How do you parse a time variable from database?

What is the best and easiest way to create a "real-time", interactive, editable scheduling database for an event?

• I work for a consulting company and we are helping a state agency plan their processes for a large company matchmaking summit. The idea is that companies will post job openings that they have and potential employees will have a chance to apply. It will be a day-long event with roughly 100 companies, 1000 job openings, and 1000 applicants. Individuals will send in their resumes and will be screened prior to the event to remove anyone who is not qualified. I want to create a scheduling database for the event. Information we would need to include is time slots, location (i.e. table # at the event), company name, company openings (they could have multiple), applicant name, etc. We would like this database to be interactive, so that the day of the event, staffers could update the schedule in real-time and adjust for cancellations, or changes, or other day-of-an-event type of things. What would a good way to go about doing this be? Currently we have an excel spreadsheet with all of the information we need, and we were thinking of moving it to Access, but if there is a way to make this interactive database that I mentioned, that would be AMAZING!

• Answer:

  Can I ask why you are trying to re-invent the wheel?  I attend a lot of tech conferences and one of the biggest mistakes I see is software companies trying to re-invent the wheel when there are companies like Guidebook and others out there that have already done the work for you... :)