Latest / PCMA Convene Podcast / Convene Talk: Time-Smart, Not Time-Stressed: Productivity Habits That Actually Work for Event Professionals
Transcript
- Convene Talk, ep. 68/June 27, 2025 *Note: the transcript is AI generated, excuse typos and inaccuracies Magdalina Atanassova: This is the Convene Podcast. Welcome to another one of our talks. Kate. Today's the first time you're picking a topic, so I cannot wait to hear more about it. Kate Mulcrone: Thank you. So in April, PCMA did a virtual meetup for the EMEA community with a presentation by by Max Ohlenschlager. And he is an experienced coach, trainer and author who specializes in time management and productivity. For almost 15 years, Max has been helping professionals increase their efficiency and resilience while they're at work, but also in in their whole life through his various coaching and training programs. When we covered the meetup on our website with an article that lays out some of Max's strategies, the response was definitive. The audience absolutely loved the story. So today we're just going to run through the tips as a group and add a few of our own. Max's first tip, probably not too surprising, is to not use your brain as a to do list. And he says that rather than trying to remember everything you need to do, either use pen and paper or a separate app for keeping yourself organized. And this is something I do. I actually have two different apps that I use for to do's, one for my personal life and one for work. I'm curious if anyone else has to do tips to share. Barbara? Barbara Palmer: Yes. You know what? I have a book by Cassie Holmes. She is, I think at Yale and she's written a book called Happier Hour, how to like get more time back to like control your time. And she had a tip of like, not like use the to do list lightly. She said that if you get like really too into to do lists that that can actually become a distraction. The tip that I would have is that like a to do list that has a lot of, a lot of time intensive things on. It can be oppressive. So I do like, I chunk my to do list. I'll have like the longer list, but then I'll be like, what am I going to do in the next 90 minutes? And then write those things down in like kind of very detailed steps. And I find that that not only helps me like kind of stay organized, it just really helps me, you know, feel like I am actually getting through this and I'm not. You know, I find it very helpful to do the mini to do throughout the day in little chunks. Kate Mulcrone: That makes perfect sense to me. And actually it really segues well into the next tip, which is to block off focus time for yourself. Max suggested seeing it almost like scheduling a meeting with yourself so that you can get deep work done. I know this is something I do. I'm curious if anyone else is scheduling focus time. Maggie? Magdalina Atanassova: Yeah, I'm a big fan of focus time, and I'm a big fan of also, you know, Tiny, to your first point, with a to do list, having a to do list. And actually what really stood out to me attending the session with Max was that he drove a point that oftentimes what we put on our to do lists are not tasks, but they're projects, you know, too big of a chunk that you cannot actually really squeeze into one hour or the time that you've allocated. We put things like redo my kitchen if we speak about house things, or change the piping. I don't know. I'm just thinking of house things just because I had to deal with such today. And oftentimes what you need to put on your calendar is not redo the kitchen, but find a person to help with the project. You know, do the steps, not the whole thing, because it feels overwhelming you when you land there in that time slot. You feel kind of paralyzed because you don't know actually what's the first step. So I really love that. That's what I walked away with from. From the session, really, to think what I'm putting on my to do. And when I'm scheduling that, that focus time, I'm actually focused on the one task that I've picked out from the big project. And I think that's extremely relevant for event planners, especially those like account managers that oversee the big project. Of course, you cannot put on your calendar, look at X and Y conference. You have to be really specific and focused about your time. Or I believe some of the examples that were given were work on rfp. Yes, but work on rfp, that's a huge. That's a project. So which part of the RFP do you need to dig into? Something specific. So really thinking of the parts that make up the whole project and then doing those into smaller chunks and then allocating folks. Works like a charm. Kate Mulcrone: That's such an important point. If it isn't actionable, then it's not ready to even be on your to do list yet. I completely agree. And actually, that leads really well into Max's next tip, that you should both start and end the day with an overview. And that might be as simple as asking yourself the question, what do I want to have achieved today? So with the example you just gave, it would be, I want to figure out the concrete next steps for this project by the end of the day, after I give Myself time to work on it. And I personally really love the beginning of the day, end of the day overview. Not just for being organized, but as someone who works from home and I live by myself, I need that, like, transition time. I need to like, tell myself, you're starting work now. Here's what we're going to do this morning. And then at the end of the day, you would think I wouldn't need a transition time, but I need it even more then to like, tell my brain to stop. And having the, like, here's what I need to do in the morning is the perfect way to do that. And Barbara? Barbara Palmer: Well, you know, there's just kind of a theme, A theme is emerging with me because I agree completely about. I always do the overview at the beginning. I don't always do it at the end of the day. And I think part of that is sometimes, like, if you kind of work yourself into exhaustion, you're kind of crawling away from your computer. So to have