The Invisible Cost of Your Tech Stack
You didn’t get into events to babysit software.
But here you are: 11pm, editing attendee tags in one tool, uploading a CSV to another, trying to chase a Zapier automation that broke again.
The badge printer needs a firmware update. The engagement app crashes on Android 12. The venue Wi-Fi won’t let your scheduling tool sync properly.
And none of this is on the run sheet.
Welcome to the invisible second job you never applied for: Chief Tech Wrangler.
It’s not just exhausting. It’s expensive. Every hour spent wrangling tools is an hour not spent designing meaningful moments, building stakeholder trust, or solving for strategic outcomes.
The modern event stack is bloated.
You were promised agility. What you got was orchestration hell.
Tool Bloat Isn’t Efficiency, It’s Erosion
Most organisers treat digital like a buffet: pick a tool for each problem, stack them together, hope they play nice.
What started as smart modularity becomes death by a thousand integrations. And no one is responsible for the whole.
What’s worse? Tool switching destroys focus.
A 2022 study by the University of California Irvine found that it takes 23 minutes and 15 seconds to recover from a digital interruption. Multiply that across the average day of toggling between comms tools, CMSs, badge systems, attendee CRMs, and analytics dashboards — and the result isn’t efficiency. It’s erosion.
Not just of time. Of strategic clarity.
You stop being the architect of the event experience. You become the mechanic.
And in high-end event environments, where expectations are high and margins are tight, that’s not sustainable.
How to Reclaim Strategic Time
Here’s the truth: smart organisers don’t just audit budgets. They audit energy.
Here’s how to do it:
1. Map Your Digital Day
For one week, log every digital tool you touch and how long you spend in it. Be brutal. Include the time spent troubleshooting, switching tools, or searching for login credentials.
This isn’t for shame. It’s for truth.
2. Classify by Energy, Not Just Function
Don’t just label tools by what they do. Rate them by how they feel. Which ones drain you? Which ones support clarity? Which ones create more problems than they solve?
3. Look for Redundancy and Friction
Most organisers are using 3–5 tools that do variations of the same thing. Worse, some tools create friction for attendees or staff. List every duplicated or friction-heavy function.
4. Commission, Don’t Configure
The best organisers treat digital like AV or catering. They don’t DIY. They brief the outcome, then let specialists design and deliver.
If you’re still spending hours configuring tech, ask why.
5. Define Your Strategic Time Zones
Protect high-value hours. For example: no tech tasks before 10am. Block 2-3 hour chunks weekly for strategy, creative, or high-stakes conversations. Tech shouldn’t own your calendar.
The Shift from Operator to Orchestrator
You don’t need another tool.
You need your time back.
Elite events aren’t won with more software. They’re won with sharper thinking, cleaner execution, and strategic calm.
That doesn’t come from juggling five platforms. It comes from choosing infrastructure that gets out of your way.
At Presso, we build Progressive Event Apps — bespoke platforms that remove the noise and let organisers operate in their zone of genius. We don’t sell tools. We build infrastructure.
So you can stop wrangling tech.
And start shaping outcomes.