Managing an event requires careful coordination, planning, and communication across multiple tasks, deadlines, and team members. Nifty is the perfect tool to streamline your event management workflow by providing features such as task management, milestones, custom fields, and automation.
This guide will walk you through setting up an effective event management workflow in Nifty and highlight the benefits of using it to manage events from planning to execution.
1. Create Your Event Project
Start by creating a project in Nifty dedicated to your event. This project will act as a central hub for organizing all aspects of the event.
Go to the Dashboard and click Create Project.
Name the project after the event (e.g., "Annual Conference 2024" or "Product Launch Event").
Within this project, you'll house all your tasks, milestones, files, and communications, keeping everything centralized and accessible to the team.
Benefit: Centralized Event Management
Keeping everything in one project ensures that no detail is missed. All tasks, files, and communications are organized, giving you and your team a clear overview of the event’s progress.
2. Define Milestones for Key Event Stages
Events typically have various stages, from pre-event planning to post-event follow-ups. Use milestones in Nifty to map out the major phases of your event.
Go to the Roadmap tab.
Add milestones for each stage of the event. Some examples could include:
"Venue Booked"
"Speakers Confirmed"
"Marketing Campaign Launch"
"Event Day"
"Post-Event Survey Sent"
Assign deadlines to each milestone, ensuring that tasks align with these key dates.
Benefit: Clear Event Timelines
Milestones provide a visual timeline of your event, ensuring you stay aligned with deadlines for important tasks, like booking venues or sending invitations.
3. Break Down Milestones into Tasks
With your milestones in place, break down each milestone into specific tasks. For instance, if the milestone is "Marketing Campaign Launch," tasks could include creating promotional materials, scheduling social media posts, and designing email invites.
Go to the Tasks tab and create tasks for each milestone.
Assign tasks to team members with clear deadlines.
Set task dependencies to ensure certain tasks cannot proceed until prerequisite tasks are completed (e.g., venue selection must be completed before invitations are sent).
Benefit: Detailed Task Management
Breaking down milestones into actionable tasks ensures nothing gets overlooked and keeps the workflow organized. Task dependencies ensure proper sequencing and prevent bottlenecks.
4. Use Custom Fields for Event-Specific Data
For event management, you may need to track additional details such as vendor information, budget, attendee count, or special requirements. Nifty’s custom fields feature allows you to add specific data fields to your tasks to track this information.
While creating a task, click on the option to add Custom Fields.
Add fields such as:
"Budget"
"Vendor Contact"
"Attendee Count"
"Sponsor Requirements"
"AV Setup Details"
These custom fields allow you to tailor your event workflow by storing important information directly within tasks.
Benefit: Customized Data Tracking
Custom fields enable you to track and manage all event-specific data, making it easier to reference important information such as budget allocations, vendor contacts, or special AV needs.
5. Automate Notifications and Reminders
Events are deadline-driven, so staying on top of task deadlines and milestones is critical. Nifty’s automation feature allows you to set automated reminders, task assignments, and notifications, ensuring nothing slips through the cracks.
Set reminders for approaching task deadlines or overdue tasks.
Automate the movement of tasks between stages (e.g., when one task is completed, another is automatically assigned).
Enable notifications for team members when critical milestones are approaching.
Benefit: Reduced Manual Monitoring
Automation helps reduce the administrative workload by automatically notifying team members and triggering task updates, allowing you to focus on high-priority event planning.
6. Collaborate in Real-Time
Real-time collaboration is essential for successful event management. Nifty offers various collaboration tools, such as team messaging, file sharing, and task comments, to keep everyone on the same page.
Use the Team Chat to keep discussions about event details centralized.
Share documents like contracts, seating arrangements, or marketing materials within the project for easy access.
Add comments to specific tasks to clarify details or provide updates.
Benefit: Seamless Communication
By keeping communication within the project, all team members can stay updated on progress, reducing the need for lengthy email chains and ensuring no important information is missed.
7. Track Time and Costs
If your event involves budget management or billable hours, Nifty’s time tracking feature allows you to monitor how much time is being spent on each task. You can also use custom fields to track costs, helping you stay within budget.
Enable time tracking for relevant tasks.
Log hours spent on each task to monitor team productivity and resource allocation.
Benefit: Better Resource Management
Time tracking and budget monitoring help you ensure that your event stays on budget and that your team is using their time efficiently.
8. Visualize the Workflow with Custom Views
Once your tasks, milestones, and custom fields are in place, you can visualize your event management workflow in various formats. Nifty’s custom views allow you to switch between different layouts, including:
Kanban View: Perfect for tracking tasks as cards that move through different stages (e.g., To-Do, In Progress, Done).
Timeline (Gantt) View: Useful for seeing all tasks and milestones on a timeline to ensure deadlines are being met.
List View: Provides a detailed list of tasks with all associated data, such as deadlines and custom fields.
Benefit: Flexible Workflow Visualization
Custom views allow you to choose the best layout for managing your event. For example, the timeline view helps you ensure all deadlines align, while the Kanban view simplifies task tracking.
Key Benefits of Managing Event Workflows in Nifty
Improved Organization: Nifty centralizes all tasks, milestones, files, and communications, ensuring your event planning stays organized and accessible.
Tailored to Your Event: Using custom fields, you can track event-specific data like budget, vendors, and special requirements, making the workflow more adaptable.
Streamlined Task Management: Milestones, task dependencies, and automation ensure a smooth flow of tasks from planning to execution.
Better Time and Cost Management: Time tracking and budget monitoring features help you ensure your event stays within the set budget and timelines.
Real-Time Collaboration: Nifty's collaboration tools ensure that all team members and stakeholders are on the same page, reducing miscommunication and boosting coordination.
Automation and Notifications: Automation saves time by reducing manual follow-ups, ensuring that important deadlines and tasks are not missed.
Custom Views for Efficiency: Flexible views such as Kanban and Timeline help you visualize your event planning process in the most effective way for you.
By following these steps and leveraging Nifty’s powerful features like custom fields, milestones, and automation, you can set up an efficient event management workflow that streamlines planning, reduces manual tasks, and ensures your event runs smoothly from start to finish. Whether you’re managing a large-scale conference or a small corporate gathering, Nifty helps keep every detail in check.