Top 12 Holiday Gifts For Event Planners

With the holiday season approaching, event planners are not the only ones in full gear. Christmas shopping is falling on everyone’s to-do list, but what do you get the planner who already has everything nailed down? Don’t worry, we’ve complied the top 12 gifts for event planners that will end 2014 with a bang. Some gifts will increase productivity while others are just down right cool! Either way, check them out and get your event planner gifts checked off your list. If you’re event planner, forward this onto your family and friends for a subtle nudge in the right direction. Have other great gift ideas? Share your choices in a comment below!

Bluetooth Headphones: Plantronics BackBeat GO 2 Wires are so 2008. Make the switch to the wireless world and free up the tangling mess. Most bluetooth headphones also have a microphone built into them so they double as a headset for making calls. We recommend these Plantronics headphones because they come with a charging case for those long show days.

Bluetooth Speaker: Bose SoundLink Bluetooth Speaker III Snow White was right, if you whistle while you work, it sure does go faster. So why not upgrade your whistling to 2014 and grab a wireless bluetooth speaker for your favorite event planner. Our favorites include the Bose SoundLink which has the best audio of any speaker. Boom Swimmer which is damn near indestructible and also is waterproof or if you’re on a budget, we recommend this guy, which is one of VP of Operations, Danny Fancher’s favorite toys.

Digital Pen: Livescribe Pen When your job primarily requires you to be in meetings nearly your entire day, this pen is super helpful because it doesn’t force you to write everything down and you can instead focus on being in the meeting. Also imagine doing a site drawing and being able to tap on an area of your drawing and hear a voice note you left about that area.

Smartwatch: Moto 360 With Apple’s iWatch coming out “early 2015”, for those who cannot wait or do not have an iPhone. We recommend the Moto 360. Get notifications on your wrist, get your questions answered immediately and also take reminders, this is the most stylish smart watch we’ve seen yet.

External Battery: Anker Astro E6 With all of these mobile devices, and with how long the days on site can get – it’s a good idea to bring an external battery. We recommend this Anker battery which can recharge your iPhone 6 over EIGHT times. Now just bring a short usb cable, drop the battery in your pocket, and you can continue to use your phone wireless all day… or even all week.

4K Monitor: ASUS PQ321Q 31.5-Inch With 4K being the new technology rage in televisions, that also means that the technology has made it’s way to computer monitors. While some might debate on the value of 4K (basic argument is that your eye can’t tell the difference between 1080P and 4K on a television) however with 4K on monitor that means your window sizes get larger and you have more workspace. Imagine have 3 apps open all at the same time – talk about productivity.

Desktop Computer: iMac with 5K Retina Display What’s better than a 4K Monitor? How about a 5K monitor! Apple’s newest iMac is the best yet, and for the price of $2,500 it is cheaper than most (actually all) 5K monitors out there. So get a 5K monitor AND a computer for cheaper than a 5K monitor itself.

Audiobooks: Audible Along with sitting in meetings, event planners spend a lot of time driving. While we love music at Endless, why not learn something. Audible is our favorite audiobook subscription service because of their simple subscription model and their app that allows you to save your spot in your book even between devices and even syncs up with your Kindle books to listen while your read. This makes a great gift for event planners who love to learn and grow!

More Books, kinda: Blinkist Still don’t have time to read or listen to books but want to learn the key concepts in that latest book? Blinkist combs through the best books and gives you only the most important insights so you don’t have to actually read the entire book. This makes the perfect gift for the event planner who wants to learn but doesn’t have much time!

Home Automation: August Smartlock Home automation is all the rage right now and if you’re like us and hate fumbling around for your keys everytime you get home, then the August Smartlock would be for you. It uses your phone to know when you walk up to the door and it automatically unlocks for you. You can also create guest keys for things like the babysitter or maid.

Digital Distance Measurer: Bosch DLR130K Tape measures are a thing of the past and if you want to save the special event planner in your life a lot of time, get them this. We promise they will use it every day.

Life Automation: Zapier Subscription Event planning has been named the top 5 most stressful job in the world by Huffington Post. To make that stress go down a bit, get your event planner the gift of automation. Using a tool like Zapier, they can automate things like “When I scan this business card into FullContact, add them on LinkedIn”. If this sounds familiar, it might be because there is another free tool called IFTTT (short for If This Then That) which sets up automation that when X happens Y happens in another app. IFTTT is free but does not integrate with any tools like CRMs, Project Management software or such. This is a favorite of President of Endless and recommends this gift for event planners who are extremely busy!

BONUS gift: IN1 Phone Case While we’re a fan of Otterbox cases for their indestructibility, this is just too cool to not have. If you’re anything like us and at any given moment you need a screwdriver, a pen and scissors? Then this phone case will keep those tools (and more) right in your pocket.

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