Treat Your Computer to a Day at the Spa!! -- Computer Spa that is...

Welcome to Planners Pointers!  Each day thousands of people take their cars in to get inspected or do 50,000 mile check ups.  People go to the doctor's to get all sorts of check ups.  We go to dentists for our teeth, chiropractors for our backs. 

What about our computer?  Many of us meeting and event planners are one person shops linked to the outside world via our computer.  Let something happen to it and our world crashes! 

Could our computers need a day the computer spa.  A day of deep temporary cleanses.  A good keyboard manicure,  A hardware tune up! 

Here are six things to think about as you look at your computer.

1. When was the last time you did a  complete back up of your files?  I have a friend who almost lost all of her client files because her computer got corrupted.  She was in tears!  There are several ways to do this including backing up to an external hard drive or using storage with such web based products as Carbonite.  For the cost of a couple of latte's you can have peace of mind for a year.  I have a friend who has both an external hard drive and has a subscription to Carbonite. 

2.  Are your virus checkers up to date?  How often do you virus scans? Do you have more than one virus checker.  Sometimes they don't work well together and you can have problems. 

3. Same goes for your malware detectors.  I had a friend who let her teenage grandson use her computer.  What he did was perfectly innocent, but it cost her more than $200 to fix the problem that the malware created.

4.  Is your computer running slow?  How many programs are you running in the background?  Do you need all of them to be running in the background? 

5. Slow to boot up in the morning?  Check what is in your Start Programs Do you really  need to have the small programs to start automatically?

6. Speaking of programs.  Are you storing programs you are no longer using?  When you install a new version of a program are you making sure to uninstall the old program first?  Do you do automatic updates of your programs?

Next time you schedule a tune up for your car,  make one for your computer as well.  Spending the day at the spa?  Send your computer for its own spa treatment with your favor computer technician   You will both be refreshed!

Setting the Table

Ah, one of my favorite places to host an elegant event, the Carnegie Music Hall, Pittsburgh, PA.

From time to time I  like to share words commonly used by professionals. The words along with their meaning will be from the APEX Industry Glossary maintained by the Convention Industry Council

The Convention Industry Council is the organization of 33 associations coming together to exchange information among the meetings, convention and exhibitions industry. One of the initiatives is APEX, Accepted Practices Exchange to develop practices that reach industry wide. One of the practices is a glossary of terms used in the industry. The goal of the glossary is to standardize the definitions of words used by the meetings industry

While you are looking at the picture, here are a few terms for describing different items on the table.

Napery is another name for table linen

Place Setting or Cover:  A combination of flatware, glassware and china.

Double Cloth: Use of two tablecloths on a banquet table for decorative purposes, to muffle sound, or to attach to skirting.  Usually two different colors are used. 

Overlay:  A second smaller tablecloth used for decorative purposes at banquets

Banquet Round:  Round table used for meal service; depending on the diameter, can comfortably seat up to 12 persons. A round for 8 is usually 60-inches in diameter, and a round for 10 is usually 72-inches in diameter. Rounds that are 66 inches in diameter may also be found in use for tables of 8-10. 

Just add people and you have a beautiful event.

Planner's Pointers is written by, Mary Pam Kilgore, CMP, of Kilgore Business Services, LLC  You may Mary Pam through her website www.kilgorebusiness.com  You can find my blog at http://plannerspointers.blogspot.com/  You can reach me by phone at 412-260-4178.  Follow me on Twitter @marypam.

Friday Web Tip -- Google Voice

Welcome to Planners Pointers! 

One of the recent additions to the many faces of Google is the addition of voice mail.  Called Google Voice, this latest product is something for you to add to your list of settings.  And like other things Google, it's free!

Here are some benefits.

1. Phone number rings on multiple lines.  For example, the Pittsburgh NAWBO Chapter has added Google Voice.  It rings the phones of three different people.  If no one is available, the Gmail account gets an email that says that there is a message waiting. 

2. Along the same lines as the first suggestion,  ff you are using your home phone and your cell phone for business but don't want to advertise the fact to the rest of the world, Google Voice will give you a phone number, in your area code, to use.  Use that number on your business cards and website.

3. You can email the voice mail message.  Get a message and want someone else to hear it, you can forward the voice mail via email quickly.

4. Google transcribes the message so you can read your voice mail.  One drawback:  If the person leaving the message isn't clear enough, the words maybe wrong.  I wondered who Jenny was until I heard the message and my sister-in-laws name, Joanie.

The best suggestion is to go to www.google.com/voice and check it out for yourself.

That's this week's Planners Pointers web tip.

Planners Pointers is written by Mary Pam Kilgore, CMP, Kilgore Business Services, LLC.  contact me at mpkilgore@comcast.net  

Home Office Kryptonite

Welcome to Planner's Pointer's!

Today we are going to talk about home office Kryptonite.  Remember Superman?  He leaps over tall buildings in a single bound?  He could stop a bullet.  And as we learned in the first Superman movie that came out in the 70s, Superman can turn back time.  But he had one weakness:  Kryptonite, a mineral from his own planet that would zap his powers and if exposed to it long enough would eventually kill him.

We aren't talking about issues that could hurt us physically, but what about those distractions that happen every day.  Things that grab our attention, and because we don't let them, won't let us go.  Time grabbers, home office Kryptonite in other words.

