Do you ever go to a trade show, an event or even a show and come back with lots of notes, papers and business cards? Well, I know the answer is yes to that one. What do you do when you get back to the office? Here are some tips to make it easier:

1. This first tip makes it easier because you do something at the multi-day event rather than waiting until you return. At the end of each day, go back through your notes and mark the top three as far as action items are concerned. Be sure to do this every evening. At the end of the event or the next morning when you are back in the office, look at your list for each day, prioritize and then narrow the list down to five overall. What actions can you take in the next 30 days to move these ideas to implementation? Schedule it.

1. What about the mass of business cards? Ideally you do this as you meet the person, but it is not always possible. I like to look at each card, try to remember the interaction and what next action is necessary. I will write this on the back of the card. It might be as simple as the person wanted to start getting your weekly newsletter. It may involve additional follow-up from you. Whatever is required, take care of it or schedule it.

1. Onto the handouts. I know I come back with flyers for products. Ideally you go through them in the evening and toss what you do not want. I have found that I may not have time for that and they end up in a stack. When I get back in the office, I toss out what I do not need. I sort other materials into what needs more information and what needs action. Then I schedule time to do this.

What are your tips for dealing with events? I know that it is very easy to let the notes, cards and flyers just stack up in the corner without attending to them.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 13th, 2014 at 10:15 am and is filed under Organization, Quilt Show. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.