Hey there! Have you ever heard the phrase, "if you want to set yourself up for success, you need to plan your days"? I'm sure you have, and let me tell you, it's totally accurate! But I know many people have trouble making effective plans, and sometimes procrastination gets in the way. That's why I wanted to share with you how I plan my projects. Not just my business projects but my personal ones too. After all, you only have one life, and there's no need to have 20 different to-do's or leave your private plans waiting for the time left after your job takes all your productive time. That would make anyone miserable!
To get started, list all the projects you already have in mind (work and personal). Don’t worry if you have a business and other projects come up later, as with this method, you can add them as they come, and you get to set your priorities at least every 30 days.
This list will guide you to our second step, making a master plan or to-do list. For the master plan, think of all of the tasks to complete that project. Again, I highly recommend using a project management tool for this. There are many in the market, and several offers a free version that usually has the basic features you need to complete a project. You all know my deep love for Asana, but there are others like Trello, Monday.com, Basecamp, Things, and many more.
Using a project management tool has plenty of benefits, including the ability to create templates for repeating events or projects.
If you are in the event or meeting planning industry and haven’t downloaded my Absolute Must Have Meeting Planning Checklist yet, you can go to my homepage and download it. It will make this step easier for you. Then adapt it to your event and add it to the project management tool of your choice.
If you do not plan events, the brainstorming session I suggested above will help create those templates for future use. Remember, this will free your mind of all of those little tasks, eliminate repeating the same process over and over, and eliminate those post-it notes everywhere.
After you have all of those projects and tasks ready in the project management tool, proceed to assign each task and put a deadline on each of them. For example, in Asana I communicate with my planners and also comment, add files –that need to be reviewed or approved– and keep track of the project.
Next, we're going to plan your days. Yes, your days! If you want to be effective and make the most of your time, I suggest planning your days the night before or first thing in the morning. Asana or whatever tool you have will help you tremendously.
But, I change tactics when it comes to planning my days. If I do everything entirely digitally, I'll think I've already done it. Crazy, right? Even if you're a pen-and-paper person like me, using those for a master to-do list is not practical. That's why I use my journal just for planning my days. There are many options depending on your needs or what you like in a planner. I personally like to switch every once in a while but love using the Chalene Johnson Push Journal, the Focus Planner by Michael Hyatt, and Rachel Parcell's for Blue Sky (they're so pretty!). You can even use a regular notebook, whatever you're most comfortable with.
I usually have identified a project that has priority for the month at this point. In my journal, I write down three things that must be done that day to move forward. I also write down the rest of the tasks for the day. I like to block time for certain tasks. I've found that blocking time and batching some tasks improves productivity.
When you plan your days in advance with the tasks you already know need to be done and block time, you avoid distractions, and the projects move forward smoothly without having the stress of not knowing and wasting time by improvising.
To help get you started, download here my FREE Worksheet How to successfully plan your projects so you can plan more effectively with this technique, starting today.
So, you're an event planner, huh? I've been asked that a lot.
And I totally get it because most people don't know what we do and sometimes mix up event planning with meeting planning. But let me break it down for you.
Think of event planning like a big umbrella. It covers all types of events, like parties and meetings. But if you really want to make it in this industry, you need to niche down and specialize in a specific type of event. For me, that niche is medical meetings.
Like me, a medical meeting planner plans all sorts of events in the healthcare industry. We work with medical associations, pharma companies, and medical device companies to plan events specifically for healthcare professionals. These events can be anything from conventions and symposiums to webinars and lectures.
There are two main types of medical meetings that we plan:
Medical Meetings: These are educational events for healthcare professionals. They bring experts in a specific field to present updates, new challenges, and advances in the clinical research of the area to an audience of healthcare professionals.
Pharma Meetings: These events allow pharmaceutical professionals to interact directly with healthcare professionals to provide information about their products. These can be speaker programs, advisory boards, consultant meetings, etc.
So, you might be wondering why someone would want to become a medical meeting planner. Well, for starters, it's a gratifying career. When you plan an educational event for healthcare professionals, patients benefit from it too. Plus, healthcare professionals constantly learn and update their skills, so it's a stable industry.
And the best part? You don't have to spend a fortune on college or years of your life studying things that have nothing to do with what you'll actually be doing. All you need to know is the industry, the regulations, and how to plan meetings in compliance with them.
If you're curious about this niche and want to learn more, check out my FREE webinar, How to Become a Medical Meeting Planner in 60 days. It's a great way to get started and see if this is the right path for you.
Want to plan medical meetings like a pro?
