class preparation | ITLever™

Tag Archives: class preparation

Preparing for next week’s IT Manager Institute class

Posted on September 25, 2014 | Leave a comment

Next week I travel to Carrollton, GA to deliver our 65th IT Manager Institute for 18 managers at Tanner Health System.

Even though I have delivered the class 64 times including six times this year, I always use a checklist to prepare for each class to insure all goes as planned.

My Institute Class Checklist

I’m a big believer in tools and templates for three simple reasons:

Makes it easier
Improves quality
Reduces stress

Makes it easier
Probably my primary reason to develop any tool is to make work easier. I remember the first time I delivered an IT Manager Institute, , , there was a lot of last minute effort to pull it all together. Today, it’s so much simpler and easier with a checklist.

Improves quality
Tools like my IT Manager Institute To Do List shown above help insure everything is done to prepare or complete a project. I never show up at a class and find that I have “missed something we need to deliver the program successfully” if I have checked off each of the items on the list.

Reduces stress
I didn’t realize the benefit tools have in “reducing stress” early in my career, but now I fully understand that making work easier and insuring the work will be complete is a tremendous stress reducer. As they say in Australia, “No worries!”.

The Institute To Do List above includes anything from insuring I pack my passport and the appropriate electrical adapter for an overseas trip to putting clothes in the cleaners and getting a haircut. I also insure certain things are done with “time to spare” by listing completion time frames weeks ahead of the event.

I print an Institute To Do List and put it in my class folder for every class I schedule. It saves time preparing, , , makes it easier, , , eliminates every bit of stress, , , and guarantees I show up ready to go.

My IT Manager ToolKit contains more than 100 tools and templates that were developed to help me manage and monitor IT organizations. Learn more.

Preparing for my 46th IT Manager Institute

Posted on September 14, 2011 | Leave a comment

Next week I’ll deliver the 46th IT Manager Institute in Columbia, TN. I’ll be posting new photos of the class next week.

It has been an extraordinary ride since starting the program in 2003 and the program has taken me to locations around the world I never thought I would see. Hard to believe at times.

I’m excited about this class because we have 4 managers traveling in from outside the US, , , Canada, Uganda, Ghana, and Saudi Arabia. Others are coming in from many parts of the US. It’s going to be a great mix of cultures and insights.

An interesting statistic about the 46 Institute classes is that 35 of the 46 classes have had students attend from outside the US. About 40% of participants are from non-US countries and 19 of the classes have been delivered in non-US countries, , , I have made some great friends in all parts of the world and communicate with many of them from time to time.

Preparations are all but completed for next week’s class and I must say I have this part down to a science. I use a simple checklist that lists every item I need to complete in order to arrive at class fully prepared, , , even things like “get a haircut” (taken care of yesterday), , , or packing my passport when I go out of the country.

As they say in Australia, , , “No worries!”

This checklist eliminates any concern about showing up with something left undone or not having an item I need. When I check off the items on my list, I know everything is ready, , , makes it easy and removes all “last-minute” stress.

I remember the first couple of classes, , , there was a major push the weekend before class to finish everything. It didn’t take long to get tired of this and doing all the work ourselves so I’ve automated much of the preparation.

We eliminated much of the work effort to prepare for a class by setting up an order system for class materials and creating standard templates or tools to take care of the rest of the administrative effort. It takes 5 minutes to order the class materials, , , they arrived yesterday.

Make life easier when you have to do repetitive tasks like I do to prepare for another IT Manager Institute. Create a checklist and tick each item off as you complete them and see for yourself how much easier and less stressful preparing for an event is for you.

IT Manager Institute info at https://itlever.com/it-manager-institute/

Class photos at https://itlever.com/it-manager-institute-photos/

IT Manager Institute #13 – October 2005 – Nashville, TN