How to Write a Prepared Appointment Schedule

An appointment book with blocks for each hour of the workday helps keep your day organized.

Preparing a detailed appointment schedule is a necessity for any business professional who juggles multiple appointments and commitments throughout the course of a business day. A well-written and cleanly organized appointment schedule ensures that appointments are not missed because of poor planning, and it also prevents a busy executive from becoming double-booked or cramming too much into one workday. For all the benefits a schedule provides, writing in appointment entries can be a relatively quick process.

Things You'll Need

• Self-adhesive notepad
• Hourly appointment book or scheduling software

Instructions

1. Record the details of an upcoming appointment on a sticky notepad as you schedule the event. Write down the name of the person requesting the appointment and his phone number, as well as the scheduled time and length of his visit. If there is no set length for the visit, write down a time estimate.

2. Place the self-adhesive note in your appointment book on the date page for the day of the appointment. Leave one edge of the sticky note peeking out from the edge of the page.

3. Flip to your individual self-adhesive notes throughout the day if you think of specific points to mention during a specific appointment. Write your ideas onto the notes.

4. Flip to each note at the end of the day and transfer the name of your visitor and the time from each self-adhesive tab to the hour or half-hour space in your hourly appointment book that corresponds to the scheduled time for the appointment.

5. Enter discussion points for the appointment into the time block. Most books allot two to three lines for an hour block. A review of your book before an appointment begins will allow you to quickly refresh yourself on talking points prior to your visitor arriving.

References

• On Time Supplies: What to Look For in Day Planners and Appointment Calendars