Keep Up With the Competition: 2017’s Top 10 Event Tech Blogs

Although 2016 was famously dubbed the ‘terrible, horrible, no good, very bad‘ year, it yielded some pretty awesome results for the event tech industry. With a growing demand for innovative tools in the event planning sector, a variety of new gadgets and resources penetrated the market to satisfy consumer demand.

As a Purdue tech nerd myself, I’m here to point out 2017’s top event tech tools that continue to dominate the market.

Q: What does that mean for you, the event professional?

A: You can’t stay stagnant when everyone else is moving forward.

Lucky for you, we’re here to guide you in the right direction. Check out the hottest (and most useful) event tech blogs of 2017:

1) Event Manager Blog

These guys are pretty well known and odds are, if you’re in the event planning industry,  you’ve heard their name tossed around a few times as thought leaders in the sphere. If you have not seen or do not follow the Event Manager Blog, you are definitely missing out! They not only cover event tech, but everything related to event management.

2) The Meeting Pool

This is one of the best looking and most serious #eventtech blogs available in 2017. A sharp feature is the ‘what’s hot’ tag cloud on their home page. It’s an easy way to find something that sticks out to you and your unique strategy. This truly is a great guide to all things technology related in the event industry.

3) Connect Association

For a little broader focus on tech in general, while still having a foothold in the event industry (meetings focused), be sure to check out the Connect Association’s Tech blog. This is an outlet that gives you ‘more than you can chew’ while realizing different companies have different appetites. These guys are known for providing a high level view of the industry’s latest trends, helping you forecast what’s to come.

4) Techsytalk

‘Your authority on a badass event experience’. Their tagline pretty much says it all.  If you’re looking for credibility be sure to follow Techsytalk where they not only post some great reviews of the latest event tech industry, but ask great questions to some of the most popular #eventprofs. If this sounds more of your taste, then you should also check out their podcast.

5) Bizbash

Let’s be real, these guys are the gods of the event industry. They’ve got it all: news, ideas and resources…lots and lots of resources. If you’re an event planner this is really the gold mine you’ve been searching for, so dig away! We’re always impressed with the thought leadership that seems to pour out of their content on a daily basis. If you haven’t created an account with them, we highly encourage it.

6) Socio

Managed and made by Millennials, Socio has a new and fresh perspective in the event planning sphere. Dedicated to everything ‘event efficient’ Socio operates on lean methodology and strategy while only providing readers with realistic and actionable event technology tools and resources. Our strength lies in our deep day to day analysis of what makes an event successful, running hundreds on a weekly basis ourselves.

7) Event Tech Brief

Be sure to check out Event Tech Brief to see snippets of the latest activity in event tech everywhere. We’ve seen some pretty radical ideas here that we’d like to try out in the future. This is a great outlet for original ideas, so if you’re in charge of creative marketing or planning, you might want to subscribe.

Side note: There is one problem: they seem to have forgotten mobile phones in 2017… when reading try to use: Pocket or Instapaper. Your eyes will thank you later.

8) Plannerwire

Plannerwire hosts a straight-forward and to the point blog with useful articles pertaining to the event industry for both professionals and amateurs alike. If you are limited on time, this is the blog for you. Most of their articles take less than 5 minutes to read and the takeaways are usually pretty valuable.

9) Successful Meetings

While not always focussed on event tech,  Successful Meetings blog is a great resource in terms of success stories for events everywhere. Instead of just reading about cool event ideas, find out how other event professionals actually implemented tools at their latest events.

10) PCMA

Along with its acclaimed magazine, Convene focuses on big ideas in the event industry. Having won multiple awards for educational content, self promotion is kept to a low, and they do a great job at finding modern challenges of today’s typical event planner.

BONUS: Social Tables

Social Tables is a web-based event planning platform for hospitality, meeting and event professionals. They help event planners design a floor plan, streamline the arduous seating process, and save them a ton of time. They have an amazing event planning and hospitality blog where experts share tips, techniques, and strategies to help event planners plan for the unplannable.

Planning an event in the near future? Contact us to take your event to the next level for attendees and event planners alike.