Most event professionals these days are armed with a smartphone. These phones have morphed into virtual swiss army knives with a huge array of Apps. Now we are not sure about the Blackberry, as we don’t pack this, but for the iPhone – there are some Apps that we believe are more mission critical for special event professionals than others.

The top of the pop Apps that all iPhones should ship with are, in no particular order of preference, the following:

AccuWeather (wet weather contingency), Twitterific (keep up to date in bite size data packets), Facebook (check out whats up with your people), Skype (for talking to your people long distance), Linkedin (keeping your professional profile in the minds-eye), FourSquare (where is everyone else right now), and the electronic ideas scrap book in the form of Evernote

All the other Apps that most iPhone users should have on-board.

In no particular order we also recommend Alarm Clock, the News gathering at one spot portal of NewsOneLite – you’ll quickly realize like us that most ‘newspapers’ run the same news just under slightly different slug-lines.

We also like ‘Studio 54′ inspired Battery LED app which tells you in a trippy visual way how much power your phone has got in it depending on your future use.

The app Bump is a really cool idea although we have to confess that we know of NO ONE who has actually used it.

However almost everyone who works within the international environment seems to use XE Currency which is really good. The desktop version also has a tool for calculating overseas expenses which is mana from heaven.

Another handy app is Free Wi-Fi – a quick email sync at no or little costs. Bless.

All these Apps are Free with the exception of the Alarm Clock that has gone Pro. This Pro version will set you back a whole .99c but in return you can wake up to The Steve Miller Band’s ‘Fly Like An Eagle’ (or a song of your choice that you’ve pre-loaded) which is much more civilized than the BLEEP BLEEP BLEEPing version.

Kinda handy tools

These four Apps are free although we suspect that the sensational Dropbox will be the first to start charging a fee for their services. Really hand app for anyone who comes across lots of stuff in their day on the web but doesn’t have the time to read or review right there and then – easy, just drop it into your box. Probably better suited for your laptop but still you never know, and it will sync.

The other three are just plain handy. Ever wondered what to do if bitten by a snake? Before passing out from the shock, click on your wikiHow app and all things will be revealed.

The SitorSquat app is very American-centric but then it’s development was ‘sponsored’ by Charmin who are huge in the States when it comes to toilet paper… nice synergy there. The future usefullness of this sort of app is dependent in part by the data that users contribute to and certainly within Australia and Hong Kong it is… well spotty at best. Still… if your travelling and can’t find a restroom, it certainly couldn’t hurt to have this on hand.

The last handy tools app should really just come loaded on with the iPhone and perhaps with the new model it will. Some really nice Backgrounds for your iPhone can be found here. Oh and it’s free which is a good price.

Communications

FakeCaller – Free and yet Priceless. This App is often referred to as the Dating Parachute and employed as part of one’s Meeting Exit strategy… come on – like you never wished you’d had this at one of those hideous committee meetings where everything needs to be debated. Bam! That’y my man Tommy White – must take it!

The two other communications Apps that are popular are Meebo and another free app called WhatsApp To be honest we are not 100% sold into either but we are run them for different reasons.

We use Meebo as a instant messaging dashboard of choice off our PC’s. It’s big drawcards is that it allows you to IM with people regardless of their own messaging preference provider. One person could be on yahoo, another on gmail, other son hotmail or even meebo itself – and you can chat across these proprietry domains. Cool.

WhatsApp was recommended to us as a handy way of IMing over iPhone… seems to be replicating the IM element of Skype and some people we’ve invited to communicate via this app have been successful and others not. Hmmm… this app may not be long for our phones me thinks.

Hope you’ve found this list and quasi reviews handy – if you have any you can recommend please let us know.

The second part of this post can be viewed here.

FACTOR168 Creative Event Company

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