Capsule: Organize Your Next Group Event

Everybody knows what it’s like to be the one in charge of organizing that group event. Whether it’s a party, business weekend trip, or a trip up to your favorite camping spot with a couple of buddies, it can be a pain to administrate everything and get all the details down correctly so the event goes smoothly. And if anything goes wrong, guess who everyone blames?

Various tools have been developed to try to make the process easier, but most of them are either far too complicated or not powerful enough to make organizing group events as easy as pie. Capsule attempts to find the proper balance between bloated and overly simple, to make planning group events as easy as it can be. Let’s see if it hits the mark, and can help organizing your next group event easier.

Signing Up

Getting started with Capsule is almost effortless. Either sign in with your Facebook or enter your details in the box below, but make sure to add your mobile phone number, because (as we’ll see in a bit) it’s quite helpful for communicating with the others in your group.

Once you’re signed in, you’ll be taken to your dashboard. This is where you’ll see all the capsules you’ve created, as well as some photo updates on what’s going on. The main column shows you the basic details of each capsule you’re involved in, and on the left are the latest photos from several of your capsules. Of course, the first time you sign in, you won’t see nearly as much activity, but once you’ve started using it, it’ll be filled with activity from your events.

Put those events into capsules.

Creating a capsule is super simple: give it a title, a short description, location, and start and end date, and you’re all set. If you’re connected to Facebook, you can just type names in the box to the right and an invite will be automatically sent to each person. If you don’t have a Facebook account or would rather not use it, you can also just put each person’s email address for the same effect. You also have the option to enable member RSVP and group texting, which we’ll cover shortly.

A capsule, as you can see, is relatively packed with information. However, all the information is grouped quite clearly so you never have to worry about getting lost. Up top is the name of the capsule, and basic information like when and where it’s taking place, and whether or not you are attending the event.

Below that is a small horizontal photo scroller and a Facebook-esque newsfeed. On your left is something called “pins,” which are short notes that those in charge can post for the benefit of all those participating – like when you want to remind everyone to bring money for food, or to bring an umbrella because it might rain. On the right is a list of current members.

Keeping your whole group connected

Ever organized a group only to find out that you didn’t have the contact information for one person in the group? The member list aims to solve this problem; clicking the “+” next to any member’s name will display their email address and phone number. You can sort members by whether they’re coming or not, and also easily invite more people.

Capsule’s version of group messaging is to use the only method that allows instant communication to almost anyone, anywhere – texting. When any member receives an invite to your capsule, they are requested to give their mobile number – this is so that you can easily contact the whole group without ever exiting your capsule or resorting to another service like Facebook or Twitter. See the number above the text entry box? If you or anyone in your member list texts that number, their message will show up along with everyone else’s messages. Handy.

Sharing Photos, Simply.

The photo gallery allows you or others in the group to easily share photos from the event with everyone else. You can add captions and locations , as well as sorting by photos you’ve taken or uploaded. Sharing is a snap as the gallery is integrated with Facebook and Twitter support. No more wondering if you’ll be able to get the best pictures from your events; now everyone can easily share all of the pictures with the whole group … without having to share them with their whole Facebook network!

Clicking on any photo will open a popup or lightbox that shows the full picture. From here, you can rotate the picture either way or download it. You can also comment on any of the photos and pin them to the sidebar to point out to the others any of your favorites. The effect is nice, and gives you a great way to remember events or take your pictures to use elsewhere.

Conclusion

Capsule excels at organizing a group, that much is clear. The main problem you’ll have is actually getting your group to sign in and us it, as it’s never easy to get people to use a new tool. That is not Capsule’s fault at all; they’ve made it extremely easy to sign up to use and the whole app is intuitive and cleanly laid out. It’s even got an iPhone app, so anyone in your group with a smartphone can share and collaborate with the group even easier.

So, if you can successfully round up everyone in your group and get them to use Capsule, it’ll work great. It’s easily your best shot at getting your team working together online to collaborate on your event, and if you need something that’s simple and straightforward, Capsule definitely fits the bill.