Skip to main content

THREE THOUGHTS FOR A THOROUGH CALENDAR

"Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one.”
 - Brad Paisley

As we begin a new year, and look at the 12 months of planning ahead of us as activities professionals, it can be both overwhelming and exciting!  I'd like to share a few ways that I look at this situation.

First, I review last year's successes and add the programs that I want back onto the new year's calendar. This is a good base for raising the bar for your programming because you are starting off with what was well received. Only take the best and leave the other activity ideas in the past. 


Next, I take a look at ideas that are sitting on my desk in my to-do pile. These ideas include entertainers that I want to book, places that we should go to, class ideas, etc. etc.  I pull out the ideas that I am really interested in and start penciling them onto my calendar where I think that they will work best. I make a note on the information according to what I penciled on my calendar. At this point, I either start making calls or leave it until later to call. If you have a good volunteer, it would be a perfect project for them to take on.

And lastly, I put in my special events. In my community I host a theme party every other month. In the past, I've had ideas that are suggested, are community favorites, or that I've created on my own. This year, I am going to try another approach. I work with a few different talent agencies, and my plan is to contact them and ask them to suggest one or two of their most unique entertainers. I will then build my theme night around the show. This is different from the way that I usually do things, and most likely the way you do them too.  

I encourage you to take home your calendar book and the ideas that you have on your desk or in your file cabinet, and spend some time making a year's plan. Do it in January because after the year starts it might be tough to carve out the time to do it. Maybe you just do the first 6 months and see how it goes. Another option that has worked for me in the past is, when I am on outing such as a casino trip, I take my calendar and ideas folder with me. If my gambling money runs out and I have already been around and checked on the residents on the outing and they don’t need me, I find a quiet place to sit down and open my mind to the possibilities that I can add to my calendar. I know that when I pencil in my ideas when I am not pressured to come up with ideas, that my calendar looks better. Also, it is great to turn the page of the calendar and see that some of your work is already done for you! 






Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

3 Styles of Scavenger Hunts

Boy is it hot outside! If you are like me you may still be looking for indoor activities that are fun for your residents to do. This activity that I will share with you can be done for different levels of care in your retirement community. I encourage you to share it with the other activity professionals that work in those other areas within your own community. The activity is the Scavenge Hunt. This can be done in three different ways and I will describe them below: 1)       The Stay Seated Scavenger Hunt v   Ask audience to bring in items they think will be asked for. Encourage them to fill their purses, pockets, bags, etc. and bring it to the event v   Make a list of items that they could bring with them v   Include items that would be funny, that might have a story to go with them, or that people would be surprised someone would actually have. (Green Stamps anyone?) v   See the list I used v   Cut the list i...
2 comments
Read more

Puzzle Theme for Volunteer Appreciation

Volunteers are an essential piece of retirement communities! They can be found volunteering at the reception desk when you first walk in, running an activity for the entire community to attend, folding napkins for the dining room and even taking potential residents on tours of the community for the sales and marketing department. Resident volunteers may also be board or committee members of your community's resident board. It is hard to imagine a successful community without resident volunteers. As the activities director in my CCRC community, it is my responsibility to make sure there is a wonderful appreciation luncheon every year to thank our residents. This year we used a puzzle theme for the lunch. The idea came to us (me and my co-workers from our neighboring sister community) from the Positive Promotions catalog. Here are the highlights of the event that connected the pieces together for a successful and meaningful afternoon: In Advance 1) Took a photo of the entran...
Post a Comment
Read more

Super Bowl Party for Seniors

It is almost here! The 46th Super Bowl game will be held on Sunday, February 5 in Indinapolis. Each year, residents in my retirement community want to have a viewing party for the big game. I believe that it is a fun program to make an activity out of, but not something that I must do every year. Mostly, I don't have this each year because there are not to many ways to change it up, so I don't want to have it become boring. (This is where your ideas would be great to hear!!) This year, we are going to have a party and I'd like to share with you the plans for the evening. Residents are now signing up for the program which is set to start at 6:00 p.m.  This time is perfect in my community because we still serve dinner at noon on Sundays and the residents usually like to attend for the food, if for no other reason. (I do charge them a fee for the food.) We will have the game showing on our big screen tv in the auditorium and tables and chairs set up for the...
2 comments
Read more