Let me tell you a little story about my first meeting planning experience. I was fresh in the game, and I was planning a meeting for a pharma company. I called the hotel to give them the details of what we needed, and the catering manager said she was sending the BEO. And I was like, "What is a BEO?" She could tell I was a newbie, and she explained it to me.
That's when I realized if I wanted to plan these types of meetings, I needed to learn at least the basics. So, I self-taught myself all about event planning. And let me tell you, there was a lot of trial and error. But it taught me valuable lessons that have helped me in my career.
So, here's the deal. If you're interested in planning medical meetings, here are three things you need to do:
Learn about the market. Medical meetings are a part of the healthcare industry, and there are different niches within it - like pharma/bioscience/medical device meetings and professional organization meetings. Learn about the basics of each niche, so you know what you're getting into.
Decide on the client you want to serve or the job you want to have. This will give you an idea of what types of meetings you should focus on learning first. For example, if you want to work in the association meetings niche, focus on learning how to plan continued medical education meetings.
Know the regulations. Medical meetings have a lot of regulations you need to be aware of. It may seem overwhelming, but the more you know, the better you can serve your clients. And trust me; these regulations are there for a reason. Use them as an opportunity to go above and beyond and be the expert your client needs.
So, there you have it. Three things you need to do to start planning medical meetings like a pro. Remember, progress, not perfection! And if you need any help, we got your back.
If you're in the event planning business, you may wonder why you should consider adding medical meetings to your services menu. After all, you're probably used to planning weddings, parties, and other social events. But the truth is, adding medical meetings to your business can be a smart move for a number of reasons.
First, it can be a great way to diversify your client base and ensure a steady income stream. We all know that looking for new clients over and over again can be time-consuming and frustrating, and it's not always easy to maintain a steady flow of business. But with medical meetings, you can establish long-term relationships with clients, which can be much more stable and rewarding.
Another reason to consider medical meetings is that they are in high demand. With the constant advances in healthcare and medicine, there is a growing need for medical professionals to attend conferences, seminars, and other types of meetings to stay informed and up-to-date. So, if you're looking to tap into a market with plenty of potential clients, medical meetings could be the way to go.
When it comes to planning medical meetings, there are a few different types you can consider, such as pharma meetings, bioscience and medical device events, and association meetings. Each type of meeting will have its own unique set of challenges and requirements, but with the right training and knowledge, you can become an expert in planning these types of events.
For example, pharma meetings are often held by pharmaceutical companies and can include a wide range of events such as product launches, training sessions, and conferences. Association meetings, on the other hand, may be held by professional organizations and can include things like annual conferences and trade shows. Each type of meeting will have its own set of regulations and guidelines, so it's important to be familiar with these before you start planning.
In conclusion, adding medical meetings to your event planning business can be a great way to diversify your client base, ensure a steady stream of income, and tap into a market that is in high demand. If you're interested in learning more about planning medical meetings, consider checking out resources such as the Medical Meeting Planning Academy. With the right training and knowledge, you can become an expert in planning these types of events and grow your business in the process.
Today we’re going to dive into three top reasons to use Asana for your projects. This is the project management tool I use in my business and personal life. When it comes to selecting a project management tool that works for you, it takes time to research and see which one works best for you and your team.
However, after using Asana for a couple of years now and seeing how it worked in our business, it is vital that I share it with you just in case you are looking for a new way or an effective way to be organized. I’m excited because I’m certain a few of the things I will show you today will be very helpful.
I chose this topic today because I know people struggle with the organization while working on ongoing projects while also trying to keep up with new ones that come along the way.
Putting systems in place is how we can streamline processes and better serve our clients. This is where Asana comes into play. So, let’s dive in.
But first of all, what is Asana? Or a Project Management tool?
Well, a project management tool is a platform that helps you put all of your projects in one place, assign tasks, track progress, and also communicate with your team.
If you are an event planner that loves pen and paper as I do, you need one of these so you can be more effective.
Let me mention a few. There’s Asana –of course– Trello, Basecamp, Monday.com, and others that you can look into.
I’ve tried some of them, but I find that Asana has many features that give us options depending on the project we are working on. For example, I love lists over boards, but for some projects, I prefer boards, and you can do both there.
Reason #1 Everything in just one place
The first step in our planning strategy is to make a list of all of the projects. Then we brainstorm all of the tasks that we need to do to complete it. In Asana, you have plenty of options to do this. You can create the project as a list or board. You can share that project with the specific team of people that will work on it or make it public to the whole team. You can assign tasks and put a due date to all of them.
Reason #2 Tracking
Tracking your projects is very important to see where to focus more on the team’s efforts while other projects do not stay behind. You can see all the pending tasks, but the Timeline feature gives you a visual of the progress. This feature is not available on the free version, but if you do not need it, you may very well use the free version because you would still have the calendar and due dates, which works great too.
