One Minute of Planning

Nine weeks down, forty-three left to make a difference.

This past weekend got stretched by my office being closed on Monday and Tuesday, which made a great opportunity to get some planning done.  They say that for every minute you spend on planning, you save four minutes on execution and that is a very good thing because execution already sucks up more time than anyone can imagine.

So I started with the planning for our Deputy Grand Matron Brush Up Schools.  This is a chance for us to answer questions that have arisen since the regular School last October as well as covering stuff that we didn't do at that time.  Since the regular School was bursting at the seams already, it is a good thing that we have this chance for more stuff.

Of course, some other changes in plan have caused me to change the agenda for this school too.  For example, originally, I had expected that Escort would be a topic covered at the Transitionals because it is 95% for the Conductresses, but now that there are going to be Retreats and not Transitionals, we will have to cover that at the Brush Up Schools.  Luckily, I've been in the room when Escort was taught or taught it myself a couple dozen times, so that should not be too tough for me.  But it did mean re-arranging the schedule to fit it in, since teaching it takes around an hour plus a little bit if you want to do it right.

And I have no way to know what questions have come out of the first meeting practices, so who knows how long answering them will take.  So far, I haven't gotten a lot of advance questions, but you never know until you get there.  Anyway, most of my stuff for the planning has happened; now I am just a bit nervous about the logistics planning since my Grand Secretary is out on medical leave. But hopefully there will be hotel rooms and people will get fed.  Fingers crossed!

Then there was the start of planning for monthly messages and OV speeches.  I am planning to send out a message each month with the packet that goes out from the Grand Chapter office.  I know that in some years the Worthy Grand Matron does not send something each month, but I have trouble understanding that.  If it is relatively short and informative, I would think that the members would like to have it so that they have more news of what is going on and what is coming up. I can see where it would be a total bore if it was several pages long and/or poorly written, but I haven't seen really bad writing from anyone in the past in my position, so I have to assume that maybe people were just trying to lighten the correspondence burden.  And of course when there was a regular newspaper, I suppose a lot could have been put in that instead.  But right now, without a paper and until our WebMagic web site comes on line, the monthly letter seems to be the best way to get timely news out on a regular basis.  Last year of course, there was a monthly newsletter to the Deputies and Worthy Matrons and Patrons, which was very cool looking, but this year I would like the messages to go to all the members attending their Chapters and I will send separate e-mails to the Deputies as needed.  That is one of the big advantages of insisting that all Deputies have e-mail.

And then there are the OV speeches.  My goal is to give a different speech at each OV and to a certain extent, I can't write them until I get the Planning Sheets, which is why it is critical for those to be done on time, but whatever the theme of the OV might be, there are certain themes and messages that I hope to convey at the OVs and getting those thoughts on paper should be a big help.  I got some of that done already and have next weekend to finish up.

Oh, and I managed to clean off my dresser and one armoire.  There's still one armoire and the shelves in the front hall closet to go, but at least it is a little progress, just in time for all flat surfaces to be inundated with paper again.  I had to move all my piles from my dining room table to the living room coffee table and this weekend, when all holiday meals are over, I will move them back.  Sometime next year, perhaps about this time, I am told that I will get my dining room back.  I will even get to take the pin map off the wall and everything!

Next weekend I am home to finish planning and cleaning.