A crucial step for an event manager/coordinator/planner is to decide whether she/he will use a software to run the event.
My personal suggestion is that there is nothing that a spreadsheet cannot achieve. Now if you use Office, Excel is the way to go. Microsoft Project is a more complex solution but still effective.
The Openoffice Suite offers with Calc the same functionalities of Excel at no cost.
Should you like the free factor of Openoffice why not having a look at Google Spreadsheets. The good thing here is that you can collaborate and things stay online to protect you from crashes. I suggest the use of Google Spreadsheet to backup your machine work and to share with colleagues. If you are interested in collaboration you might look also at this post.
For complex events with a lot of people involved, registration, accommodation, ticketing etc here is a list of the most famous. Have a look and let me know what you think.
