NoordaCOM – Media & Information Technology Blog

Hello Noorda Colleagues,

I have received positive feedback on the Master Calendar, but one point of critique is that it is ONLY useful if everyone actually uses it.     So please review the guidelines below with your teams and have a conversation about what your department needs to post to the Calendar.   Make some process decisions to ensure that it remains updated, complete, and useful to the Noorda community. 

The Master Calendar is a shared tool to help faculty and staff coordinate campus events, prevent scheduling conflicts, and minimize resource strain (e.g., parking, space, staffing). This calendar is not for internal departmental tracking, but for cross-departmental visibility.

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✅ What Should Be Posted

Post events that could impact or require awareness from other departments or that utilize shared campus resources, such as:

• All-campus or multi-department events
  (e.g., orientations, town halls, student-wide workshops)
• Events using shared facilities
  (e.g., ballrooms, shared classrooms, events involving hallways like poster exhibit events, outdoor areas, etc)
• Events that may affect traffic flow or parking availability
• Events requiring IT, Facilities, or AV support
• Special guests, VIP visits, or media presence
  (when they may impact operations or require coordination)
• Major construction, maintenance, or scheduled outages
• Staff or faculty development days/trainings  -even if off-site
  (especially if large numbers are attending)

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❌ What Should Not Be Posted

Avoid posting events that are strictly internal or routine for your department and do not affect others, such as:

• Regular team or departmental meetings
• Office hours or routine staff availability
• Internal reminders or planning tasks
• Private appointments or personal calendars
• Events not held on campus or not impacting campus operations

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📝 Posting Best Practices

• Be specific: Include a clear title, time, location, and point of contact or sponsoring department.
• Be timely: Post events as early as possible to allow others to plan around them.
• Be thoughtful: Ask yourself, “Would it be useful for another department to know about this?
• Be thorough:  While brevity is thoughtful, it is better to err on the side of sharing more info than needed than too little or not enough.     

📣 Questions?

If you’re unsure whether something belongs on the calendar, ask your supervisor or department head for guidance, or shoot me an email to facilitate a conversation.  

Thanks for your help in making this simple tool effective and worthwhile for us all.   

Chris Milliken

Director of Information Technology