a stop time, like schedule your overview at the end of the day. And I did a story about Chris, and I believe I'm saying this correctly, Gilbeau, who organized a neurodiversity conference and he wrote a book called Time Anxiety. And that title just spoke to me so loud that I did buy it. And one of the things he suggested was doing at the end of a chunk of time, he suggested 40 minutes, just look back and say, was that time well spent? And if it wasn't, adjust just kind of do a little time check. Like a little, you know, just look back, not like to berate yourself, but like, is this going in a good direction? Kate Mulcrone: Absolutely. And that segues really well into our next tip, which is to work in chunks. And this is something that you can do with a timer or you can say, I'm going to leave two hours to do this, but I'm going to take a break in the middle. And I think that what Barbara just said, though, is a really useful addition in that, okay, you set aside your chunk, but make sure at the end of the chunk to say, how much did I get done? Do I want to keep working on this, something I personally do? If I'm working on, say, a story, I cannot write that all at once. But what I can do is I set a timer for 25 minutes, traditional Pomodoro style, and then it goes off and I either stop working right then or I give myself five more minutes to wrap it up and then move on to something else so that I don't get stuck on this longer term project and that, that's something that works well for me. But obviously everyone has their own way of working in chunks. Magdalina Atanassova: I wonder if any of you actually love the Pomodoro method. Just because I'm struggling so much with it, it just brings so much anxiety that I know that this alarm clock will go off and I feel pressured to deliver and I know just, it just. I'm like, no, pressure me. It's hard enough what I'm doing right now. I don't need this added pressure. So I wonder if there's anyone else like me. Barbara Palmer: Barbara, you know, that's absolutely. Like this. I have a timer and I don't find it. I find it like it's fine. But when I was looking for I have two timers and the first one was like, no. And I actually spent a little time on Amazon looking for. I wanted a timer that sounded like those singing bowls that at the, you know, at the end of meditation where the, where the, they, they. And they were way too expensive. But I agree completely. I think I've used it enough that it's not anxiety producing to me because I'm like, okay. That's when I can think about something else. Like when the timer goes off, I'm like, okay, now I take a breath and anyway. But yes, that's super familiar to me. Magdalina Atanassova: Had hard time on this. I tried it. I wanted to love it. It's just not working with my, you know, being. Barbara Palmer: It's just. Magdalina Atanassova: Yeah, no. Kate Mulcrone: I'm wondering for both Maggie and Barbara, are you taking a break when the timer goes off? Because that's, that's how it works sometimes if you don't take the break, the psychological technique won't work. Like the timer going off is supposed to be good, right? Barbara Palmer: No. And that is a problem that I agree completely and I at least stand up or maybe I go. I know that like when I worked in an office, I would go check my mail slot a dozen times a day. And it wasn't because I thought I was getting any more mail. It was like, okay, that's a, that's a. Take a breath, you know, So I do check the mail, but I do at least try and get up sometimes. I don't, I don't always hear it like it'll go off. And I, you know, it just kind of depends. But that is such a good point because I think, why do you, why do you schedule these breaks for yourself and not take that? Kate Mulcrone: That's why I have my five minute rule. It's like a Cheat code. Because let's say if I really think I could finish the task in less than five minutes, I actually start another timer. That's five minutes. And then I take the break at the end of that, no matter what. But usually I'm ready for my break. But that's why I have the cheat code, because it's really silly to not finish something just because the timer went off. Barbara Palmer: True. Kate Mulcrone: But yeah, getting up is key too. And I will do just like you say. I mean, I don't get my mail, but I'll get a drink or do something and then I'll try to get back to it. But it sounds like as a group we are very divided on the pomodoro technique. And the next tip from Max is to create buffers around your meetings to avoid back to back meetings. He said you need the break to be able to prepare for the next meeting. I definitely find this to be true. And if I'm interviewing someone for a story and I book a half an hour, I a hundred percent of the time put a fake half hour meeting on my calendar right after that in case it goes over. But even if it doesn't go over, I can just look at the transcript right away and like highlight a few things while it's still fresh in my mind. Is anyone else using this buffer technique either before or after meetings? Michelle? Michelle Russell: I am not able to do that unless I create the meeting. And most of the meetings are created for me. So I felt like this was. That's a nice thing to have. But I think for a lot of people, meetings are put on the calendar, you're invited and you're expected to attend and you just don't have a lot of, you don't have a lot of control over that. A couple of things since we've been talking have come to me, and one is that I think the reason why this article resonated so much with our audience is that all of our salary surveys have shown that one of the biggest challenges for event organizers is time management. And most of them, the majority of them, work more than 40 hours a week at their job. And, and I am guilty as charged about that as well. So my technique is probably not a great one, which is I like to get to my desk early in the morning, like 6, 6:30, I wanna sit there as my cup of coffee and either I tackle something that's been hanging, weighing heavy on my mind and I feel like nobody else