Daily Productivity Tips – For Eventprofs, By Eventprofs

Regardless of how confident you are as an eventprof, it never hurts to chat with some mentors or colleagues about how they do things. We should be continually learning throughout our career, especially with technology changing the way the world works more and more each day! Since our time is precious, and we can’t always schedule a meeting or lunch with our colleagues, we bring some top tips to you!

The following are snippets of conversations with some industry experts, regarding their daily habits and how they make them more successful! To be well-rounded, and get a wide view of the many different hats eventprofs wear, there are a wide range of people throughout the industry. So, grab a glass of wine, and come join our conversation! Share your own daily routines in the comments area.

“What are some of your daily routines and how do they make you more successful?”

Sherry McKinney, CMP
Event Marketing Manager
Anthem, Inc.

“To stay organized since I manage multiple meetings at one time, I note all tasks on my calendar as they are due, check each day and mark them completed in the master project plan as they are done.

My goal every day is to respond to emails same day even if it’s simply to acknowledge receipt and advise an answer will be provided at a later date. I am very focused on providing exemplary service to our internal and external clients so response time is extremely important in achieving this.”

Tricia Cavallo Young
Director of Meetings
Associations of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN)

“Since event planning involves management of multiple projects and deadlines, I carve out blocks of time to focus on a specific task. During that time, I keep an eye on emails but make myself stick to the project at hand rather than getting distracted by incoming messages. The time blocks can be as small as 10 minutes but dedicating time to focus helps keep things on track throughout the day.

Another habit I developed early in my career was a practice my first mentor taught me. At the end of each day, I clean everything off my desk so the next time I come into the office, things are organized and uncluttered and I can start fresh rather than feeling overwhelmed.”

Kathleen Mazzitti
Director, Advancement Events
The College of William & Mary

“I live and die by my to do list. Every morning, I look over my master to do list and try to narrow down for what is the priority of that day. I’m well aware that “emergencies” will pop up every day, so I try to leave a little extra wiggle room and can go back to my to do list if there ends up being extra time.

I have fallen in love with my planner pad, that is a yearly planner broken down week by week. It allows me to have overall to do lists for each event or area I am working on, and then narrow those down to daily to do lists, while also keeping track of my meetings each day. I keep track of meetings mainly with my Outlook calendar so I can see it on my phone, but for the to do lists, the reverse pyramid layout is helpful.”

Christy Lamagna, CMP, CMM, CTSM
President, Chief Strategist
Strategic Meetings & Events

“Here’s my routine: I don’t look at email or work tasks until 9am. My mornings are spent writing, tending to my life outside of work, and setting my intentions for the day. I find that if I purposely state and envision my goals and intentions for the day and hold off on jumping into work, I start my day with purpose, direction and focus.

By spending time on my life outside work, reading, exercising, walking my dog, doing things around the house, I feel fulfilled and productive before I even start my day.

My email settings have been set to check every half an hour and to not show when new messages arrive, or make a sound so when I am at work I can focus on one thing at a time.

I also give myself permission to offer people options that suit my priorities, not theirs. So if someone needs something immediately that is not in sync with my goals for myself and the organization, I give them a timeline of when I can meet their needs.  It is incredibly empowering and has returned a tremendous amount of time and peace into my days.”

Ruud Janssen
Founder & Managing Partner
Event Model Generation

“In the morning, one of my priorities is to create a to do list and make sure that I put priorities and categories in the to do list. This is one of the most important tasks to do when your mind is fresh because during the day, your judgment gets clouded on what has priority vs. what  doesn’t. I like to write it down or even attempt to draw it out with visual cues so that I can remind myself during the day and celebrate things to check off the list.”

Lynne Wellish, CMP, CHSE
Consultant, Trainer, Hospitality & Meetings Industry Adjunct Faculty at Scottsdale Community College
Triage Meeting & Event Consulting

“I take one hour at the beginning of every day to do sales calls and do networking. As we get busy, these tasks are often pushed aside for other things. By scheduling that time consistently into each day, I ensure that I have the time each day to build relationships and grow my network. Once these are done, I can turn my entire focus on the next project or task.

I also do yoga three times a week and try for a 5 minute daily meditation.  Monica Graves, Founder of Maha Veda Soul Journeys, taught me the importance of self care.”

It is always nice to pick the brains of my colleagues, whether to pick up some new tricks or to validate my own practices! In our competitive world, eventprofs need to work together. Help each other. Celebrate each other. As you continue through your day, some of the tips that these colleagues recommend are to organize and prioritize yourself. Whether it is your desk or your calendar (or both!), staying organized can help you be more successful! By staying organized and consistent, you will be able to also schedule out and plan your “life” work, which unfortunately often gets pushed aside. Even though it is hard to say “no” sometimes, know your limits and stick with them!

In Conclusion

As eventprofs, we live (and love!) a hard, stressful, complicated, detail-oriented life, that comes with so many amazing rewards! Take the time to celebrate yourself and your colleagues for all the hard work you do! Thanks to our colleagues that were able to share some of their tips with us. Now I ask you, the reader: “What are some of your daily routines and how do they make you more successful?” Share them with us below in the comments!