An Organized Calendar Means Never Missing Out

Life is a busy busy thing. You may have noticed that I’ve cut back on blog posts, because life is busy and I make a point to live first and blog later.

The problem with busy is that it can be disorganized. From meetings, to parties, to dinners and other events, it’s necessary to juggle a lot. And sometimes things fall off or get forgotten and we miss out.

I’m constantly worried about not living up to my commitments, especially when it comes to both planning and attending events. So how do I stay organized?

My electronic calendar is my lifeline and keeps me from missing things… alleviating FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), which i’m prone to as a chronic worrier. I use my Outlook calendar to seamlessly manage my work commitments, personal plans and professional events. Some people use Google Calendar, iCal or Yahoo. Whatever works! From an attendance standpoint, this calendar is great.

When it comes to managing events, I need a few more tools, one of my favorites is Eventbrite. I’ve been using Evenbrite since college when we hosted a conference for our PRSSA chapter. It’s been a handy tool for both work events and events for our PRSA chapter. It manages the guest list for you, lets attendees send questions and allows you to send reminders so people actually come to your event.

I love it when another event planner uses Eventbrite because the confirmation email gives you the option to add the event to your calendar so you never accidentally put something on the wrong day or time. It also pulls in the location which makes getting there easier and my phone will tell me when I need to leave to be there on time.

In my life there seems to be no shortage of things to do and places to go. But you can’t do the thing or go to the places if you don’t know about them, right? Here are a few ways to keep up:

• Follow your favorite brands/organizations on social media, they typically post about events there.
• Check your local news. I personally love Cleveland Scene’s calendar to find out about things going on around town.
• Sign up for updates from events you have attended, for example Cleveland Wine Week, the Cleveland Auto Show and the Great Big Home and Garden Show send me updates so I don’t miss the annual event, they also let me know about other events I might enjoy.
• Add your professional organizations to your safe sender list so you never miss an update. I get asked about upcoming PRSA events regularly because people stopped getting the emails.
• Browse Eventbrite for local events that may interest you.
• Check out Groupon and Living Social for experiences in your area that are offering discounted tickets.

I’m continuously looking for ways to be more organized, so much so that I have an Organization Obsession board on Pinterest. Streamlining the logistics using tools like Eventbrite and my electronic calendar help me stay organized and actually enjoy my busy life, and never miss a thing.

How do you keep from missing out?

I was no compensated for this post.