Behind every successful Association Manager or Event Manager are invaluable free tools they utilise daily.
Recently, we asked our team to compile a list of their go-to free tools to share with you.
We understand the frustration of free trials that require credit card details upfront, potentially locking you into a contract post-trial. Therefore, for your convenience, all tools listed here are completely free, accompanied by summaries of their plans should you wish to upgrade to a paid version.
This list is not intended as a product endorsement. These are simply free tools that assist us in our daily responsibilities, and we want to share them with you in the hope that they will also help streamline and enhance your work.
Meeting Management
Fathom AI Notetaker – Automatic notetaker for your Board and Committee meetings
Our Association Managers currently have Fathom AI Notetaker plugged into Microsoft Teams. Meetings held via Microsoft Teams are automatically transcribed into a Word document, with each discussion item timestamped alongside its corresponding audio recording. While some light editing may be needed – as expected with any AI tool – it has notably saved our team valuable time, allowing them to focus more effectively on executing the meeting outcomes.
It works with Zoom and Google Meet, too.
Fathom AI Notetaker is currently free and promises to remain so as according to the website. For those seeking additional integration options and advanced AI capabilities, paid versions like Fathom Premium are available.
timeanddate.com – Time zone converter
With Board and Committee members working across multiple time zones, this website is a must-save in your Bookmark.
Simply enter your location and the locations of your Board or Committee members to find a convenient meeting time that suits everyone. The tool even indicates whether each time zone falls within or outside general working hours with a smiley face or frown.
This tool is completely free, and does not require creating an account.
AddEvent – ‘Add to calendar’ buttons for your email campaigns
If your email builder (e.g. Mailchimp) does not have a ‘Add to calendar’ feature, then AddEvent is the perfect free solution for you.
Using AddEvent’s dashboard, you can create an event by inputting essential details, such as date, time, location, and description. It generates a set of buttons that you can directly embed into your email campaign. It works with all major calendar services, including Outlook and Google.
You do need to create an account to use the free version, called the ‘Hobby’ plan, but a credit card is not required. The only catch is that the Hobby plan is limited to 100 event-adds, meaning only 100 people can add your event to their calendar. Paid versions offer more event-adds if you have a large audience.
Doodle Poll – Meeting scheduling tool
Finding a suitable meeting time can be challenging, whether it’s a small three-person meeting or a larger gathering of 20 people – we have all been there.
With Doodle Poll, you can create a meeting poll by selecting available times and then share the poll link with your invitees. Each invitee can vote for their preferred time, and you will receive email notifications as votes come in.
Clicking directly to this link allows you to bypass creating an account. No credit card is required, but you are limited to 20 selections. You can upgrade to a paid version, like the Pro plan, which gives you unlimited selections, and the ability to set deadlines and send automatic reminders.
Document Management
CombinePDF.com – Convert, compress, combine or crop files
If you don’t have a paid Adobe account, and need a free PDF tool that can convert, compress or combine PDF documents, Combine PDF is a good option.
Select the task you need (converting PDF to DOC or DOC to PDF etc., compress, combine or crop), upload your file(s) and click the button to download your new file.
Though the website states that all data will be deleted after one hour, it is still recommended that you exercise caution and avoid uploading sensitive materials.
Marketing & Communications
ChatGPT – Writing and brainstorming helper
There are countless ways you can use Chat GPT, but in the context of helping your marketing and communications efforts, the most important lesson we have learned from using ChatGPT so far is that it is not a perfect writer or an editor, and the quality of input directly influences the output it generates. Simply asking ChatGPT to write a LinkedIn post, blog or even a whitepaper on topic x will likely give you ‘sale-sy’ content, because that’s what it defaults to if you don’t feed it enough information, such as your audience, brand voice and context to the social post or article you want to write about.
We came across this LinkedIn post recently which explains how this particular content writer uses ChatGPT in their work every day to save time and maintain creative flow: 1) analyse your writing for any logical gaps, 2) build analogies, and 3) ask ChatGPT to iterate your writing, especially replacing long phrases with a word.
Canva – Online graphic design tool
Canva’s free version is a great value, but if you are producing content almost daily, upgrading to Canva Pro could be worthwhile. With this paid version, you gain access to unlimited templates, better graphic options (in our opinion), the ability to resize your existing graphic to fit any social media platform, more storage – and our favourite feature, the ability to remove backgrounds from images.
No credit card is required to sign up to a free version.
imagecolorpicker.com – Colour picker
Need to know the HEX or RGB codes for your brand colours, or find out colours used in an image or graphic?
Simply upload your logo or banner, and this handy website will produce a colour palette representing your brand or uploaded graphic. You can copy and paste the HEX or RGB code of a particular colour to use in your new graphic.
crop-circle.imageonline.co – Crop a circle in image
Speaker headshots often come in various shapes and sizes – and this simple tool allows you to crop them into a circle to add to your website or email campaign.
This is definitely one for your bookmark. It is completely free to use, and does not require you to sign up.
Sendtric – Email countdown timer
Our Event Managers include this countdown timer in their clients’ email campaigns to create a sense of urgency, especially as the registration deadline approaches.
The beauty of this tool is its ability to customise the timer to match your event branding colours using HEX or RGB codes (refer to colour picker above).
To add the countdown timer in your email campaign, you will need to copy and paste the HTML code generated into your email builder (for Mailchimp, paste it into a ‘Code’ block).
You don’t need to sign up to an account to use this tool, however you will need to provide your email address (refer to their Terms and Service and Privacy Policy for how they use your information) and your countdown timer is limited to 10,000 views. If you have a large audience, you can consider their paid version which comes with more customisation options.
PiliApp – Whitepace and line break for Facebook
If you have tried posting content on Facebook before, you may have noticed that Facebook disregards any spacing or line breaks, making your posts appear cluttered.
For a more readable and impactful presentation, you may want to space out your sentences or paragraphs. This is where this tool comes in handy.
Copy and paste your pre-written content into the free tool (or write directly in the tool), apply spacing and/or line breaks to your content, click the ‘Convert and Copy’ button, then paste the content to your Facebook post.
No sign up is required, and it is completely free to use online.
Financial Management
When you need to perform numerous calculations, relying on a calculator ensures accurate results every time. The more repetitive the task, the greater the risk of errors!
This simple GST calculator by Moneysmart.gov.au is handy for calculating GST payable, determining prices excluding GST, and calculating total costs including GST.
Other
Pomofocus – Pomodoro timer
Need to hyper-focus on an important or dreaded task? Apply the Pomodoro technique to increase your productivity. This technique, beloved by our team members, uses a timer to break down work into intervals, traditionally 25 minutes in length, separated by a five-minute break.
Once you start the timer, you will be prompted to allow notifications in your browser. An alarm signals the end of each 25-minute interval, and you can opt for a reminder during the last five minutes.
It is completely free to use, without the need to sign up. While there is a paid version with premium features for those seeking detailed productivity reports, we find the basic version sufficient for effective time management.
dinopass – Password generator
Managing an association involves managing log ins for countless websites, platforms, tools and documents.
Creating a strong password that meets all the criteria – like mixed upper and lower case letters, a special character, numbers etc. – can be a time-consuming task.
Simply click the ‘Another strong password, please’ button to generate a password.
It is completely free, and no sign up is required.
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What are some of your favourite free tools that you use daily in your work? Feel free to leave suggestions in the comments below.