Wednesday 10 March 2010

back from holiday with a vengeance

typical, start writing a blog and then of course simply run out of time.

As I was going away on 13th Feb, the last week in the office was absolutely mad, trying to make sure all the urgent stuff was done, including, of course, the new tax guidance for stage managers and agreeing who could say what to the Stage about it. Very very relieved as it's turned out OK, if not ideal. For the majority of stage managers it's good news. If you want specific advice, email the office, and you can download the new guidance from the SMA website members' area. If members only knew how much time this particular subject has taken up in the last three months!

Being away for two weeks in Berlin was fantastic - I didn't get a two week stretch holiday last year at all and it's just really nice not to have to start thinking on day 4 about packing up again.

But coming back, as usual, had its moments - the tax office had sent a completely erroneous demand (more work for the accountant), I had 342 spam emails at home and then the wasing machine broke down. I'd braced myself for a funny week in the office and so it proved - it took me till 4.30 on the Wed to work my way through all the emails (I mean, not just read them! Deal with them!), and Thursday was one of those awful days when I did lots and lots of small things - like sorting out a response to our auditors at the SMA with queries on the accounts, trying to organise the next Production Managers Forum session at PLASA Focus in Leeds, working on finding somewhere to hold the AGM in May, catching up on training with Kat who was in on Thursday afternoon.... but by the end of the day you don't actually feel you've achieved anything, just almost, but not quite, ticked a lot of things on your list.

Oh yes lists. I'm a great believer in lists, well, I guess it's the stage management background. There's an art to doing them, though, isn't there? So they make sense to you, yes, obviously, but also so that I prioritise in the best way. There are now 3 bits to my list...what's on this week in terms of meetings;....what's really important in terms of big jobs.....; all the small niggly things I'd also like to get done this week.

So this week, for example, had a staff meeting for Tuesday, a scheduled phone call from the Cultural Leadership Programme (follow-up evaluation on the Stage Managers for Managers project a couple of years ago), a meeting with Daisy Gladstone who is interested in editing the September Cueline, a meeting with Andrew de Rosa, new Chief Executive of the ABTT, time to discuss training and the Cueline coming up with Kat Nugent on Thursday, and finally showing Kate Astbury, one of our Board members, how she can help us with the mailings for the SMA Awards which she has kindly offered to help with whilst The Enchanted Pig is being shipped back from the States for a UK tour.
Ah, that was just the meetings.... I think I'd better get on with some work now I look at the list.....
Barbara