How I went Paperless (sort of)

After planning events for years and creating a monster binder for each with thousands of pieces of paper I decided it was time for me to stop killing trees. Much of the papers in the binders were printed emails that I wrote notes on. My handwriting was so terrible that when I went back to read the notes, I couldn’t. The emails were also filed in Outlook folders so printing them was really just to have a place to write notes as well as to increase my comfort level that the information was handy. Many of the printouts were budgets or logistics documents, items that change constantly. Printing these was, again, just to satisfy my comfort level.

So, I had at least two problems to solve – 1) increase my comfort level with not having printed pages and 2) identify an electronic place to keep notes and other random information.

A lot of this has to do with being organized. I’ve had people tell me that I’m organized, but I just never feel that way. I’ve taken several seminars and classes on how to be organized – McGhee Productivity, Franklin Covey and the like. I pull bits from each and have used them in my daily life. I find it very difficult to follow any one system completely as they don’t fit my personal style.

With the advent of Microsoft Office 2007, I discovered OneNote.

I didn’t know what it was until I started exploring…where was this magical program earlier? It definitely hadn’t been previously included with my version of Office. It’s a program somewhat like Microsoft Word but much more flexible with the filing system. I took the tutorial and created binders for each project easily in OneNote. Need a new tab? Push a button. Need a new page under that tab? Push another button. Taking and filing notes became effortless. Need to mark something in the notes as a to-do? Add a little box. When you are done with it check it off – yes there is an actual check mark!

But, how was I to deal with my issue of notes on specific emails……well OneNote is amazing. Open the email, push another button “Send to OneNote” and a new unfiled page with the email content will be created for you. File it easily where you wish by dragging and dropping.

Other fun things I’ve found in OneNote to keep organized and paperless: create links in your OneNote pages to documents and/or files on your server or web pages, embed documents for later reference right in your notes.

I’ve also discovered that I look at my notes more often now. They are in date order. They are legible. I add a star or to-do box to anything that is an action item for me as I’m taking the notes. I’m not sure how I ever went back through my illegible handwritten notes and discovered any meaningful action items in the past.

I had finally found place to keep my notes and easily organize them – my comfort level definitely increased and trees all around the world breathed a sigh of relief!

Another thing that I needed to rid my desk of was Post-It Notes.

I had them sticking all over my computer screen and desk with notes about random items that didn’t really warrant a whole OneNote section or even page – my conference call in numbers, to-do lists for chores at home, event shopping list, grocery shopping list, etc. I started transferring these bits of info to the Notes in Microsoft Outlook and happily discovered they synched to my Blackberry. Having shopping lists on Blackberry rather than Post-It is so much greener and easily accessible when on the go.

Here’s where I have failed to be paperless so far….

I still keep a paper calendar, a book that I write down my schedule for the day along with voice mail messages. Outlook and OneNote hold all the complete info but sometimes, yes, sometimes I like to be without computer. I like to pretend that technology does not run my life. Not for any heavy content meetings – then always computer. But for more light content meetings I do take a few illegible notes now and then. I am pretty good about transferring these tidbits into OneNote and Outlook as needed. Until laptops are smaller and lighter I expect I’ll still do this. And….there’s something about pencils and erasers that I just can’t kick. Call me old-fashioned.

Documents that are received from others. Yes, sometimes people still do hand out, fax and/or US Mail paper. I still file this. The next step, though, would be to scan it and file it electronically. I haven’t taken this step. I should though; maybe I’ll try that next. To do this you’ll need a fast scanner.

Business Cards. I use Microsoft Outlook for all my contacts. I have about 400. But, one thing I don’t do is add in business cards of random people that I meet at networking events, etc. I don’t really want to junk up my Outlook with information that I don’t use regularly. I need to investigate an electronic filing system for this info rather than the pile of business cards on my desk!

Tips:
· A telephone headset is a must for conference calls. You have to be able to type in OneNote as you talk.
· With this increased use of electronic storage, it’s important that you have a portable storage device. A laptop is a must if you leave the office for meetings.
· Back up your OneNote and Outlook regularly to disk or server. It would be terrible to lose all your notes if your laptop hard drive suddenly dies. (This has happened to me!)
· When you receive a sales brochure in the mail from a vendor that you may use in the future, bookmark the web site in your browser favorites and recycle the paper.

Other resources on going paperless:

Paperless Home article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/10/business/10metrics.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Another paperless blog: http://sunriseremudaservices.com/Blog/?p=37

~ Erika Snyder, Event Manager