The Importance of Calendars

There are events calendars all over the internet, perhaps you’ve seen so many that
you’ve become somewhat blind to them. Or maybe you religiously use a calendar
for your local community or business. But have you ever stopped to think about
why your calendar is important, what it is that it brings to your community, your
business, and your online presence? A calendar is more than just a list of dates and
events, it tells a story of you or your community, it provides information for
interested persons, and it creates a social hub and web presence. Depending on who
you are, and what you do, a calendar will have different types of use and
significance. Let’s take a look at some of the types of people and groups who use
calendars and what makes their calendar so important .

For a Community

An online calendar can provide a social

hub for a community and also shows off that community to the world. Recently, we
did a feature on Jacksonopolis, an online source for community news and events for
Jackson, Michigan. The creator of the website, David Buchanan, was concern that
his town was being misrepresented and he wanted to turn that perception around.
“We came to life because of a dire need for our community to build pride, focus
creativity and grow new economic sectors.” An online calendar is a great way to
demonstrate the vibrancy of a community to the world.

There are some things that are essential for a comm unity calendar. For one thing,
social integration. Many people and places have Facebook accounts and these need
to be tightly integrated with the website calendar. That way people can confirm
attendance to events from their Facebook accounts. It also needs to be easy for
people to share those events on Twitter and Facebook.

Another important factor for a community is to be able to share and link calendars.
This is easy with Timely’s All -in-One Events Calendar. At Jacksonopolis, for
example, David has linked calendars for the Arts Council and the Young
Professionals network, which share a unified data structure. This makes it easy for
calendars to share information.

Another important aspect is calendar curation. This means curating event content so
that is relevant to your community, incorporating the .ics feed of other calendars.
You can check out our tips for creating a curated events calendar .

For a truly social calendar, you may want to think about user submitted events.
These are events that are submitted by the users from the front end of the website,
then posted to the calendar. This functionality is available in the Pro version of our
calendar, which was launched last month.

For a Company
It’s not just communities that need calendars. They’re a great way for companies to
publicize their events, whether that’s internally or externally. You may even want
to have both!

The calendar on the front of your site shows that your business is more than just a
website. It’s a map of all of the realtime events that take place within yourcompany.
You may want to tell the world about your AGM, the events or shows that you will
be attending, seminars or lectures that your company is holding. This type of
content on your calendar showcases your company’s activities to the world.

You may also want to have an internal calendar for your business community. This
could share the diary of your CEO or anyone else much in demand. Or you could
look on this as a way as team building and encouraging collegiality within your
company. You could, for example, have a calendar with all of the training sessions
available for staff. You could also list fitness classes in your area that your
employees might be interested in. And, of course, you can list those all -important
social events. You could even enable user -generated content to allow your
employees to create events and invite coll eagues. There are plenty of ways in which
your calendar can help to strengthen your community at work.

For an Individual

There are a number ways that you as an

individual may want to incorporate a calendar into your website. Your blog may be
the record of what you have done, but your calendar is a record of what you are
going to do. Some things you could use your individual calendar for:

 If you’re involved with public speaking or go to a lot of conferences, your calendar will tell
the world where they can hear and meet you. This is particularly important if you are a
person with a public profiles.
  Your calendar can tell people about all of the forthcoming events in your area that you are
planning to attend. Every calendar is different, and a calendar curated by you will tell your
individual story of the events that you like to go to.
 If you’re a freelancer or contractor, you could use a calendar on your website to show off
your availability. You may even want to use your website calendar to enable people to
make bookings with you.
 If you have a website for your family, you could use your calendar as a way of recording
birthdays and important events. This will mean no one will have an excuse for forgetting
again!

Calendars aren’t just lists

of events. They are the gathering point for a community or a company,
demonstrate the tastes or activities of an individual. But most of all they are
filled with possibility and excitement for what is coming in the future, of
stories yet to be told. Don’t underestimate the importance of the calendar on
your website.
FIVE REASONS YOU SHOULD BE
KEEPING A CALENDAR
By Ellie Walburg on December 18, 2017

It's Sunday night. The weekend is over and you begin to think and plan for what you have coming
up in the next week.

