Organization

So You're Going to Host the Pope (or some other important person)

Last week I wrote about how Philadelphia has stumbled in their plans to host the Pope in September. You can read about the story here. While the comedy isn't over, it's a great opportunity to talk about some of the nuances of hosting a large scale city-wide event for a VIP.

Philadelphia's Pope Woes

For anyone that doesn't know, Pope Francis is planning to visit Philadelphia at the end of September. The city is busy preparing for his arrival and stumbling at every turn.  I keep sitting back thinking, why can't Philadelphia get it together?  New York City doesn't seem to have a problem hosting millions of people on New Year's Eve, why is this so difficult?  

5 MORE Tips for a Peaceful Passing of the Programs (Part 2)

For those of you that missed the post yesterday, you can read that here for what you should do when you're taking over someone else's program.  Today's focus is on what you can do to prepare to pass your program along to someone else.  I had this experience when I was preparing for maternity leave last year.  

5 Tips for a Peaceful Passing of the Programs (Part 1)

A week or so ago Cindy and I covered a class for our colleague, Monica.  It was a one-day program. At first glance it was pretty straightforward... until it wasn't.  Do you ever think about writing down all the things you do on a daily basis or all the intricacies of running your events?  Or updating your checklists daily? I would say most people don't.  Here's what you can do when faced with having to cover for someone.  

Automatic Email Expiration

I received an interesting e-mail last week from a faculty member in phase retirement.  Michael had taken a vacation for two weeks after announcing his phase retirement and upon his return he was inundated with a ton of emails, many of which were meaningless because the event announcement had past.  While this was annoying to him, he had a solution! 

Catching Up

Being out of the office is usually really great.  Whether you're off-site at a conference or on a vacation, it breaks up the monotony of being at your desk everyday.  The worst part... being back in the office.  Yesterday was my first day back after being out of the office for nearly a week.  There is always so much to do.  It can often be overwhelming to try and catch up from being out, but here on some tips to keep from drowning in the tasks.