Ready to hit the road for business? If you’re on the road or in the air more than you’re in the office, these mobile apps will take some of the stress out of your travels and you can share to your team or meeting planners for the benefit of all attendees.
We’ve rounded up some of our favorites to help you manage travel, documents, and networking, with just a few swipes of a finger.
1. Evernote—Remember Everything
No matter how advanced conferences and technology become, the number-one activity of most attendees will be to take notes to get the most out of each presentation. The favorite for most attendees, marketers and business people is Evernote.
You can set a free a count – which by the way gives lots of Gb- and you can synchronize it with your laptop, tablet or smartphone. Evernote allows you to create different notebooks and keep individualized notes in each one. That way you can create a virtual notebook for the conference you attend and then create a separate note for each individual presentation.
You can also include photos (of your favorite presenter or a detailed slide you’ll want to review later), audio, tags, URLs, upload pdf files
2. TurboScan
TurboScan instantly turns your iPhone into a scanner for documents, receipts, whiteboards, expense reports and other important files. Once you have taken a photo of the document, you can store or email the file as a PDF or JPEG. This app is invaluable for meeting planners on the go who don’t want to deal with stacks of paper or for attendees that need to justify all expenses.
Create and send expense reports right from your phone, or export expenses into several popular accounting packages like QuickBooks.
3. TripIt
The TripIt app consolidates your travel plans into a single itinerary, making it easy for any jet-setting entrepreneur to stay atop of his or her travel plans. The application manages all your travel information, regardless of what website you use to purchase your ticket. You just need to forward all of your travel emails to TripIt, which then forms a master itinerary that can be accessed at any time and on any device. Also, a great way to share itineraries and keep track of your team, friends, family members, and the boss too!
Through TripIt, you can check departure times, directions to the airport and even weather reports. The app will notify you about any delays. TripIt’s most basic app is free, but there is also a TripIt Pro version for $49 a year and TripIt for Teams for $29 a month (for up to 10 users). Both plans come with a 30-day free trial. The app works on iPhones, iPads, Android, Blackberry and Windows Phone 7, as well as Macs and PCs.
4. CardMunch—Turn Business Cards Into Contacts
There’s little doubt that one of the biggest advantages of attending an in-person conference is networking. The more people you meet, the more business cards you acquire. At big conferences, you might end up with dozens of cards. By the time you get back to the office, catch up on old emails and get back into the swing of things, you’re looking at an intimidating pile of cards.
CardMunch quickly scans business cards and pulls the information into LinkedIn. This makes it easier to connect and follow up.