1. Daydreaming -- that's what our teachers called it when we were kids. Thinking about other things when you are working on a project.  For example:  You are working on a client's project.  You are getting paid to do this but sometimes your mind wanders and you think you should be doing something else. Another project, perhaps or taking the dog for a walk.  I like timers.  When you start working on project, set the timer for 45 minutes.  See where you are with the project at that time.  Still moving ahead, or stuck and thinking about laundry?  If you are moving ahead, set the time for another 30 minutes.  If not, take a break, 5 minutes and get up and move around.  I am a list maker. When I start thinking of other things I I add it to the list, then I don't have to remember it anymore.  It's on the list of things I am going to do later.

2. Email  Email is a trap if you let it.  There have been several articles about email organization like schedule reading times.  Morning, and later in the afternoon.  Unless you are expecting an email.  The same could be and should be said about Facebook and Twitter.  A word here about phone calls.  Answering services, Answering machines, caller ID and voice mail have been around in some cases 30 or more years.  Turn your ringer off if you want, put on headphones.  Screening doesn't have the negative connation that it has had in the past.

4.  "Oh look Shinny!"  You are on the Internet doing some researching when one link leads to another and before you know it you have spent two hours on an entirely different topic then when you started.  Or you are at a really large website let's say something like istockphoto.com and Internet Movie Data Base. 

5. Television  This is my personal Kryptonite.  My computer has a TV tuner in it and if I turn it on it is hard for me to turn it off.  Yes I can put what I am working on in front of me and still hear it.  

How do I handle life's interruptions?  I make lists and have a plan for the day.  For some things like Internet searches I will set a timer.  I screen calls.  I have days that are office only.

Planner's Pointers is written by Mary Pam Kilgore, of Kilgore Business Services, LLC. You may reach me through my website www.kilgorebusiness.com  or marypamkilgore@gmail.com  You can reach me by phone at 412-260-4178.  Follow me on Twitter @marypam.  Copyright 2010

Looking for work? Interview with Dawn Penfold, Meetingjobs.com

Welcome to Planner's Pointer's Planners Pointers is a blog and talk cast to help beginning event planners with their event planning. Give them ideas on planning better events, books to read and websites to discover.

I teach a class at Allegheny County Community College called "Event Planning as a Career. One of the most often asked questions I get from my students is are there jobs out there… I took this question to Dawn Penfold, CMP and president of http://www.meetingjobs.com/   I interviewed her on my Talkshoe radio channel.  I thought I would share the link with you so you could hear her comments and tips about finding a job as a planner in today's economy.  Here is the link to the Planners Pointers Radio Show:

http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/73353

TechnoGranny Show -- Discussing New Media

I had the chance to be on the TechnoGranny Show on Talkshoe on Monday, January 3.  It was a lot of fun!  Here is the link so you can listen.  What we talked about was the different new media that we had started in 2010 and the new media we were going to use in 2011.

Here is the link TechnoGranny Show

How to Plan a 7 Course Meal

Did you ever wonder what a seven course dinner was?  Ever wonder how it was served?  Today we are going to take a look at How to Plan a Seven Course Meal

Before we explain each course -- let's look at the courses has a whole

First Course: appetizer

Second Course: soup

Third Course: salad

Fourth Course: sorbet to cleanse the palate

Fifth course: fish or poultry

Sixth Course: red meat, fish or poultry with vegetables

Seventh Course: dessert

I know what you are thinking.  How can people each all that food!! Or have all that time! Or take all that time. 

Biggest tip I learned is to give the dinner a theme.  That helps you choose what types of food you would like to serve. Also remember these are smaller portions.  For example the meat course portion should be 4 oz of meat. 

Break it down by course --

1. Appetizer course -- Small and light  If you were doing something with an Italian theme you might do an antipasto. Or if you could do a shrimp cocktail.

2. Soup course:  You may use a cream based or clear soup such as a chicken stock based soup or a vegetable soup. Avoid heavy soups.

3. Salad course:  For example use different varieties of lettuce with a nice vinaigrette and a few crotons  Also keep the amount of salad dressing to a minimum.

4. Cleanse the palate course with sorbet like a lemon or a lime.

5. Fifth Course fish or poultry.  In one of the things I read some called it the first main course.  You could serve a baked fish such as Orange Ruffy or baked chicken such as chicken picatta.  Make sure that the fish or poultry used in this course don't overpower the Meat Course

6. Meat Course This could include fish, poultry, red meat including beef or pork with vegetables and potatoes.  If you bake the fish or chicken in the fifth course then you choose a different method here like broiled or grilled.  Again keep meat portions small.  4 ounces will do nicely.  Adding the vegetable helps cleanse the palate and aid digestion.

7. Dessert.  Something lavish and memorable.  Anything chocolate would work such as Chocolate cake or chocolate silk pie.  You could also do make your own sundaes

Some hints:  Serve foods that compliment each other.  This is a meal that is served and not done family style so people won't over load on one thing. 

Each course is to have its own wine.  A good way to way to do this without sending everyone home tipsy is to visit a wine store and go over the menu with the sommelier to discuss what wines and how much to serve each person.

Also please allow enough time to enjoy the meal

As Julia Child used to say "Bon Appetite!"

That's the Planners Pointer for today.

Planner's Pointers is written by, Mary Pam Kilgore, CMP  owner of Kilgore Business Services, LLC  You may reach me through my website www.kilgorebusiness.com  You can find my blog at http://plannerspointers.blogspot.com/  You can reach me by phone at 412-260-4178.  Follow me on Twitter @marypam.