There were fifteen of us in the group. And all we really needed to know was which date would be the best date for all of us to get together. The e-mail string kept getting longer and longer with unnecessary reply-all's and random comments in the string. By the end of it, I had a headache, and I wasn't even the one planning it. The thing is that there are tons of digital tools available to simplify coordination challenges. Here are five time-consuming challenges and their corresponding digital world solutions:
Find a mutually convenient meeting time.
Schedule Once allows your invitees to provide their availability so that you can find the perfect time to schedule a meeting. Best of all the process of creating the invitation is fast.
Coordinate Volunteers.
Tools like Volunteer Spot and Planning Center help manage the details of schedule coordination and assignments to make it easier to focus on the things you really need to focus on...the people.
Plan an Event.
Eventbrite is a great tool for conferences and other events where you need to sell tickets. They take a small percentage of each sale and have easy digital tools for connecting with registrants, facilitating pre-event communication, printing attendee lists and name badges and sending out follow up surveys.
Organize meals.
Take Them a Meal, and Meal Train facilitate scheduling meals for families that have just had a newborn, are experiencing illness or have recently had a surgery. The organizer simply sends out the calendar and people sign up for what they plan to bring. Invitations are sent via e-mail and Facebook. The services also send reminder e-mails prior to the scheduled meal delivery.
Send Gifts for Birthdays.
Easilydo is the smart assistant that serves a number of functions including letting you automate not only birthday greetings but also gifts from Amazon. Easilydo has a number of other time-saving functions including automating responses to Evites and invitations, tracking packages and helping you with your daily commute.