How to manage tasks for multiple events with an app: a guide for organizers

Organizing multiple events at once (conferences, fairs, corporate meetings) means juggling overlapping deadlines, different vendors, dispersed teams, and countless details that cannot afford to go wrong. A generic note-taking app or a spreadsheet falls short: it doesn’t differentiate between events, assign clear responsibilities, or alert you to what’s urgent in each one. Foco is built for this: each event is an independent container with its own color, and all tasks appear together on a single board or filtered by event when you need to focus.

Step 1: Create a container for each event and assign colors

When you open Foco, tap the '+' button to add a new work. Name it after the event (e.g., 'Tech Fair 2025', 'Annual Sales Conference') and choose a color to identify it. This color will appear on all tasks for that event, both in Panorama mode (where you see everything together) and in Foco mode (where you filter to see only that event). If you’re managing five events at once, each will have its own shade: this prevents mixing vendor deadlines from one event with reminders from another.

Step 2: Add tasks with event-specific details

• Descriptive title: E.g., 'Confirm catering for 200 people (Tech Fair)' instead of just 'Catering'.
• Due date: The deadline for hiring, sending materials, or receiving confirmations.
• Duration: Estimated minutes to complete the task (e.g., 30 minutes to review the photographer’s contract).
• Priority: 'Urgent' for non-negotiable deadlines (e.g., venue booking), 'Important' for critical tasks with some flexibility (e.g., brochure design).
• Recurrence: Useful for weekly coordination meetings or monthly payment reminders to vendors.
• Reminder: Minutes or hours before the due date (e.g., 24 hours before the deadline to send invitations).
• Tags: Use colors to group by type (e.g., 'vendors', 'logistics', 'attendees') or by phase ('pre-event', 'event day', 'post-event').
• Assignees: Assign the task to a team member or external vendor (only if they’re invited to the work in Foco).
• Attached notes: Record audio instructions for your team, attach a scanned contract, or paste the vendor’s confirmation email.

Step 3: Use voice capture for quick tasks during meetings

During a meeting with a vendor or your team, activate voice capture in Foco and say: 'Hire security for Tech Fair, 10 people, October 15th, urgent, reminder 48 hours before, tag vendors.' Foco will transcribe the audio, create the task with those details, and attach the recording. If you need to add multiple tasks in a row (e.g., 'Call the printer for brochures', 'Send brief to the designer', 'Confirm transportation for speakers'), use Burst: dictate without stopping, and Foco will separate each task in real time. When you’re done, review the list, edit as needed, and save them all at once. The Free plan includes 5 uses per month of this feature; with Plus, it’s unlimited.

Step 4: Coordinate teams and vendors with collaboration

Invite your team or key vendors to each event in Foco via email. They’ll receive a link to join the work (no need to sign up for Foco). Assign tasks directly to them: for example, 'Send confirmed attendee list' to the registration manager or 'Set up booth A' to the logistics vendor. Everyone will see only the tasks for that event, with their deadlines and priorities. To share a specific task with someone outside Foco (e.g., a vendor who isn’t in the app), generate a public link: anyone who opens it will see only that task, without access to the rest of the event.

Step 5: Visualize deadlines and priorities with Foco’s views

• List view: Groups pending tasks by date ('Today', 'This week', 'Later', 'No date') and shows a collapsible section for completed tasks. Ideal for reviewing what’s immediate without losing sight of pending items.
• Kanban view: Create custom columns like 'To confirm', 'In progress', 'Done', or 'Urgent'. On desktop, drag tasks between columns; on mobile, use tabs. Useful for tracking the status of each vendor or event phase.
• Calendar view: Displays tasks with due dates on a weekly or monthly calendar (on desktop) or by day (on mobile). Connect your Google Calendar or Outlook to see external events (e.g., client meetings) alongside your Foco tasks. This helps avoid overlaps between deadlines for different events.

Why Foco outperforms generic alternatives for multiple events

If you use a note-taking app or a spreadsheet to manage multiple events, you end up with endless lists where everything looks the same. There are no colors to differentiate events, you can’t assign tasks to vendors without copying and pasting, and reminders depend on your memory. A traditional project manager (like Trello or Asana) is designed for a single project: if you create a board per event, you lose the big picture; if you mix everything, you can’t filter what’s urgent for each one. Foco solves this with independent containers that can be viewed together or separately, colors to identify each event instantly, and features like voice capture or Burst that save time in meetings. Collaboration is also straightforward: invite whoever you need without giving them access to everything, and public links prevent sharing sensitive information.