CHAPTER 14 CHAPTER 14

An Event Planner’s Most Precious

Commodity

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Copyright © 2016 THE EVENT U
Photo by Kris Kesiak Photography - Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License http://www.flickr.com/photos/36928267@N06 Created with Haiku Deck
 CHAPTER 14

Time Management
An event planner is bound by
hard deadlines and tight
timelines. Time management
and organization are crucial
parts of your job.

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 CHAPTER 14

Three Areas of Time

Management

• Self-management and Discipline

• Planning and Organization
• Systems and Routines

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 CHAPTER 14

To manage time, you

must maintain control
over the series of events
and decide how to use
your time best.

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 CHAPTER 14

Symptoms of Poor Time Management

• Paper and email pileups

• Delaying decisions
• Dropping behind more each day
• Skipping sleep and self-care to stay
caught up

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 CHAPTER 14

Your Attitude Toward Time

• Event planning runs around the clock and is most
busy during the rest of the world’s downtime- the
weekend.
• Protect your precious time and manage it well by
identifying and eliminating time wasting habits.
• Control your time by understanding clearly what you
wish to accomplish.

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 CHAPTER 14

Don’t manage your

time by spending it in
panic mode. Create a
master list, delegate
tasks and engage
trusted partners.

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 CHAPTER 14

Time Management Check Up

• Create a weekly task list.
• Record your time usage for a week and
evaluate the results.
• Review your actual accomplishments against
your task list.
• List the five biggest factors that impeded
your progress.
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 CHAPTER 14

Drains on Your Time:

• Procrastination
• People Pleasing
• Perfectionism

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 CHAPTER 14

Getting Organized
Clutter
• Remove clutter from your life and living space.
• Get rid of unnecessary papers and other distractions.
• Use storage space effectively.
• Don’t just think about the paperwork, tackle the
stack and start getting rid of it.

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 CHAPTER 14

Taming the Clutter

• Sort items between time-sensitive and not.
• Deal with issues by priority and deadline.
• Categorize non-priority materials.
• Handle people, paperwork, and
situational/environmental interruptions effectively.
• During the busy season, take advantage of social
media and other resources to make down time ‘up
time.’

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 CHAPTER 14

Creating Your System

• To find the organization system that works for
you may take time.
• Rather than winging it for each event and task,
create a defined business process for
everything you do.

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 CHAPTER 14

Tools for Organization

1. The Master Calendar

2. Daily To-Do List
– Integrate your systems and
set priorities.

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 CHAPTER 14

Pareto Principle
• 80 percent of the impact of any group of related
items or people is generally caused by 20 percent of
them.
• Your “top” 20% activities will create 80% of your
effectiveness.
• Your “bottom” 20% of problems will create 80% of
your frustrations.

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 CHAPTER 14

Time Tips
• “Work expands to fill the
time allowed for its
completion.”
• Estimate completion times
to set reasonable milestones
and deadlines.

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 CHAPTER 14

• Limit Meeting Length

• Set and Beat Deadlines
• Use Peak Time to Best Advantage
• Don’t Burn Out on Overtime
• Delegate
• Say No
• Get and Make Clear Commitments in
Writing
• Cultivate Relationships with Reliable
People
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 CHAPTER 14

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 CHAPTER 14

Time Management Summary

• Have a master calendar for scheduling commitments.
• Have a daily to-do list to record accomplishments and track
progress.
• Keep a reminder file for upcoming tasks.
• Control interruptions from all sources.
• Maintain a positive attitude.

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