Photo by Jakob DalbjornThere are many moving and complex facets in running an event, often all happen in tandem. Using SmartSimple tools, Kim Thao from Bader Philanthropy and Annie Brinkman from the Spencer Foundation managed to streamline their entire event management process in one centralized system, keeping everyone on the same page, from the finance department to the caterers. Both Annie and Kim presented their event management systems at ELEVATE San Diego. Here’s how...
Kim Thao of Bader Philanthropies leading a presentation on event management at Elevate San Diego.
One of the most important aspects of making an event run smoothly is getting all parties involved on the same page, which is a difficult task when all your systems out of synch. “Before we were using SmartSimple, all of our events were managed with pen and paper and in different programs,” said Annie Brinkman, grants manager for the Spencer Foundation. By managing different factors in disparate systems, there was more of a chance for error in communication and data entry along the way. Kim Thao, Operations Manager for Bader Philanthropies echoed this sentiment “Our events sometimes ran on a larger scale so we needed to make sure that everything ran as efficiently as possible so we didn’t run into any surprises.” Both organizations were looking for something better, and they found that when they were able to configure an events management system with SmartSimple.
Photo by Ezra Jeffrey
By centralizing the entire event management process into one system, both Bader Philanthropes and the Spencer Foundation were able to not only house all of their data under one roof, but also streamline their entire event lifecycle. “Our registration forms within SmartSimple have been very helpful with gathering the information we need about our potential attendees,” says Annie Brinkman. “We use an email broadcast system that alerts all of our stakeholders with information as they need and it keeps the ship sailing smoothly,” said Kim Thao.
Working with a configured system that both Annie and Kim used to run their events smoothly, they were able to focus on bigger picture initiatives without needing to stress about the smaller details that would otherwise plague them using multiple systems.
