Practice Makes Perfect...Well Almost...

Good Morning! 

You may know that my paying job is working for a University and a major part of my job is organizing the events that our department holds each semester.  Today is the first of those events and it unofficially marks the beginning of our semester.  Classes don't actually start until next week.  Most of my job in preparing for the workshop is over now and I can take a breather while the presenters do their work with the workshop attendees.  I usually hang out for most of the workshop to ensure all the details are falling into place and if they don't it's my job to find a solution.  Event planning is the most enjoyable part of my job.  I've now organized this particular workshop 9 times in the last 4 years.  It's fairly well organized and runs smoothly.  Of course, as I write this post, a person comes in who hasn't registered ahead of time but is planning to attend.  It's okay.  I plan for this. This is where the Almost Perfect part comes in.

I bring my Portable Office (laptop and my online files...oh how I love Google Docs!) with me to the workshops and I'm able to work once the workshop gets underway.  However, it's hard to do much work during our August workshop because we're located in the center of campus and there are many orientations and other events going on at the same time.  It's fun to see students navigating their way through campus.  It's a big campus.  30,000 students. 

Organizing.  I've learned a few things in my years of doing this kind of work. I've learned to rely on a checklist for each event, my planner and my online calendar.  I've learned to revisit my organizing after each workshop and make adjustments for the next event. 

Details and Planning.  Planning and Details.  It's my life for the next 16 weeks with a short break and then it starts again the next semester.  In the next post I plan to talk about how I organize my Time and about a new Binder System I'm using for our personal files at home, the files for our Home Based Business and for all my activities at work. All simple concepts...but my life quickly gets out of control without them.

Now, back to the office to do a final check for tomorrow's session of this workshop and to finalize details for the the next workshop...only 4 days away!

Until Next Time,

Jackie