this Russian guy had a lucky escape last year when the brakes failed on a parked bus and it accelerated down a hill towards him (story & film @ The Telegraph)
For a Planner, I’m probably a bit too organised. Which means I occasionally get lumbered covering client meetings for absent account directors or sorting travel logistics.
Like Mary Baskin wrote for the APG, it can sometimes be a good idea to feign incompetence. But there are a few organisational type things that everyone in an agency should try harder at, Account Planners included:
1) File as if you might get run over by a bus tomorrow. Whether its piles of paper or digital files, store them in a way that if you didn’t come into the office tomorrow (or ever again), someone else could find them easily and crack on.
Even if that bus never hits you, other stuff can still knock you for six – I went home one day with tummy ache, then had to ring work from the hospital to say I was about to have my appendix out and would be back in a couple of weeks-ish…
Full-on filing not only means that your own life will simpler as you can quickly lay your hands on almost any data/qual report/email, but as a bonus everyone else in the office will think you are some kind of all-knowing genius type person who can instantly recall facts, figures and client/supplier blackmail material.
2) You can either be early or late for everything. Being On Time is practically impossible. So plan to be early, which means maps, satnav and physically dragging the other agency meeting participants outside and into the car if necessary.
Russell Davies writes in his Top Ten Tips for Presentations (via APG again) that you should get there early enough that you can rewrite the whole thing on a large piece of cardboard found in a stationary cupboard if you need to.
3) Keep your desk tidy. Its a personal bugbear of mine, I know, but if you do get run over by that bus, its no good having a brilliant electronic filing system if your desk is hidden by towering piles of paper, manky coffee cups and THAT missing report. How is anyone covering your role supposed to tell what is Important and what is recycling?
4) File your receipts and get your expenses claims in on time. You. Will. Get. Paid. Back. Faster.