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Recently Anjanet (Zerista’s Project Manager extraordinaire), noticed that we almost exclusively use the title “Event Planners” throughout our website and Events Matter Blog, and that – well – there just might be some alternatives. So, in an effort to both spice up our diction and better connect with our event planning compadres, we opened up the conversation to the people who know best: people who plan events! We started the discussion around LinkedIn, Twitter, and amongst colleagues, and, as it turns out, there are a LOT of other things to call event planners! Unfortunately, now we’re confused as ever. So, the question remains (and please, we’re dying to know): What do YOU like to be called?

• Assistant Director of Meetings
• Conference Manager
• Conference Producer
• Corporate Convention/Meeting Planner
• Corporate Meetings Specialist
• Director of Events
• Director of Meetings
• Director of Meetings & Events
• Director of Meetings & Exhibits
• Director of Operations, Events
• Event Administrator
• Event Coordinator
• Event Designer
• Event Director
• Event Engineer
• Event Manager
• Event Organizer
• Event Planner
• Event Producer
• Event Specialist
• Event Strategist
• Events & Meeting Services
• Exhibitions Department Manager
• Manager of Meetings & Incentives
• Manager of Meetings & Travel
• Meeting & Event Planner
• Meeting Consultant
• Meeting Planner
• Meeting Planner, Account Executive
• Meetings Manager
• Meetings Supervisor
• Planner
• PR & Special Events
• Producer
• Project Manager
• Registration & Events Coordinator
• Show Director
• Special Event Producer
• Special Events Manager
• Team Leader – Corp. Events
• Trade Show Organizer
• Tradeshow Manager

This year, NTC (NTEN’s nonprofit technology conference) used Zerista’s web & mobile event planning platform to enhance the annual 3 day experience for over 2,000 users  - an impressive adoption rate that includes 362 exhibitors, 280 speakers, 11 moderators, and 1,915 attendees. This complete mobile platform put the entire event completely in the palms of all 2000+ hands, not only simplifying networking and planning, but making it easier to connect and form an effective event community.

It was nice to be able to choose several sessions and have a schedule on my phone, so that if one session was full, or didn’t fit my needs, I could easily look up my alternative session without having to reference my program book…

I also relied on the live [Chatter] feeds to see what everyone else was saying about the conference topics, key takeaways, and to also see where people were heading to dinner or when the cookie cart arrived!

- Lisa, myNTC user and writer for the Balcom Group blog

To learn more about NTEN’s Nonprofit Technology Conference, visit their website at http://www.nten.org/ntc

Here at Zerista we’re hard at work making sure your event is the best it can be, the best way we know how: by constantly upgrading and improving our software. We know planning an event is a stressful process, and we’re committed to not only relieving many of the hassles, but to make you – the event organizer – look good in the process… because you deserve it.

Now, thanks to the hard work of the Zerista development team, you – the event planner – have better control than ever over your event site.

Changes to the database? You can now add and export attendees and sessions on your own, edit attendee and speaker profiles, or lock and unlock accounts when necessary.

Broadcast announcements & messages: When things get unpredictable (session change? Location change? Cancelations due to weather?) you can send a message in bulk to everyone attending your event.

Sophisticated dashboard: We’ve added a “track” column to the session listings in the admin panel, enabled you to add an RSS feed to your event site, and added support for multiple concurrent sessions per track.

With enhanced communication & more opportunities than ever to personalize your event with the administrative dashboard, you’ll be able to weather the literal and figurative storms that even the most challenging and unpredictable of events can throw at you.

Thanks for your interest in Zerista — event intelligence solutions for attendees, exhibitors, and organizers.

Taylor, a Colorado native, grew up ski racing in Steamboat, Colorado. Rather than going to a traditional high school, he attended a “ski academy” where he wore ski boots 250 days out of the year and traveled all around the world.

After high school Taylor studied communications at DU and went on to work for Nordica as their North American factory rep.  His job was to be the face of the industry, driving all over the country and maintaining the equipment for clubs and athletes. It was a sports lovers dream – Taylor was responsible for keeping all of the athletes happy, from the Nordica athletes in the X-games to those in the Olympics.

Taylor went on to be an entrepreneur in two, very successful, software companies, before arriving here today at Zerista. Although he works with us as an account executive, it’s his incredible background in technology and software development that lets him be such an  effective liaison between the development team and our customers.

Today his interests are vast. His parents still live in Steamboat, where his mom runs “Strings,” a well-known yearly Steamboat music festival. This festival has been a big stepping stone for up-and-coming bands – a number of Best New Artist Grammy have been won the year after they performed at her festival. Growing up this translated to lots of starstruck moments for Taylor, who met people like Billie Corgan, David Bowie, and Trent Reznor during these summers.

When he isn’t skiing or meeting superstars, Taylor loves to cook and loves to eat – he’s even teaching his wife to cook at the moment. When they aren’t cooking together, Taylor and Katie spend a lot of time with their dogs – Chuck (a 5 year old lab/great dane mix) and Roxie (a 4 year old shitzu poodle) – both rescues. You think between the cooking, the eating, the skiing, and the Zerista-ing, Taylor would have enough on his plate – but no cigar: he just finished his first half-marathon, where he raised about $10,000 with his wife and sister for the Leukemia/Lymphoma society. The photo above was taken at this marathon, right at the 12.5 mile finish line.