This is a guest blog by Hannah McHaffie.

If you’re new to running cinema events, it’s likely that you’ll find yourself facing a handful of unexpected obstacles and dilemmas as your preparation develops. Unforeseen issues can arise from a range of areas – from unreliable volunteers to tasks being dropped by team members or through poor communication.

Some scenarios are simply unavoidable but there are others that can be eased, or actually avoided, with the assistant of online systems. You’ll find a range of products, apps and companies online claiming to be able to assist you with your event – often for a fee.

Here is a list of efficient online platforms and software that I’ve had previous first-hand experience of using when arranging cinema events. No matter the size of your event, there is often a way that you can more effectively streamline your processes and systems.

Asana – asana.com

Asana has divided opinions amongst my colleagues when we were required to utilise the platform where possible across our team. On the surface, Asana is a relatively simple task management website where you can track your own work and assign tasks to others.

When you start to manoeuvre your way around the site you’ll quickly discover that there are multiple ways of maximising your productivity with Asana. It’s an ideal companion to list-lovers like myself but can also be used for communicating and balancing a vast and varied workload.

Items can be marked by priority and deadline and you can also create sub-teams within your network. With clear and concise calendar and list views, Asana is a winner when it comes to simplistically mapping out the work and tasks that lie between you and your ultimate goal. It might not be to everyone’s taste but it can also be a highly valuable resource for individuals or teams.

Google Accounts – google.co.uk

This might sound a little obvious, but setting your team up with Google Accounts is perhaps the most straightforward way to ensure that schedules, meetings and plans are easily communicated to everyone. Sharing your individual Google Calendars will make scheduling meetings much easier with quick and easy access to your whole team’s calendars.

Meanwhile, with 2GB of free space, you can use Google Drive to store documents that need to be viewed, edited, and updated by multiple people – sometimes simultaneously. Google Drive removes the risk of computer crashes resulting in the loss of unsaved documents and the difficulties that often arise with attaching documents to emails.

With a document that auto-saves and that you can simply share as a link, Google Drive is likely to save time, energy and avoid a few serious headaches.

We Transfer – wetransfer.com

Running cinema events makes it incredibly likely that you will need to share large files with others quite regularly. This could be anything from film links to marketing materials and presentations. Where Google Drive can’t help you, We Transfer can.

The online platform allows you to send up to 2GB of data via email – either as an actual document ready to be downloaded or by simply providing you with a link that you can share with others. I have used this website many times and am impressed by the site’s ability to keep me informed about when files have been transferred and when they’ve arrived.

We Transfer links also expire so you don’t need to worry about confidential or sensitive content remaining on the site for anyone with the link to access. When it comes to the tricky task of sharing files, We Transfer have you covered.

Hootsuite – hootsuite.com

Utilising social media to promote your events is vital but can be incredibly overwhelming and time-consuming. With Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook being just some of the channels you can use, it is difficult to maintain consistently engaging social feeds.

Hootsuite is a fantastic tool that enables you to pre-schedule a range of content on multiple platforms, from Twitter to Tumblr. Although the use of live updates is undeniably crucial, if you are smart about how you use Hootsuite, it can save you heaps of time and ensure your audience senses your consist presence on social media.

One caveat – be careful not to over-rely on the platform as it could lead to a sense of insincerity, but it’s a fantastic way to engage with audiences during peak engagement hours when you might not be able to directly communicate.

SurveyMonkey – surveymonkey.com

Gathering audience feedback is often a very daunting and difficult challenge but instead of cornering people with a clipboard at the end of the night, you could simply invite them to give you feedback via a quick and easy online survey.

SurveyMonkey gives you incredible freedom to really tailor your questionnaire and ensure you’re gathering the correct data. It won’t only collate the information but also provides breakdown statistics of what this data actually means and helps you evaluate the percentages and overriding answers that your audience have provided.

Your audience is more likely to take two minutes to feedback on their phone whilst on their commute, for instance, than they are to delay their trip home after your event by sitting down with pen and paper. There is certainly also something to be said for giving attendees a little time to reflect before letting you know their thoughts.

MailChimp – mailchimp.com

The second ape-associated software I recommend is MailChimp – a simplistic and user-friendly e-news creator. If you are going to be asking your audiences to complete online surveys why not send the link via e-news, thanking them for coming and sharing any other information or upcoming events with them.

E-news help to keep your brand strong and stay in regular contact with old and new audiences. There’s a lot of room for individuality on a platform that even lets you insert gifs – what a time to be alive!

Conclusion

Running your first film event will always be a chaotic and complex operation, but putting some of these suggested systems into place might relieve a lot of pressure and ultimately strengthen your relationship with both your audiences and your team. I’ve used all of the above and can safely say my productivity and projects have all benefitted because of them.