Getting Started

Getting Started

This page takes you from project conception to conducting the initial workshop. It looks at:

  1. Setting up your tools
  2. Choosing your contacts
  3. Setting up your calendar

1. Setting up your tools

You’ll need a system of simple tools to manage the project. Here are the steps you need to go through to get set up:

  • Spend time before you begin thinking about how you will record meetings, engagements, followups, etc. – detailed notes are important.
  • Start your project in either a spreadsheet or use a copy of our Airtable reporting tool (we’ll provide you with this), depending on which technology you’d prefer.
  • You can choose between software such as Google Calendar, Office365 or your own website software as a means of recording events. PlaceCal works with your existing tools.

2. Choosing your contacts

Now we’ll cover choosing your contacts and deciding what to say to them.

  • Ask yourself who are the people you need to talk to? What are the main places you need to visit?
  • Make a list of all the key people and organisations you want to get on board.
  • Think about each person or organisation and what they might need from you when you get in contact.
  • Start out with the easier targets and bigger organisations since having “social proof” will make it easier to later convince other people to join.
  • Add any events you discover along the way to your Google Calendar. This calendar can later be printed or shared with other people and will become a useful resource.

3. Setting up your calendar

Creating an initial calendar is crucial to get the project started.

  • Using Google Calendar or similar, create a Google Calendar for the area.
  • If you don’t have a Google account then register one now – you’ll need it sooner or later and we find Google Calendar to be the best all-around software for the task.
  • Start with one master calendar where you publish everything on behalf of the organisations. You can get started more quickly since it will take a while for organisations to start publishing their own data.

Coordinators handbook
Coordinators handbook

Getting Started
Initial Workshop
Initial onboarding
Calendar Onboarding
Followups