Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

Managing calendars shouldn't be akin to running a three-ring circus. 

But at both the parish and diocesan level, keeping track of myriad events can sometimes require the skills of juggler, trapeze artist and flamethrower.

All too often, at a meeting, in the hallway or over the phone, someone will casually mention, "and put that on the calendar," apparently believing that mind reader is also among the calendar circus skills.

Before we add an event to the calendar, we need lots of questions answered: time, location, cost, registration details. Do the organizers want us to build an online registration form? What about online payment options? Do they need to know home address or daytime number or how the person would like to be referenced on a name tag? Are there particular requirements for attending the event (previous experience or training) or do the participants need to bring any items? Who is the contact for questions? Who is the target audience for promotion -- and, in a sentence or two, what is the event about?

Somehow, the flippant, hallway mention doesn't quite cover these all of these questions.

After years of politely asking people to e-mail us all of the information, we adopted a new policy. Nothing goes on the calendar until an online form is completed. Re-read that sentence and note the nothing. We've had to be strict with this rule, especially among our colleagues. They are often the event planners and have come to expect that we will track down all of those details. Now, when they mention an event in a meeting, we remind them of the online event registration form. We won't take any action until that is completed.

This has caused some consternation, but overall it has been a much-improved process. The event form asks organizers all of these pesky detail questions so we don't have to keep hounding them. It creates a good paper trail, both for organizers and calendar managers. It helps us manage multiple events. And as a side benefit, it reminds organizers that efficient management of calendars is important work.

How does your congregation manage the calendar? What about the diocese? Share your strategies here. Circus calendar ringmasters, unite.