POINTERS

Top Ten Time Management Tips
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Ever considered true time management when it comes to paperwork? The golden rule for paperwork management is to handle each piece of paper only once. Receive it, process it, file it--each piece is only on your desk once and then is out of your way.

Become a compulsive list-maker (if you aren't already). That way, in a single notebook, you keep all the info you need, and you only ever need to remember one thing: the notebook.

Remember that an Aerie Secretary may select an assistant who can help out with some of the more behind-the-scenes tasks. For example, rather than the responsibility for updating the Aerie Membership roster and phone lists being delegated to the Membership Security Committee, an Assistant Secretary can be very helpful in this regard. It allows a member with those skills to help with the Aerie workload and lets the Aerie Secretary train someone who might eventually wish to serve the Aerie membership as Secretary some day.
 

Time Management Secrets
by Jan Yager, PhD
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Posters may be the hardest thing to keep a handle on. They mainly suffer for one reason: how to get members to read them. One solution is to color code them in order of importance. For instance, for an event a month away, the page could start out on the default white paper. Once an event is two weeks away, take the poster and copy it onto buff yellow paper. Events that are only a week away or less can be copied onto red or pink paper. Once this pattern is established, as Aerie Secretary you'll be keeping in mind what is happening and how soon. In addition, the members--even those in the biggest hurry--will learn to check the pink/red sheets they see for the events they need to remember the soonest. And guaranteed, if you haven't changed a poster from yellow to red, it'll be a member who will remind you. Mission accomplished!

If the Aerie has events that recur every year, make the posters up on a computer and rather than only creating them and printing them, SAVE THEM! Last year's poster is a great template for this year's, and often all you need to do is change contact names and phone numbers and the dates. Another great time saver!

Communication is the solution to countless problems within any Aerie, and most often it falls to the Aerie Secretary to make sure that posted items are kept current on the Aerie's bulletin board.

Some Aeries have eased the load of the Aerie Secretary by establishing a position called the Communications Liaison, who makes sure that the Auxiliary is informed of any decisions made by the Aerie, any new or revised dates of events on the Aerie calendar, as well as making sure that members and committee men alike are up-to-date and informed. Phone Committee work and email lists can be maintained and updated by the C.L.

A Past President often serves in this appointed position, but the Worthy President may select anyone he knows who is part diplomat, part information junkie and part detail freak. This is yet another way to get--or keep--a member involved.