Your son's soccer game is on Monday night. Pages 330-350 are due in your textbook by class on
Thursday. You're bringing dinner to your parents some time this week. Your responsive essay just
needs a few more tweaks. You're attending a career development seminar with your co-workers.
Your daughter has a choir concert on Wednesday. Oh, and don't forget, it's your wedding
anniversary this weekend.

Time to take a deep breath.

Dates of meetings, events, special occasions, assignments, tests fly around constantly, filling up our
schedules even before the week begins. Especially when pursuing higher education in a degree
program, staying organized in your schedule is important to your success.

An easy, inexpensive way to boost your organization as a student is to complete and maintain a
calendar. Whether you choose online calendars, such as Google Calendar or other apps, or a paper-
and-pen notebook, calendars provide many benefits in both your academic and personal life.

Here are five reasons why you should be keeping a calendar:

1. PLAN FOR STUDY TIME
With so many things going on, you may wonder when you'll have time to study. A calendar comes in
handy when you notice your free times and mark in times in your week to devote to course work.

Knowing and planning for these study sessions will set you up for academic success rather than
bringing on an all-nighter of writing papers or memorizing notecards.

Breaking up your schoolwork into manageable, 30-minute sessions will help you retain information
and decrease stressful studying. In fact, small, consistent study periods lead to better results
compared to long and rare sessions.

2. TRACK DUE DATES

When you get the syllabus for your first course, you may be tempted to think that you've got plenty
of time before that quiz in two weeks. However, if you don't plan for it, that quiz may come up on
you closer than you expect.

Keeping an accurate and up-to-date calendar of due dates of important assignments, tests, projects
and class discussions reminds you of what you need to complete and when. Rather than being
overwhelmed at seeing coursework as a long checklist of things you need to do, a calendar provides
the space to plan for each due date at the appropriate time.

Writing, or typing, out each assignment and assessment in your program course helps you be aware
of what's to come, but also to take one step at a time.

3. KEEPS FAMILY INFORMED

If you're a parent and are returning to school, your family may want to stay in the loop of what's
going on in your life. With a calendar, your family can know what night you have class and when
important events are. Maintaining open communication, through the use of a calendar, can help
your family stay on the same page—literally.
When you have a time slot blocked off on your calendar for studying, that also communicates to
your family that you need that time to focus and stay dedicated to this journey toward your goals.

4. EASE ANXIETY
Class nights. Assignments. Family events. Athletic games. Work functions. Volunteer sessions.
Special occasions. Home improvement lists. Second jobs. There may be a variety of things going on
in your life. Having to remember every detail in your head, without writing them down, can elevate
your stress in balancing each area of your life.

Recording due dates, task reminders and special events on a calendar allows you to release them
from cluttering up your mind. There's less of a chance you'll forget something, because you have it
written down in a calendar you frequently visit.

5. SEE AVAILABILITY, QUICKLY

It's an unfortunate feeling when you receive and accept an invitation to a fun event, only to realize
later that you already have a commitment during that time.

A calendar allows you to see quickly when you are free and when you have prior commitments.
Planning events or other special occasions also becomes easier when you know your availability.

CALENDAR TIPS
Calendars are easy to personalize, depending on your work habits, access to technology and other
preferences. Regardless of which route you choose, here are some insightful tips to get the most
out of keeping your calendar:

 Color code your various schedules—work, home, school, etc.—to easily distinguish where
you spend your time.
 Keep your calendar in a location that's easily accessible and visible.
 Plan study times at consistent times to encourage the habit of studying.
 Want to use electronic and paper calendars? Keep both for different uses or in separate
locations. For example, use a paper month-view calendar for special events and an
electronic week or day-view calendar for more detailed assignments, meetings, etc.
Maintaining an accurate calendar can help you both in your academics and in your personal life—
and can ease the overwhelming feeling of balancing a busy schedule.

STAY UP ON YOUR S