on Wheels. Rather than have the physical sign up sheet in the break room, we went electronic. By doing this, everyone could just log in from their computer and sign up for a particular month.
I've since used it to collect themed baskets for fundraisers. I've also seen it used to schedule parent teacher conferences, volunteer at church events, and bring in a food items for a class party.
This easy to use tool has been a time saver for me. And don't we all need a little more time back in our day?
The best part about this tool? It's free! Of course, for a fee you can add features like chat, cloud storage, attaching files, and volunteer hour reporting. But, for those of us that just need to make sure there's food for the class party the free version works just fine!
You can give this nifty scheduling tool a shot here: http://www.signupgenius.com/.