Reason #3 Templates
Oh, how I love the templates! When you plan events, there are going to be plenty of times that the type of event you are planning is repetitive, so why not create specific templates for those types of events? I love writing down tasks, but the master to-do list needs to be something easy to create, or otherwise, we will spend all of our time planning out but not executing and so templates do this trick.
These are the 3 top reasons I love using a project management tool. As I said, there are plenty of others you may use. The important thing is that you start streamlining your processes so you can grow your business without feeling overwhelmed or disorganized.
I invite you to check our blog post on how to plan your days.
And remember, if you need a great meeting checklist, I invite you to download our Must Have Meeting Planning Checklist. You can adapt it to your meetings and even use it to set up your projects on the project management tool of your choice. Check it out!
In our last blog post, we covered the three top reasons to use Asana for your events and projects, and in today’s post, we will look into planning your days!
I chose this topic because planning your days is how you implement all of the tasks you worked on in your project management tool last week. If you haven’t read that post yet, I highly suggest that you do because that is the first part of the organization's strategy.
The thing is, many of us do not plan our days effectively. I am not an exception. Actually, I was used to being the person that packed the whole day of tasks only not to be able to do them all. Leaving me frustrated and thinking I did not have enough hours in the day.
But I was WRONG. You see, planning your days is the way you get to be effective so you can be productive. This is not about being busy.
I was listening to one of my mentors the other day when she refers that many of us confuse goals with systems. I think she got it from the book Atomic Habits.
So many people focus on goals instead of putting systems in place that are the ones that will make you reach your goal in the first place.
So being a productivity junkie, I’ve taken lots of productivity courses and read a lot of books about it, and the best strategy that I have found is one I’ve seen in a couple of the courses I’ve taken from Michael Hyatt, Chalene Johnson, and other entrepreneurs. And for example, both of their physical planners come with a great accountability process inside of them.
It’s fantastic that we have a project management tool because writing things down when we have many projects at the same time is not productive, but in order to make your days productive, you should plan them.
In the blog, I'll explain a bit to you about the planner that I use the most (the full focus planner from Michael Hyatt). Even if I use another planner, I follow their system to plan my days.
On Sundays or Monday mornings, I usually complete the weekly preview. There is where I see my biggest wins, review what worked and what didn’t, major deadlines and tasks, and see how far along or if I completed the big three things for the week.
The BIG 3, as Michael Hyatt defines them, are the three most important things you need to do that week in order to move forward. These are the ones that you will block time daily in order to be completed.
Also, when you go to the day area on your planner, you will write them down daily. You have space for other tasks, and he also has a system for deferring, delegating, deleting, etc. If you want to take full advantage of the planner, he has many videos that will help you on his website. For me, the most important thing is just to plan a day that would be realistic and helps me move forward with the projects and goals at hand, and I think that is what you need to focus on as well.
It has been scientifically proven that handwriting boosts your memory and is a practical way to acquire and retain information. And I don’t suggest that you just write for your projects and events because that won’t be practical, that’s why we use a project management tool, but for your day planning, pen and paper will be more beneficial.
There are plenty of planners in the market. I recommend you do your research and check which one works best for you but remember, less is more. A complicated planner that will only give you more work to do in order to catch up with it, it’s not a good solution to simplify your processes.
Well, this is the way I plan my days. Since using this method not only do I get to do more, but I also have more focus and a system to reach a goal. Try it!
If you need a great roadmap to implement what I have explained the last two weeks in regards to your projects and day planning, click here so you can download the planning freebie that you can use as a guide for this organization strategy.
A couple of years ago, I had a business trip for several out-of-town events that we were planning. The trip consisted of a month of being out of my office, and because it was summer, we decided we were going to mix it with a bit of family vacation.
If I were to make this a success, I knew I needed to plan effectively. I usually bring my laptop on my trips because it’s lightweight, but I wanted to travel with my iPad. I have to say, it’s been YEARS since I stopped using binders. However, it took me longer to leave the laptop for the iPad while on the go.
For this purpose, my team and I started researching additional apps and testing them out for a few weeks. I know there are many people that just use the iPad for work, but as a meeting planner and small business owner, I needed to make sure I was able to be completely functional without the computer because we all know our clients rely on us on having everything at hand when needed.
I have to say, I had been looking forward to that moment since the iPads first came out, but it took a long time -at least for me- to feel it had everything I needed to solve any problems along the way. And that is why I want to share with YOU the apps I used to be on the move while planning and executing events at the same time.
