Scheduled Your Oscar Party Yet? Time is Running Out!

Hollywood's biggest night of the year, the 81st Oscars will take place on Sunday, February 22, 2009 at the Kodak Theatre.

If you haven't planned your Oscar viewing party yet, time is running out.

These Oscar party menus might help:

-All Recipes
-Epicurious
-Reader's Digest Oscar Party Menu for 6
-About.com: Cooking for Kids

Tips for Scheduling a Wedding Date

Chick flick, Bride Wars, starring Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway opened last month. Hathaway and Hudson play best friends who are feuding because they have planned their weddings on the same date. Per Eloise Parker for the Daily News, selecting a wedding date "can be just as cut-throat" as depicted in the movie. After all there are only so many Saturdays in June and October, prime wedding planning months. Parker's article shares some tips for scheduling a wedding date:

- Remember that the hot venues are scheduled at least a year in advance. Start event planning early.
- Saturdays in June and October are big wedding days. Be flexible.
- Unique dates are typically the first to go. Example 09.09.09, Valentine's Day, July 4th and Halloween all fall on Saturdays in 2009.
- Friday nights and Sundays are cheaper than Saturdays.
- January is the best month for savings.
- Consider a waiting list if a prime venue is not available and you are flexible.
- If your heart is set on a specific date, consider flexibility with time of day.

Once you set your wedding date, The Calendar Planner is one inexpensive way to keep you on task as you move towards the big date.

Photo - Courtesy of NY Daily News

Churches Turn to The Calendar Planner for Event Scheduling Needs

More 50% of the Nonprofit customers who use The Calendar Planner are religious organizations.

"We have actually been pleasantly surprised to find that The Calendar Planner has been so well received. We certainly couldn't have predicted that the #1 scheduling calendar software in the film and entertainment industry would be so readily adopted by religious organizations. The 20% Nonprofit discount is making our calendar software an attractive value for large organizations needing multiple licenses or the small church with a tight budget needing one or two,” said CEO, Randy McGowan.

Religious organizations have increasingly complex scheduling and event planning challenges as they allocate spaces, resources and staff to manage an expanded roster of ministry services, special events, classes or rehearsals. Many have expanded their offerings to well beyond the traditional Sunday service and are relying heavily on part-time, volunteer helpers, like Debbie Fisher from Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas, to keep things on track.
In any given week Fisher has over 50 recurring events including classes, services, rehearsals and support groups to schedule. This doesn't include some of the special events such as weddings, mission or leisure trips or concerts.

"We've been using TCP for our yearly planning calendar where I take all of our ministries events and compile them onto one planning calendar. We've been looking for a program to switch to and TCP fits the bill just right", says Fisher.

Scheduling Employees During the Holidays

Summary of article published by The National Federation of Independent Business.

Business owners often have a major scheduling headache during the holidays when scheduling employees. The goal is to have the right amount of employees scheduled to balance the needs of the business and the needs of the employees who have other events scheduled during that time of the year. Holiday scheduling can be the employers' worst nightmare. Per the article, "every worker, business owners included, wants time off during the holidays, but for some businesses, it's the busiest time of year."

Regardless of the kind of business, many employers dread having to handle holiday employee scheduling. Here are some tips from NFIB to find a happy medium with holiday employee scheduling.

1. Be fair and consistent.
Some people might not be happy about their schedule, but they'll accept it if they know the decision about their work schedule was done fairly and was consistent with past policies.
2. Create a holiday employee scheduling policy ahead of time.
Be sure NOT to base the holiday schedule on the needs of specific employees' personal lives. eg. Giving a day off to an employee who has children over giving the day off to a single worker is grounds for trouble.
3. Be generous with employees. Consider closing if business slows during the holidays. It can be a great incentive to your employees. Don't see it as lost productivity, but as a way to recharge your employees for the new year.
4. Be flexible. Consider scheduling employees who can telecommute. Ask employees to forward office calls to cell phones and insist that they check e-mails at least once a day. That way you can ensure that your customers' questions are being answered.
5. Ask for volunteers who want to be scheduled during the holidays.
With volunteers, employers reduce the chances of hard feelings among employees.

Holiday employee scheduling doesn't have to be hard. Start thinking about the work schedule early and ask for suggestions from the staff.

Planning an Office Holiday Party

Party Planning Checklist from Party411.com

Throwing a holiday office party is not as easy as it used to be. In an era of political correctness and workplace diversity you have to be a little more careful. That’s OK! The party can still be fun and a good way to celebrate a year of hard (and hopefully profitable) work and to share Season’s Greetings with all.

You should ask a couple of basic questions before you get started with your event planning checklist.
Is this going to be about business or a purely social event? We have planned these to be year in review events, awards ceremonies, formal social events or relaxed social mixing. Any approach can work but you have to decide the purpose of the event first.

Will the event be formal or casual? Some of this depends on whether you are inviting clients or not and the kind of industry. I like more informal events myself but it really is up to you.
What is your budget? Will employees kick in to help pay or is the company underwriting the whole event?

Are you going to plan the event yourself or hire a professional? Some of this is dictated by budget and some by how experienced and available your staff is. Don’t expect your office manager to plan a party for the entire company and keep up on their day to day activities. Be realistic about time constraints or you will just cause unnecessary anguish.

Are you serving dinner (buffet or sit-down) or will it be finger foods? You can worry about details later.

Where are you having the holiday party for your office? If you need to find an outside venue you have to do it early because the Christmas season is a very busy time for restaurants and party centers.

When it comes to entertaining, "you can never be TOO organized!" And you can quote me. So here’s a checklist for this and a checklist for that. Print them out. Use them to keep your ducks in a row. Or use them to keep you sane. Whichever works. And if you still can’t find what you need, try our Party Concierge™!

There is a complete event planning checklist from Party 411 here.

Helping Nonprofts Select Calendar Software

Exerpted from a popular Reel Logix article written earlier:
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Many nonprofit organizations rely on The Calendar Planner to manage all of their scheduling needs. Since so many nonprofits rely on volunteers to help them achieve their mission, here are some of the questions we encourage nonprofits to answer as they decide on which scheduling software to aquire:

1. Is there a skill gap and lack of time to learn to use new calendar software.
2. What kind of support is available for nonprofit volunteers or staff?
3. How easy will the product be to install and get up and running?
4. Many of the volunteers may have had limited exposure to scheduling software or event planning software , what tools are available to help them learn?
5. Is support available by email, by phone, by IM or by fax?
6. Are there on-line tutorials available for to do self-paced learning?
7. Will staff or volunteers be able to experience the features of the software before purchasing through a product tour or a limited time trial?
8. Who specifically will use the software and what is the skill level of users?
9. Is there a cost for training? How will that impact the budget approved by the board?
10. Will new IT staff be needed to support the program?

Scheduling Presidential Inauguration Events in Washington DC

The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies is busy scheduling events for the inauguration of the 44th President of the United States on January 20, 2009 in Washington DC.

An entire week of festivities are being planned including:

- Presidential Swearing in Ceremony
- Inaugural Address
- Inaugural Parade
- Inaugural Balls and Galas

The theme for the 2009 presidential inauguration will be "A New Birth of Freedom," intended to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth.
The following resources can help schedule your trip to Washington DC for President Obama's inaugutation:
-About.com Presidential Inauguration 2009
-Southwest Airlines Schedules Additional Flights for Obama's inauguration
-Route and Schedule Information on Inauguration for Washington DC
-10 Things You Need to Know About Scheduling a Trip to President-Elect Obama’s Inauguration