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I woke up this morning at 3am. Why? Because somewhere in my subconscious I remembered I had a deadline of tomorrow for an ad I was placing in a magazine. Now, it was scrambling time.
Why was it scrambling time? Because I hadn’t developed a timeline for this project.
I don’t like waking up at 3am and I especially don’t like to forget important things. I am really very good at developing timelines for events – in fact – at one point in my fundraising career, I was known as the “Timeline Queen.” Not only did I develop an extremely detailed and organized timeline for every event I was working on, I made sure everyone I worked with or trained did the same. We were all very grateful. I still do that for all my events and it works every time.
What does a timeline mean to you?
By preparing a detailed timeline you are accomplishing a few things:
- You are putting everything about the event down on paper – Oh, what a relief! If everything pertaining to the event (e.g., mailings, preparation of mailings, scheduling of meetings, finding and confirming event location, entertainment, etc.) is written down- guess what – you don’t have to remember it, or, better yet, you don’t have to wake up at 3am and remember you forgot something!
- You are working out a schedule for each item – when something has to be accomplished. What I love about this is not only am I giving a date for dropping a mailing, I am back-tracking and adding to my timeline when the piece/s for the mailing have to be written, approved, sent to the printer, received back from the printer, collated, stuffed, stamped and then mailed.
If all you do is indicate the date of the mailing, you will come upon that date and realize nothing for the mailing has been prepared. Back-tracking and putting in all the dates for preparing the mailing will give you the time to accomplish what needs to be done to prepare for the actual mailing date.
- You can always change the timeline or add to it. It takes time initially to prepare a timeline, and I would have someone who has been involved in the event in the past review the timeline, but once you have done this, you will feel a great sense of relief.
- Timelines should be shared with everyone who plays a role in the event; other staff, committee members, and in some cases, the Honoree. On occasion I have developed an abbreviated timeline for the Honoree, including those parts and dates that pertain to his/her responsibilities (e.g., providing me with his/her mailing list; providing me with his/her company logo for materials (should they take a sponsorship where the benefits include logo placement,) when I need to meet with the Honoree, etc.
Most importantly, the timeline is your carpet ride through your event. It takes you from one step to another – and you can look ahead at what will be coming down the pike. If you create a fully-developed timeline, including all aspects of your event, your ride will be much smoother and, hopefully, you will get a full night’s sleep.
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