Smart-Phone Helps With Activities Director Job

In the retirement community where I work, and probably in yours, there is a "no personal cell phone during work" policy. Lately, of course, I see more and more fellow managers carrying their phones around and bringing them to meetings.

For me, as the Activities Director, I have found a few uses of my smart-phone that has helped me do my job better. Here is a quick list.

1. Set a reminder so you will remember the weekly video(s) or other task that you need to set-up.
2. Use the timer on the phone to go off when the video is over so you can be there as people leave and shut it off  (Great way to get their opinions about the show.)
3. Use the timer to go off when you need to stop what you are doing (ie. working in your office) and go to the next task (ie. go to a meeting)
4. Take photos of residents while they are with you on outings to promote your programs in the future. How cool would it be to have a file on your computer for outing pictures, so the next time you go to that location, you can use the pictures you took preciously to promote it. 
5. While riding on the bus with the residents, I keep my eyes open for other outing options. Once I see something that looks interesting, I make a note of it on my phone, in the notes section. Sometimes I even will e-mail myself the idea right from the bus.
6. Confirm that the bus driver has the proper directions to our outing by using the maps.
7. And of course, staying in touch with the bus driver while on outings and being able to communicate to the contact person at the outing locations while in route.
8. Email yourself when you think about something you need to take care of when you get back into the office. (This usually hits me when I am driving home and I recall what I forgot to do. And yes, I take care of the reminder at a red light!)
9. And if you have free wi-fi in your community or unlimited data on your phone, you might want to listen to music that makes you happy at work. I plug my phone into my computer to keep it charged and then take the speaker plug from the back of the computer and plug it into my phone. It makes me happy and more likely to sit in the office and work. Try it

I'd love to hear if there are other ways that you use your phone to make your job as Activities Director more efficient! Please leave your ideas in the comment box below.