Event Planners on Tech: Tania Cavallo, Events Manager at Artsy

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Our Tech Setters series peeks into the digital briefcases of real event professionals everywhere, highlighting the tried and tested event technology and apps they use in their planning process.

This week, we’re talking with Tania Cavallo, the Communications and Events Manager at Artsy, a resource for art collecting and education. On Artsy, you can learn about and collect art from 2,500 galleries, 400 museums and foundations, and 50 international art fairs and benefit auctions. In addition to that, through the Art Genome Project, you can discover new works and artists you love.

We chatted with Tania, who has worked in events for the past four years producing about one event per month, about her must-have event tech. The two top things on her list? Her iPhone and group messaging or Slack to coordinate with her staff while an event is in progress.

What type of events do you typically work on?

The events can be intimate dinners, larger cocktail parties, or marquee events timed with big art-world happenings like Art Basel Miami, Frieze Art Fair in New York, or Armory Arts Week also in New York. I’ve produced events anywhere all over the world from New York to Singapore.

For benefit auctions, like the Whitney Art Party, the Brooklyn Artists Ball, or the Public Art Fund, we work very closely with our institutional partners. We’ve hosted many parties at our offices celebrating the launch of our online previews of art fairs and hosted talks by art organizations and cultural figures. Most recently, we hosted an in-house event to inaugurate the newly expanded Artsy HQ.

Why do you do events?

At Artsy, we see it as an opportunity to engage offline with our collectors, our gallery and museum partners, and the larger art and tech worlds. The human connection is important, and it’s what I enjoy the most.

What do you do first thing after a successful event day?

Congratulate everyone who was part of making it a success...Then carbs.

What is your biggest event nightmare?

Being alone at your own party. Thankfully, it's a fear that hasn't become a reality.

Since you work in the art world, who are some of your favorite artists?

Some of my favorites are Yves Klein, Louise Bourgeois, and Kadar Brock.

What applications are you using to stay organized on a day-to-day basis?

Evernote helps me manage my to-do lists and notes––the design is clean and easy to use. It also helps me organize the countless notes on my iPhone.

What are your favorite applications or services for marketing your events and why?

At benefit auctions hosted by Artsy, the Artsy iPhone app allows event attendees to bid on works from the auction with the touch of a finger.

How have you used technology to add a special or unique touch to your event?

We’ve built our own technology for benefit auction galas. We’ve incorporated on-site bidding functionality for smartphones and at dedicated kiosks. And we’ve paired that with large-scale projection screens that show bidding activity in real time. You can see bids coming in from in the room as well as from far-flung places like Oslo and Rio de Janeiro. It really enhances the excitement of the auction.