For security…
1. 1Password
https://1password.com/
This app has given me the peace of mind I needed with all the passwords that are required everywhere, as It provides a place for users to create and store passwords and other sensitive information in a virtual vault. It is perfect for event organizers that are overloaded with files and passwords that are too much for them to handle.
For storage…
2. Dropbox for business
https://www.dropbox.com/business
This one has truly been the star of the game. All of the business documents are uploaded for easy access and communication with the team. It’s amazing how you can even recover documents deleted by mistake.
For document management…
3. Microsoft Office
https://products.office.com/en-us/home
I have tested several other tools, including the Pages app from Apple. However, I ended up using Word so I could have a seamless transition from the computer to the iPad. Because of Dropbox, I can access and edit files and create new ones all the time without having documents all over the place. The same with presentations and spreadsheets.
4. Google Docs
https://www.google.com/docs/about/
Also, I love Google Docs. Google docs have gotten better and better, and maybe it is just me, but I feel that for writing this one eliminates distractions because it is simple without features that you do not really need.
For artwork and signage…
5. Canva
https://www.canva.com/
Oh, my dear Canva. You can create simple artwork with this. I recommend you use a professional graphic artist if you can afford it, but for simple stuff that you want it to look professional or for quick things, Canva can be a great resource and the free version gives you what you need.
For project and event management…
6. Asana
https://asana.com/
Asana is a project management tool that is affordable and easy to use. It is great for any business size. If you have been following us, you know that we love Asana. It has kept us organized and on top of things since we’ve been using it. I created templates for our recurring projects, so it’s even easier to remember the things needed for each.
For registration and ticketing…
7. Eventbrite
https://www.eventbrite.com/
We work with many small non-profit organizations, so they cannot afford expensive registration softwares, ticketing, and check-in tools that are in the market, so we use Eventbrite. That way, we set up the user for each of them; they can receive their payments directly, and we have a great tool to use for these events.
8. Boomset
https://www.boomset.com/
Depending on the client, we also use Boomset for checking in, name badges, and session tracking. It all depends on the needs of the event.
For notes and PDFs signing…
9. GoodNotes
https://goodnotes.com/
This note-taking app is amazing. You get to write your notes, and yes, they are searchable, and you can even convert your handwriting to text. I am a pen-and-paper person, but with this app, I can travel without my hard-copy journal. On Etsy, you can buy digital planners that work really well with this app as well.
For floor plans…
10. Social Tables
http://www.socialtables.com/
With simple drag and drop, we have been using Social Tables for exhibits and seating charts. You can even upload the floorplan the venue provides with the measurements and create a professional floor plan without the need to be too techy.
So, these are my top 10 apps, and they are only a few of the many options you can use for your on-the-go office using just your iPad.
When it comes to landing your first client as an event and meeting planner, there are a few strategies that you can mix and match to find the perfect one.
In this blog post, I will go over one of the questions that keep coming into conversations with students.
How can I land that first client?
One of the things that I keep telling people that want to work in the healthcare industry is that in having a corporate or association client, you get to develop long-lasting relationships with them. Some of them eventually become friends, which makes working with them way more enjoyable and easier (because you get to know their preferences). However, landing that first client can be scary for some people, and I am here to help and tell you to trust your capabilities.
I also want to share two strategies that may help you with that first client.
As I mentioned before, you need to learn your market. No matter which one it is. Here we focus more on the healthcare market, so I recommend you know about it beforehand. For example, learn how to plan medical meetings (these are mostly the ones you will offer to associations, hospitals, and other non-pharma organizations) and also learn about the pharma/bioscience and medical device market. Even if you know how to plan events and meetings, you should know at least how to apply all of that knowledge to this market. If you haven’t yet, I encourage you to read our post on three things to do in order to start planning medical meetings.
1. Identify the people in the positions that will need your services which we will call your ideal customer avatar (ICA), for example, a marketing manager at X company. I remember when I first started; that is precisely how I started. I made a list, and part of my day was allocated to calling companies and identifying the people I wanted to reach to make those appointments. Cold calls, people. They work!
Today, you have better tools like LinkedIn. You can make a connection with them there. If you want to request a connection with someone you do not know, send them a message about how you can help them and why you suggest connecting.
Also, I recommend you prepare a short presentation of the services you can offer them and have it handy for when those appointments come in so you are ready. This presentation is more like a visual tool because you are putting yourself out there. Don’t be afraid; imagine that this client you are presenting to can be a repeating client once you show them how you can serve them.
2. Networking- some of the best connections come from word of mouth. Participate in industry-related events. Make partnerships with prospective vendors of your ICA. Also, some other vendors, like advertising agencies in the healthcare market, might not be offering event and meeting planning services to their clients, and you could be that person to add on to their services.
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