This past weekend I was able to again apply the time-management travel strategies I listed in my 4-blog series on Nov 11-13,16. Remember those? Me neither. I think they dealt with time during travel, plus 20 destinations.
This trip was my 14th to the 29th annual Lilly Conference on College Teaching at Miami University in Oxford, OH. I love this conference and the people who run it. It’s the premier teaching conference in the universe. I thought it would be worth calculating the available work time in transit at this professional conference. This is a time-management test of my own skills. Here’s my analysis:
• BWI Airport wait-time: 2.5 hrs.
• Dayton Airport wait-time: 3.5 hrs.
• Travel time to and from conference venue: 2 hrs.
• Between session and evening work time at conference (3 days): 14 hrs.
Rounded to 8 decimal points, that’s a total of 22 hrs. of available work time, about 36% of which involved travel-related time.
You have some tough decisions to make about how you want to spend it. A lot of work can be completed if you are disciplined to stay focused; or you can play and socialize, or do some of both.
“What did you do, Bucko?” Hmmm. Here my rundown:
1. I used the 6 hrs. of airport wait-time to draft future blog material on time-management tips for faculty, managers, and other employees. That content was derived from previously published material in my time management book, including the idea of writing this one. I also computed all of my conference expenses.
2. At the conference,
a. I reviewed, edited, and practiced my 2 presentations (I can never practice too much to insure a seamless presentation), plus 2 1-hr. technical rehearsals in the venues prior to the presentations (Note: My PowerPoints are 1.3—1.5 GB with all of the music and video clips.)
b. I answered all of my e-mail requests
c. I sent out 92 LinkedIn invitations to faculty who attended my sessions (only those who consented to receiving those invites; 4 refused)
d. I wrote 1 blog and posted it
e. I reviewed book chapter content to be covered in my next book in progress.
That's all I completed. I also played and relaxed.
What did you accomplish at this or another conference? Did you use your time productively or wastefully? Do you have suggestions on how to make more efficient use of travel time? I welcome any creative ideas. We’re all in this time-management battle together.
COPYRIGHT © 2009 Ronald A. Berk, LLC & Coventry Press
Dad-there's a book called "The Power of Full engagement" that I highly recommenend. It talks about how the real issue isn't time management but energy management-knowing what drains you and what energizes you and even if you have TIME to do things, not necessarily doing them if you need to use your energy elsewhere. It's written by guys who consulted with professional athletes for years about how to help them manage their time/energy. Let me know if you check it out...
ReplyDelete