is gonna bother me because of the time. Although Maggie now is, she's, she's ruined that for me because she works on completely different. She's in it, lives in a different time zone. So when I get to my desk I see there are messages from her in teams and I try to get back to her. But for the most part it's okay. It's okay because I do send stuff and I've said this to the team. I'll send stuff at 6:30 in the morning and I don't expect that you answer it. This is my time to do like things they say. I have read so many different things. Probably not good to start your day with the easy tasks. Try starting your day with the more difficult, focused tasks. I think it has to do with your mood. So I'm just organic about that. I don't ever set a timer that would make me really anxious. I have one timer and that is to wake me up in the morning. I don't set any other timers. I don't need the anxiety. I think I prioritize based on what my deadlines are and I think that is we're all deadline driven in this business so we are able to prioritize knowing, well, this is a hard deadline. I can't, I can't let this one keep going, going, going. But I do think that's why this article resonated so much with our audience is because they all feel like, I think ever since COVID especially, they feel like they have way too much to do and not enough time to do it. But I kind of agree, like spending too much time on your to do list to me is just like that completely negates the whole thing. Now you're spending a lot of time putting together a list. I just jot things down every day so that when I start the new day I was like, oh yeah, I didn't get to that. I need to cross that off my list. And there is some satisfaction in physically crossing something off a hard copy. It's like done and I am moving on. And I also reward myself if I've done something really like time intensive, heavy thinking like finishing a story, I have edited it myself 10 times. I'm going to reward myself. And whether that is a walk around the block or a quick shopping, online shopping experience, it makes me feel better. It's like, okay, job well done, pat yourself on the back. Magdalina Atanassova: That's a cool thing to do. I feel rewards like that are very important and we need to be a bit more mindful and really celebrate the small wins because sometimes in a day you may get just small wins. But they're wins nevertheless. And I feel you when you say you prefer not to sit down and do the busy work, quote unquote, you know, on just creating those to do lists. But I actually find it really rewarding spending half an hour, one hour a week to plan my whole upcoming week. And I do try to leave buffers for unexpected things. And of course, you know, things are fluid. We're all human beings. Things may just happen. But I feel much more prepared at the start of the week because I have an overview of how my week would go. And I know even if something happens, how I can navigate this disturbance, so to say. And I know which are my priorities and what's further down the list, which even if I don't get to it, it's fine. Nobody, you know, it's not, it's not interrupting my overall flow and progress. And I, I feel that really gives some kind of freedom of the mind. So I can think of other things I know this is planned for. I just move, follow, follow along the path and it's good. Barbara Palmer: I read somewhere that there were just this tens of thousands of books on time management that are just in print and available now. And I feel like if there was a certain system that worked for everybody, there would be, you know, 2,000 books about that system. I feel like these are like, you know, getting down to like, the principles. But then everybody, I think, has their own adaptation. I have this, I don't know, like, it just weighs so heavily on me if I don't, like, put it in these little manageable chunks. So anyway, I was just going to say to each his own is, I think, true in time management. Kate Mulcrone: So I'm glad you said that and I love that we've all resonated with different tips. The next one is one I don't really agree with myself, that is to get rid of distractions. Max suggested you could put your phone in airplane mode or another room and minimize any screens you're not using. This won't work for me. Like, I have to tell myself, just ignore. Putting it in airplane mode isn't going to stop me from checking my email on my computer. And I mean, if I'm at work, I'm signed into teams and I might, like, see a notification. I have to simply sometimes tell myself, you have to finish this. You'll be done with this in 45 minutes. In 45 minutes you can look at your email and you can look at whatever else. And that works better for me than any kind of like, physical solution. Because if I. I'll just look somewhere else. I'm curious if anyone has had more success with this tip than I have, though, because like we said, to each their own. Barbara Palmer: Well, you know, I think it just depends on what distracts you. You know, like, definitely getting rid of what distracts you is a good thing. But I am one of those people that is really happy working in a hubbub. I don't know what it is. I think there's just some brains that like to have this frequency of stuff going on. So I feel like if I were to, like, close the shutters to my outside, I just feel like it feeds me a little bit to have a bird fly by or. You know, the one distraction that I've been really successful in shutting off is social media. Like, I bought a new phone and I put no apps on it that are social media. And it's not without some downsides. You have to think about your relationships on social media. But there was a story in News Junkie today just about how fast, like how hard at work all the people who create social media platforms are at sucking us in. And one of the ways that I was able to just realize I don't need social media apps except if I'm checking something for work. Like, if I would find myself that I had been spending like 20 minutes and I just had gone online to find out some fact, I would just ask