What is your map? I use a good list manager. That’s probably the most basic map you can have. A calendar [in Outlook or other office software] is a list — it’s a chronologi- cal list. So there’s the calendar and all the stuff I need to do in and around the calendared stuff. And those are just action lists as well as a list of all the projects I’ve got. I [also] have a list of all the areas of accountability, in terms of my work and also my life. I have some of the bigger goals that I’m going toward. Those are all different kinds of maps that I have. But primarily, the most functional, opera- tional ones are just good lists. I use mind maps a good bit. I use MindManager
[now Mindjet], which is a nice mind-mapping program on the computer. That’s got kind of a map of my maps. So the first thing I look at if I pull up a mind map is, okay, David, do you need to think about strategic projects? Do you need to think about big events coming toward you that you need to be planning for? Do you want to think about your job accountabilities? I’ve got a map that gives me that. It’s relatively crude, but it’s a whole lot better than what most people are working with.
It seems that a lot of this anxiety that people feel doesn’t necessarily come from what they have to do but rather from not knowing how or when to do it. It’s common-sense stuff, but, yeah, you’re right. And most people have no clue how complex their life really is. I’ve spent thousands of hours sitting deskside with some of the best and brightest busi- nesspeople on the planet, and they’re blown away by how many things they actually have their atten- tion on, that they’re committed to. And almost nobody is even close to having appropriate maps. ... You have to be willing to say, “I’ve got to get it out of my head. I’ve got to make some action and outcome decisions. And I really do need to build a trusted system that I keep current.” Otherwise my head starts to take that job, and then my creative energy is being used for something it doesn’t do very well. All your event planners, they wouldn’t be in
that business if they didn’t have some sort of a map that says, “Look, here are the events coming toward me — what’s my critical path there, what do I need to make sure happens. I’ve got the speaker there and we have audiovisual.” I would imagine that they all have some version of that. The truth is, though, the problem only comes when they’ve got more than one. How much do you orient your- self in terms of everything coming toward you on the horizon?
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When people are actually attending a meeting, how should they be approaching GTD? You are having experiences and you are getting input, so you deal with it how you deal with it. Generally speaking, you are probably going to have note-taking devices and you are going to be gather- ing all kinds of crap and schwag we are giving you in those kinds of things. At some point, you need to go back and throw that all in your in-basket and then clean it up within 24 to 48 hours after you get back from that meeting. Like, okay, which business cards actually mean something? What are you going to do about those notes? Are there any actions or proj- ects that you can identify out of all that?
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› Learn more about David Allen and the Getting Things Done program at davidco.com. › Watch “The Art of Stress-Free Productivity,” a talk that Allen gave at TEDxClaremont- Colleges last September, at convn.org/ tedx-allen.
ON THE WEB
How can meeting planners help make meetings less overwhelming for their attendees? Conferences usually have some rigor. People know why they are going to the conference, and the con- ference has some sort of theme. Of course, you can always get a lot more refined: “Well, this is a con- ference about neurology of right- and left-brain seizures.” Well, fabulous. What do you want out of this? You know, so there’s always going to be the individual relationship to whatever the designated purpose of the conference is.
Are there specific things that a planner can do to help alleviate the anxiety that attendees might feel from being away from the ofice? Sure. Just make sure you have 30-minute breaks instead of 15, so they can check their voicemail and stuff like that. And just acknowledge that a lot of people are kind of out of control and all that stuff is banging on the head, and try to give them room to park all that. Like when I’m working with a cli- ent one on one — I’ve got a whole day or two days, and I’m going to be deskside with them — the first thing I ask them is, “What are you going to have to handle before I walk out of here today that doesn’t have anything to do with me?” We get that identi- fied and I say, “Can we handle that right now?” and I just give them an hour. So that then they are present while I’m there, so they can utilize me for what they’re paying me big bucks to do. I’m not quite sure how that would translate in
terms of a conference, but the principle is there: “Hey, guys, we understand [you have responsibili- ties back at the office], so we’re going to give you a long break.” Maybe the first morning. I think that’d be a great thing to do.
. Christopher Durso is executive editor of Convene. PCMA.ORG