Eventative Simplifies Event Invitations, Tracking, And Planning

Eventative is a new tipping point event planning and invitation tracking service. Planning events can be a lot of work and more people may attend if they knew they are not going to be siting there alone. Eventative has created a simple, yet powerful, solution that uses email without the invitee needing to create an account. I like how they built this from scratch and that it is not integrated or based on current social networks. So many services today attempt to piggy back on Facebook and Twitter, but to truly innovate you must stand on your own.

Basically what you are doing is suggesting a gathering like a Yahtzee tournament with your friends, a game of football, or a cookout. Before you would have to call or email each person to see when they could do it, adjust the time based on peoples schedules, call everyone back, worry if enough people will attend, etc. With Eventative you create the proposed event and send invitations in just a couple minutes.

When you set up your proposed event you state the date, time, location, and enter the email addresses of the people you would like to come and if they can see the the guest list. Next you determine the tipping point (the minimum number of people needed) for the event to take place, and when they should respond by. The interface starts with just the three initial fields at top left and smoothly morphs and expands one section at a time as the required information is entered.

Immediately the people you invited get an email telling them of the suggested gathering. As the creator you also get an email. You can see below, there is only one response available to your possible guests - "I'm In". By clicking it they are saying if the event reaches critical mass then they will be there. There is no need to do anything if they are not able to partake. If the guest list was made to be visible you would see a list of the email addresses invited under the "create your own" button. When enough people are in an email goes out solidifying the event. Likewise, if there are not enough by the deadline a notice will dispatch stating it is not on.

On the organizer's email there is a link to see the event status which takes you to your event control page. From here you can add more guests, send a reminder, or cancel the event. In addition you are able to specifically see who accepted the invitation and if they even viewed the email. The invitation email uses an image for the countdown that changes accordingly as time passes, and the server that the image is on knows if it has been displayed yet. This way to track web based emails has been around for a while and is safe.

I have already used it and absolutely love it's simplicity. You can sign up for beta test access from the homepage and follow them on Facebook. It was created by Bret Kugelmass. The demo video below does a good job of describing how it works and you can read the FAQ for more information.

Sled by Yahoo!

Update August 31, 2011: Sled is shutting down this week, but will live on as an open source project called Postmile.

Yesterday I can across this post about Sled.com and since I pretty much like to test and try everything I signed up. My expectation, like many of these new sites, is for it to be an interesting experiment with a cool UI.

That all changed with the next bit of information:


Experimental Service Terms and Conditions

• Sled is an experimental service from Yahoo!.
• This is a beta service, released without any warranties, and may be discontinued at any time. As an in-development product, data loss is possible.
• By using Sled, you agree that Yahoo! will be scanning, analyzing, and using any content you contribute to Sled to, among other things, provide personally relevant product features and content, match and serve targeted advertising, detect spam and malware, and protect against abuse.
• By inviting others to participate in your sleds, you are giving them permission to view the details, items, comments, and any other content included in that sled, as well as giving them the right to invite others.
• We will not share user information, including emails and other contacts, outside of the Sled experience. The Yahoo!, Twitter, or Facebook accounts you use to sign-into Sled will not be used for any other purpose without your explicit consent.
• Additional terms will be posted in the near future, at which time, you will have to accept the new terms in order to continue using the service.
• By accepting these terms you certify that you have read and agree to the Yahoo! Terms of Service, and Yahoo! Privacy Policy.

My eyes start scanning the page (screenshot below)... Copyright © 2011 Yahoo!. All rights reserved is at bottom right. The privacy, copyright, and terms all mention Yahoo!.

What is Sled?

Sled is an experiment.

There is a lot we don't know about how to make our daily lives more productive and organized, and how to collaborate better. What we do know is that the wide range of tools and services available to us are, generally speaking, not very helpful. Everything is either too limited or too complicated. Usually too complicated.

Sled is a collaborative list making tool with a strong focus on life events and collaboration between friends and family. Planning a party, a move, getting ready for a new baby, planning a trip, organizing a junior soccer league, or preparing for a marathon, are some of the efforts we hope Sled to be useful for.

Our goal with Sled is to provide a simple and useful tool, and we hope you will find it helpful. But we are also here to learn and observe. We know what doesn't work, but figuring out what does requires experimentation. We hope you join us.

Sled is basically a collaborative list creation and tracking tool with the ability to assign and track items. Keep and eye on their blog for more information. Now, the screenshots: