I Love My Binder

For all of the tech tools that have made event production, task management, and just about every form of communication more streamlined, I still prefer physical paper and a 3-ring binder when it comes to keeping things together for an event. Don’t get me wrong, I hate the amount of paper that ends up in the recycling bin and I often grumble about carrying around a weighty tote bag. There are just some things, however that are still more efficient to do, and I’m convinced will always be easier with paper.

I’m extremely grateful that I don’t have to use graph paper and a ruler to make a scaled drawing anymore thanks to the plethora of cloud-based layout and design programs. I’m also slightly neurotic about keeping my computer files organized. So why is a binder still necessary? It’s definitely not for the novelty of it.

Unless we can always work with three screens in front of us, there just isn’t always enough screen space. As many planners know, there are multiple revisions, multiple documents and many versions of just about everything that need to be cross-referenced. You’ve updated your rental order six times and need to make sure the changes have been deleted/added. While, you can open versions side-by-side and use your stylus to mark it up, sometimes, you just can’t see it all on a tablet clearly. At some point, most of us get to the breaking point having too many windows and programs open at one time. It starts to slow down, gets confusing and we make mistakes.

Moving beyond available screen space, what happens on-site when most of the team is NOT working on a tablet? You’re on site and changing the layout. You cannot magically email your scribble to the banquet captain or foreman of the crew on the floor. I guarantee he/she is not walking around the event floor with a layout on a tablet. If you have copies on paper, you can scribble away and send people off in their respective directions to keep moving forward.

Lastly, when we rely purely on technology, we are only as good as the technology around us. In a recent thunderstorm, the power grid was wiped out for hours. No phones, no computers, nothing. We’ve all been at venues or certain pockets of venues where there isn’t reception to receive a call. We’ve been cut off our shared servers and had trouble downloading or syncing files. We’ve experienced our phones and tablets run out of batteries or just die for no reason. I wish I could go paperless and prevent myself from recycling reams of paper after each event. I wish I could e-sign and update everything live on a cloud-based platform. If someone has the answer, please let me know. In the meantime, I love my binder and I’m sure many of you will agree.