myself, how do you feel? And it would be like, crummy, crummy, you know, and just enough of that. It's like, this is not going to be a positive distraction. Magdalina Atanassova: I love this question. How do I feel? And one very actionable tip for all planners listening to us that have a wearable is to check their stress levels. Because yours, if you have a watch or a ring or a whoop or whatever you wear, it shows you your stress levels. I have yet to find time after social media that my stress levels are not elevated. Even though I've watched a lot of kittens and a lot of dog videos and all those cute little things, my stress levels are always elevated. So if you need, you know, to see, to believe it, that's very easily done with one of those. And once you see that it is a pattern or if you block time just for social media browsing and then check, you know, go back and check your stats and then make your own conclusions. I think it's very. Wow. I was not really thinking it would be like this, but it seemed indeed interesting. Yeah. Kate Mulcrone: I mean, checking in on your stress level is great advice that could go with any of these tips. And it's a wonderful segue into Max's final tip, which is dividing your day. He points out that no one can be equally productive all day long. Some of us are morning people, some of us are afternoon people. He calls himself a maker in the morning and a manager in the afternoon. For me, it's completely the opposite. The morning is let me check things off, let me get things ready to go, and then the afternoon is more. Let me brainstorm or write or do things that are not time sensitive. Is anyone sort of the same way with a morning or afternoon polarity? And is there anyone who does think that they're productive all day and this advice doesn't make sense for them? Barbara Palmer: No. Michelle Russell: No. I'm definitely a morning person. But sometimes you have to force yourself. If you have a deadline and it is painful, if it's not your, you know, your ideal time to do it, it's just painful. It just, it's. It's much more difficult and challenging, especially if you feel like you're one of those people who has a lull. I have a lull at 2 or 3 o' clock and it's just, you know, I could grab a cup of coffee, but then my sleep would be affected, so I don't do that. So I just try to go take a walk or do something that kind of refreshes me. We all have natural ebb and flow and it is good to remind yourself you're not a robot and you can't do everything. You know, can't operate at the same level eight hours a day. Just, it's just not possible. Barbara Palmer: It's been very interesting to me to move three hours to the west because now I often go, how can you feel so behind Barbara? It's seven, ten, you know, and so I think the point of that is one of the points that this Cassie Holmes made in the book Happier Hour is the importance of mindset. It's not like flipping a switch. But she talks about people who feel the constantly time poor and how detrimental that is to your physical and mental health to go through your life. And I certainly agree with that. When people say, oh, treat a weekend like a vacation, you're like, are you kidding me? You know, But I think that there just are ways to really change how you think about time and be sure and make time for the things that you know are going to keep you productive. For me, it's like stopping. I don't do that thing like get this part of the story done. I'm like, I'm gonna get this story done and then it's gonna feel so good. And so. And then I don't really. I'm not really honest with myself about how long I'm working, you know, because I want to think like, oh, I'm getting this done quickly. And then you're like, oh, my gosh, I worked for hours and hours. Of course that's not my best. So just to say, all right, when you can just say, okay, I've worked long enough, I'm stopping. It'll still be here tomorrow and I'll be rested and well fed and I'll start again in the morning. Magdalina Atanassova: I like the fact that we all are aware of our peak hours for certain tasks and when you need to switch into that manage mode that Max was referring to, because we are all forced to work 9 to 5ish, right? I mean, not really with working from home, but kind of. But then we are all operating in different rhythms. So this actually makes no sense for all of us out there in the workforce. And I think that's very important for people to realize, and especially, you know, people that manage others just to give that freedom of movement sometimes and understand that some people work better in the evening and that's fine. Just give them. Don't. Don't put that additional pressure on delivery in this certain timeframe. There are tests out there on the Internet if you wanna. If you're not certain you can actually do a test online, just Google it. I can try to find a link and put it in the show notes and just there are a bunch of questions and then they give you an answer and they tell you how to navigate and manage your day better. Kate Mulcrone: Sounds really interesting. I agree with Maggie's point. We need to embrace flexibility. And then also I think something that's become clear through our discussion today is part of effective time management is self compassion. It's not going to help you get your work done faster if you beat up on yourself because you didn't get as much done as you thought you would. You still have to do the work anyway and you will do it. And I just hope that some of these strategies, none of the strategies are perfect, but that someone who is listening today can find two or three things that they would love to try for themselves. Magdalina Atanassova: I hope so too. Thank you, Kate, for leading the discussion and thank you all for contributing and giving your spin on things. Remember to subscribe to the Convene Podcast on your favorite listening platform to stay updated with our latest episodes. For further industry insights from the Convene team, head over to PCMA.org/convene. My name is Maggie. Stay inspired. Keep inspiring. And until next time.