Calling All Event and Meeting Planners: Success and Productivity Tips from the Business Coach
Copyright 2006 Erika Trimble
If you don’t effectively handle the multiple demands of
your every day life as an event or meeting planner, your
customers will know! Your coworkers, industry peers,
suppliers, and customers can, and will, hold you
accountable for how you spend your time and do your work.
How effective are you? Take this quiz to find out.
Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 5 on each question.
_______________________________________
I feel organized and ready to do my work each day.
Less True 1 2 3 4 5 More True
_______________________________________
Even during stressful times, I am able to think clearly and
logically.
Less True 1 2 3 4 5 More True
_______________________________________
I have good focus and concentration at work.
Less True 1 2 3 4 5 More True
_______________________________________
I have no problem managing my time efficiently.
Less True 1 2 3 4 5 More True
________________________________________
My physical work situation (e.g. office, workspace) is
serving me well.
Less True 1 2 3 4 5 More True
________________________________________
If your responses to these questions are less than
satisfactory to you, here are three of the most worthy tips
for increasing your productivity and experiencing
phenomenal business results.
1. Ask yourself this question: Why do I do what I do?
By answering this question you will learn to do the right
things and make room for realizing the business successes
you want. It’s working. My clients are emptying their lives
of the stuff they’ve been clinging to, and making room for
the business success they have always wanted. So, try on
this question: Why do I do what I do ? List 10 business
activities and note why you do each of them and how they
benefit you in your business. For example: Use the same
suppliers for my events and meetings – I have confidence in
them and they serve me well.
If there is no specific benefit-aimed reason and visible
result, then why keep doing it? Most importantly, what
activity could you replace it with to generate better
results? I challenge you to identify three activities you
currently do that you want to replace with others because
you know with confidence that they will generate better
business results.
2. Change one old habit
This is a very easy one. Take 5 minutes to identify one
work habit that you are not particularly proud of. Yes, we
all know of at least one habit that doesn’t serve us well.
Now make a commitment to change this one habit and replace
it with a better one. It may feel difficult the first few
times you exercise this new habit but, like everything,
you’ll form a new and better habit soon.
3. Declutter your mind and your desk.
What would you do with 25% more time or 50% more energy?
Let me explain. Last week, one of my clients, a meeting
planner, mentioned he had a desk so cluttered with piles of
paper he didn’t have a surface to work on, nor did he know
where to start his work on any given day. He also said he
couldn’t even slow his pace to clear some of these piles.
I realized his challenge was a lot like the challenges most
event and meeting industry professionals experience in
their fast paced, detail oriented, and time challenged life.
To combat the clutter problems, my client and I leveraged a
simple but powerful tool designed to free up a lot more of
his time and energy. We got so much value out of it I
decided to share it with you.
It is called Free Your Clutter Day — a day that you set
aside to tackle the projects, clutter and loose ends that
are holding you back.
You may be thinking, “What? An entire day? Where am I going
to find 8 hours for anything?!
Consider this an investment with a big return for you and
your clients — higher performance, less stress, and fewer
hours spinning your wheels or being blocked.
Here is what you do in this Free Your Clutter Day:
Start by taking a pad of paper and making a list of
everything you will commit to handle or to resolve.
For example, set up a file for new clients or projects;
call your vendor who you are having some difficulty with
and need to have that long overdue conversation to get
things back on track; make follow-up phone calls to
customers.
Now take your list and prioritize it.
Identify what needs to get handled first and is vital to
eliminating your feeling of overwhelm. Put all of the items
on your list in order of highest to lowest priority – using
business outcomes as your key criteria.
Lastly, tackle the highest priority items on your list
today! Yes, complete them.
Here is an incentive for you. Think about your costs in not
accomplishing these tasks. Spending too much time looking
for missing items that may have lost you a client or
prospect due to lack of organization? Not handling a
difficult situation which costs you ten times more?
The more you get done, the more uncluttered your mind and
desk will be. You will be more alert and productive. Your
customers will know you operate effectively in your
business.
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The Event and Meeting Planners Business Association was
founded by Erika Trimble, business coach and entrepreneur.
Her mission for the Association is to create profitable,
rewarding, and winning business outcomes for event and
meeting industry professionals. Get a copy of Erika’s FREE
special report “5 Secrets of Highly Effective Event and
Meeting Planners” at
http://www.eventplannersbusinesstips.com
