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Using Tasks in Google Calendar

You can now manage your tasks in Google Calendar in the right sidebar as shown above.

The tasks integrate as follows:

* Those tasks that have due dates will automatically appear on your calendar in the All day event section.
* You can create a task with a due date by clicking on an empty space in the month view or the All Day section and select the Task option.
* It's easy to modify a task's date by simply dragging the task to a new date.
* To mark a task as complete simply click on the check box next to the task.

If you are already using a dedicated application you will likely stay where you are. For others who want basic email/calendar-integrated tasks this makes a great upgrade.

A New Way

You could say its a stealth invasion. Slowly more of our computer work is happening over the internet. Instead of all the programs being resident on your computer, more of what we do each year on the computer is done on-line. Nick Carr has written about this change in his book 'The Big Switch'. Large companies continue to build more applications and allow you to store information on their servers. Nick is interviewed on this subject here.

Utilities to Brighten Your Day

There is a whole world of utility programs out there to automate tasks you find you are doing regularly on your computer. Let's say you find too many open windows are distracting. By installing and then selectively choosing to use Ghoster you can dim all the other windows you ae not using. Or maybe you like to listen to internet radio while you work but need a quick way to mute the sound when a phone or colleague demands your attention; try Mute v1.0.

Utilities such as these have been around for years and are often available for free or a small donation. I like this page for its large group of utilities available for download.

Quicktopic - Small Group Forum

Quicktopic is a web-based application that lets you set up a free instant Internet discussion space. I doubt it would work well for large forums but it is great for an executive or board of a sport association of 20 people or less. You use it as a forum to share ideas and report progress on a project. It allows instant communication to all members of your group and it makes it easy to go back and reference what was agreed upon in past discussions. You may well find it allows you to cut your need for in-person meetings significantly. If you have to travel to weekly meetings you could free up a lot of time by collaborating on-line. Check out Quicktopic and build your own discussion space. If you know of a similar website service - let me know.

Silent Auction Fundraising

Our snowboard association had been through a couple of weak attempts at fund-raising and the clock was ticking to get us back on track. We decided on a goods and services auction; so not only items to auction such as sportswear but also services such as windsurfing lessons, hotel nights and restaurant gift certificates. The event was agreed upon then some combined work with computer applications and communication over the Internet came to the fore.

As with many good collaborative projects we started with an email to the membership to ask for contributions. Whether you use Outlook or another contact relationship manager, you can send out the emails to your group using an email merge function. This action sends out the same content in the form of a personalized email to each member of your group.

First our parents canvassed their friends and business contacts for items or services. The members also decided on what they could offer themselves. All the ideas were sent in via email to the inventory chairperson either in Excel format or simply included in the body of the email:



Make sure you keep people motivated with your electronic information flow and milestones. Members should all be encouraged to ask people such as their hairdresser, dry cleaner and local restaurant owner to participate.

Once your list of auction items is complete, send it back out to your members as an Excel file and encourage them to share it either via email or print off copies for friends or to bring to the office. From our organization of 60 active participants we came up with a couple of hundred auction items and earned about $7,000.

Try to have a larger donor retain signature sponsorship for the event, so the event would be titled:

Your Association Sponsor Company Auction

Ask them if they will match the amount you raise with an equal amount as their contribution. If not, perhaps they will agree to a $1,000 donation for being the signature sponsor. You can also remind them they will have prominent placement on your website that receives [quote the number] visits from the local community each month. Good luck!

Streamline!

Which is more precious, your money or your time? Many of us put a high value on free time each week for our other endeavors such as time with family and friends, the arts and sports. If you have been part of the management team for your local association for a while you know the depth of the time commitment that is required. Your tasks within the group inevitably lead you back to your computer - it is simply a better way to get things done.

For some of you that will mean time working on spreadsheets, figuring out game schedules. I know different venues have different rules; teams have to travel and work around the exam schedules of participants and holidays... the list is endless.

For others in your association computer time might be communicating with coaches and referees or perhaps your general public. I know many of you reading this would need to communicate with parents and the wider group you want to come out and see your game. Its more fun for the watchers and the players if you bring in a big crowd. A well-maintained outbound email campaign and good links to other websites that attract a sport-minded crowd can do wonders for your crowd numbers.

Fund-raising committees are another group that can reap massive benefits from good computer communications and project management. Our provincial snowboard association recently made good use of this type of solution - read about it in my next post.

As your computer-based management of your sports association grows you should share your ideas regularly within your group. If your group is fairly small you may want to make use of Quicktopic. This site leads you through setting up a discussion forum on any topic you choose. Keep an eye on this blog for a full report on Quicktopic.