Getting Organised with Email – Update

October 10, 2010

tenaciousT 42, Lightbulbs, Toasties Leave a comment

Alright, so with regards to the previous posting about getting organised using your email folders, I’d like to add an update to that. There is a program called ‘Outlook Connector’ which can be downloaded for free here or by googling Outlook Connector.

This program has allowed me to Connect my Outlook program in my Microsoft Suite with my hotmail email account. I find with Outlook’s filing system and visual design, I can get through more emails in fewer time AND because you can create a PST file with subfolders, easier to store and retrieve. I’m not a Microsoft salesperson, I’ve just gotten used to Outlook 2007 so find it easier to use.

This isn’t a tech blog so I won’t go into detail about PST files in Microsoft Outlook. Feel free to leave a comment below if you do want to know more though. And enjoy the rest of your Sunday!

Getting Organised

June 18, 2010

tenaciousT Lightbulbs, Toasties , Leave a comment

This is another one I have picked up from my boss, who has a detailed and highly useful filing system for his emails. I took the skelton structure of the logic behind his system and adapted it to make it work for me. I get between 20-40 personal emails per day and honestly, if they’re all sitting in my main inbox, I can’t find anything easily. So I have separate folders for storing all the emails I want to keep. This sort of system is intuitive for a lot of people, but I know there are still some out there who aren’t sure about how to develop a system that works well for them, so I’m sharing what has worked for me, just in case it helps you.

I began setting up the system by working out the different activities I’m involved with in my mind – I tend to think about things I’m doing as separate tasks or projects, so that is how my email folder system is constructed. I also looked at the emails I had already in my inbox to see what sort of categories would suit them. At the moment, I have the following email folders in my personal email account (in addition to the usual ones):

  • Berowra Management (for club management / committee issues at Berowra Toastmasters that I’m involved with)
  • Berowra Membership (for membership related information at Berowra Toastmasters)
  • Berowra Website (I registered the web domain for Berowra and helped set up the FreeToastHost site, so my emails related to the website are stored here)
  • Contacts (for any Toastmasters related contacts I make – these are generally people I am not in regular contact with, but may want to get in touch with at some future date)
  • Contests (any information relating to any contests I’ve been involved with)
  • Area Governor (any information related to things done by other Area Governors I like, ideas I have for my upcoming term in that role and any resources related to the position)
  • Elouera (I’m not as heavily involved with Elouera Toastmasters, so I don’t have the volumes of communications necessary to create more than one folder)
  • Events (Any info about event management, events I’ve been involved in, even down to things like flyers I like for other events I’ve seen)
  • Guest Speakers (Any info about Guest Speakers I am interested in securing, or have secured in the past)
  • High Performance Leadership (Anything related to my upcoming HPL project)
  • Hornsby Committee (Anything related to committee business at Hornsby Toastmasters Club)
  • Hornsby Mentoring (Anything relating to the existing mentoring arrangements at Hornsby Club, as well as info and resources I am pulling together to help the club create a mentoring guide)
  • Hornsby Past Members (As VPM at Hornsby, I like to keep track of communications with members who have left the club)
  • Hornsby Personal (Anything related to assignments I am completing in the club)
  • Hornsby VPM (All main emails from my time as VPM @ Hornsby)
  • Hornsby Website (Any bits and pieces related to our website)
  • Long Term Goals (Lists of my long term goals, with updates every 3-6 months – this keeps them at the forefront of my mind)
  • Meetings (Any general meeting info for any of my clubs, including agendas and upcoming meeting details)
  • Proofreading Assignments (I’ve been assisting with some of the documents produced in Toastmasters in District 70 and I keep copies of all of them to refer back to if I need to)
  • Resources (Any general resources I want to keep in my email account, including links to websites and useful online info)
  • Seminars (Any info relating to any of the seminars and workshops I am involved in – this folder will probably be split soon)
  • Speech Ideas (This is a story file and ideas file for my own personal use)
  • Speechcraft (Anything relating to Speechcraft programs I run or am involved with)
  • Stage Time! (Anything relating to the new advanced club I’ve joined)
  • TenaciousToastie Blog (Any administration related to this blog, as well as ideas for future posts)
  • The Beyond Series (Anything related to the series of educational guides I am in the process of creating)
  • Toastmasters Projects General (Any Toastmasters projects I get involved in that don’t fit into any other categories, but won’t generate enough correspondence to warrant their own folder)
  • World Champions Edge (Anything related to my Edge membership)
  • Youth Leadership (Any emails related to Youth Leadership courses I am involved with)

For me, a lot of folders with information for different tasks works well. It may not work for you and that’s fine - I still recommend some sort of folder filing system though. It is significantly easier to find emails quickly when they are categorised and has saved me loads of time. Over time, I have added more folders as I take on new projects and archived folders I’m not using. It takes me between 5-15mins per day to file emails, but saves me about double that time per day by my non-scientific estimations.

Who’s going to read all that?

March 10, 2010

tenaciousT Lightbulbs, Meetings, Resources, Toasties , , , 2 Comments

During my lunch break at work today I got some funny looks as I erupted in giggles looking at another District’s website (the District itself shall remain nameless). One of their online resources was a guest kit that was – wait for it – 10 pages long! Who is going to read all that? Leaving aside the fact that it will overwhelm most people unfamiliar with the structure of Toastmasters, the roles and meetings, it is not exactly environmentally friendly!

This kit seemed to forget that different information is suitable for different audiences – we’re in Toastmasters, “know your audience!” If your target audience is Toastmasters visitors, then they will naturally be trying to quickly grasp what’s going on during the meeting and key information only. Do you really want your guests not paying attention to the speakers as they try valiantly to finish reading the guest kit? Information in this kit included knowing how to effectively use the Toastmasters manuals. This information that is surely better suited to new members?

Waffling, aside from demonstrating an inability to convey information in a concise manner, is highly detrimental to our organisation as it alienates the very group of people we should be trying to attract. The Generation Y and i-Gen are right in that age group we should be aiming to recruit: young, dynamic and enthusiastic with a lot to gain from Toastmasters. These groups were raised on TV, internet and technology in general and (as large swathes of social commentators greater then myself have recognised) they have short attention spans! Are they like to read 10 pages of information that could have been said in 2?

I sincerely hope there aren’t any clubs in District 70 overloading their guest kits. If they are, I hope they are at least printing everything double-sided, which is a slight nod to sustainability. I am not exactly thrilled with the current length of the guest kit for Hornsby District Toastmasters (at 4 pages long + a Form400 attached) but as far as I am concerned, this is the maximum allowable. Let’s all challenge ourselves to stay in touch with the needs of our guests, as well as those of our members.

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