TL;DR: My event planning business generated a lot of buzz early, but nearly faltered from poor organization. We saved ourselves and grew immensely since getting Visio 2021, Microsoft’s top-rated diagramming tool, for $20.
Around ten years ago my best friends decided to get married without any money to their names. Their families were mostly out of the picture, and they didn’t really have any resources to allocate to their dream day. Being known for throwing a decent party, they enlisted my help in planning the nuptial festivities.
The start of my business
Loving my friends, I threw my heart into the assignment. I culled all of our resources, finding leftover party tents from friends who had a graduation party the summer before, sourcing a team of local grill masters to fuel our DIY catering approach, and making a deal with a local band to get them to play at a rate in exchange for a music video I would later shoot for them.
At the wedding, everyone told me how great a job I did and that I should plan events for a living. As one does (after getting one compliment), I started my company, and over the years, we’ve made a name for ourselves as the go-to for an affordable and fun event.
While we’re confident in our curations, our coordination leaves much to be desired. When I brought in one friend to consult as a project manager, they immediately had us buy Microsoft Visio.
Getting on track with Visio
We actually got an incredible deal on this program, which is still valid now. Unfortunately, it ends today, but if you act before 11:59 PM Pacific, you can get Microsoft Visio 2021 Professional for Windows for only $19.97 (reg. $249).
Visio is a diagramming tool you can use on a PC of your choice. Its large selection of templates for creating flowcharts, org charts, floor plans, and network diagrams proved to be lifesaving for my business. Let me give you a few examples.
Delegating responsibilities with flowcharts
As an event planning company, we are constantly facing new designs in terms of the challenges we overcome. Whether it’s creating an ideal workflow in a new and/or physically constraining space or balancing a budget between an overeager bride and a pricey venue, we always need to find unique ways to solve problems and find new people to help us.
The flowchart generation you can do with Microsoft Visio is truly game-changing in its ability to let us visualize our workflow for a given project. By seeing what needs to get done and which responsibilities flow to who, we can more effortlessly delegate tasks and prioritize specific needs.
Maximizing our events with floor plans and org charts
Visio’s platform feels like it was made specifically for event planners. Its floor plan feature can help you generate scalable and accurate event plans. This feature lets us figure out how to accommodate a specific number of guests within a given space.
This was huge during the COVID era since it allowed us to determine proper and safe social distancing. It continues to be invaluable when planning for important measures like fire escapes and general comfort.
Fielding additional needs with network diagrams
The event planning game is a versatile one, and I’m sure other professionals can relate to it.
Visio’s vast customizability truly makes it an exceptional tool for an active event planner who faces an ever-changing landscape in terms of the types of jobs they work. It comes with a library of over 250,000 shapes, which you can use to custom create charts depending on your needs.
Its network diagrams, for example, can help you understand how a specific piece of technology centered on an event is functioning. In addition, Visio’s brainstorming diagrams can help us determine themes, motifs, and rosters of collaborators for different events.
Using Visio to empower other systems
Obviously, my event planning company can’t run an entire business with just a diagramming tool. Like everyone else, we have our office software subscription and marketing tools. When thinking about our assets holistically, it’s also worth pointing out that Visio is extra attractive thanks to its compatibility with our other systems.
I can’t tell you how many times I thanked the heavens that we could easily generate org charts based on a budget built in Excel or a program we’d transferred over from Exchange. Any company working within the Microsoft ecosystem can absolutely benefit from this license.
The verdict? A necessary software for any businesses or organization
There’s absolutely no doubt that Visio has enhanced my business’s operations and planning strategies, which is why I’ve got to agree with another Visio fan, who wrote, “Visio has been a lifesaver for my project planning and flowcharts.”
Now, you can grab a lifetime subscription to Microsoft Visio 2021 Professional for Windows for just $19.97. If you’d like to make this software yours, you’ve only got until June 10 at 11:59 PM Pacific — just one more day!
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