Easily Updateable "Events Page" Plugin?

I need to make a site for some clients. I have limited experience with WordPress and other CMSs (Drupal) (mostly limited to installing them and messing around a bit).

The clients will need to be able to update the site easily, with things like an events page, and edit the site themselves easily, like add pictures of new members of their group to some other page. I’m assuming they have a relatively low level of computer literacy.

I have used common “website builders” often enough, and one of those could potentially work, but I also like to expand my toolbox, and I have meaning to get a better handle on CMSs for a while.

My question is (please be honest and objective:) would WordPress be a good option to build this site? Can I build the site relatively easily and in a relatively short amount of time? And will the clients be able to update it relatively easily compared to the common “site builders” (the ones with the templates, drag and drop visual interfaces)?

If so, can you direct me to the reading material, and the plugins that I would need to build such a site?

I have about a week before I start the job and in that time I want to build a “practice site,” basically “a site for an pretend organization I would own, where we host events, we give scholarships, and (as my clients say before they say they have to go) ‘all kinds of stuff.'” I just want to be prepared to use wordpress. I just know that they’ll surely want to make updates to the site frequently, and want a nice look – probably aboout 6 supages in the menu on the homepage. At the moment, I wouldn’t be able to adequately make a site like that. The way Drupal and WordPress both are set up at first is just as a blog. This is not what I want, and I would not want to use that. I need a “real” site and site editor – not just a “blog tool” – the main thing I’m looking for is a nice and easily updateable “events” page. And I’ve read numerous times that WordPress can be used to make “real” (non-blog) websites, and I’m guessing it’s just a matter of finding the right plugin.

Please help. =)

Thanks.