techieMusings

I had the opportunity to partner with the Boomerang team to lead a webinar on strategies for managing email and maximizing productivity for educators. If you’ve followed my blog or YouTube channel, you’ll know that I’ve been studying and researching this topic for years. During the webinar, I had a chance to share my reasons for being passionate about this subject, why I felt motivated to make a change in my relationship with email, and how using Boomerang has enabled me to apply research-based strategies into my workflow to not only to maximize my productivity and efficiency but also for my mental health and well-being. 

The webinar covered the following topics:

1. The problem with email (with supporting research)
2. Focused work & mental health
3. Meeting scheduling

To set the stage, we discussed what research says about distractions, multitasking, and task switching’s impact on our productivity and wellness. We then went on to explain and demo how Boomerang’s email features can help tackle the problems with email we identified. My co-presenter Amanda and I shared examples of how we use Boomerang as educators and provided tips on how to make the most of all that Boomerang has to offer.

Other Boomerang features like Inbox Pause and a calendar view – when paired with strategies like time blocking and task batching – can help with focused work and mental health. I shared the email challenge I took on years ago and how much of an impact that experience had on me. I also talked about how I use Boomerang’s calendar view for emails to plan my week ahead.

Finally, Amanda closed the webinar by demonstrating how to use Boomerang’s scheduling features to organize meetings and conferences with colleagues, parents, and students.

You can catch the full recording of the webinar here: https://youtu.be/Fs25BiUTnn0

Note: if you’re interested in entering into the #TechWithHeart giveaway, please post to Twitter by Thursday, March 9 at 11:59pm ET

Grab the handout with supporting research and resources here: Handout: Boomerang for Educators

If you are new to Boomerang and interested, sign up for:

• Boomerang for Gmail: https://www.boomeranggmail.com/referral_download.html?ref=8tbup (referral link for a free month-long trial)
• Boomerang for Outlook: www.boomerangoutlook.com

I hope you find these resources and ideas helpful in your work. If you have questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to reach out!