Welbi Masterclass: Streamlining your Print Calendar Prep

In this masterclass, we’ll walk you through some tips and tricks designed to save you time while creating stunning calendars that your residents will love.

This video is a recording of a live Welbi Masterclass that took place on April 4, 2024.

Before you Print

Set Yourself up for Success

Use recurrences:  Using recurrences for your programs that run on a weekly, daily, etc basis helps speed up your scheduling.

Keep program titles clear and concise: This helps save space in your print calendar and makes it easy for residents to read your programs.

Set a date: Try and set a date each month to have all of your programs scheduled. This way everyone knows when they can start working on their print calendar.

Printing Multiple Calendars

'Create Copy' is your Friend

If you’re creating multiple print calendars in a month, ‘Create Copy’ is a time saving tool for you and your team. You can use the ‘Create Copy’ button to: 

• Create a duplicate of an existing calendar
• Create your first calendar as a “template” and then use Create Copy to create the next ones
  • The only changes you’ll need to make are updating the filters (who is the calendar for), updating the header, and editing the title to reflect who the calendar is for.

Filters, Filters, Filters!

Quickly and easily narrow down the programs that appear on your print calendar using the filter buttons along the top left corner.

• This is helpful if you print a different calendar for different levels of care, home areas, or floors
• You can create specific calendars for different locations within your community (e.g. display a calendar outside your Activity Room)
• You can create calendars for each facilitator to have to see the programs they’re running that month

Who is Your Calendar For?

Edit the text, font style, size, and colour of your Print Calendar Header

• You can change the name to the appropriate Level of Care, Home Area, or Floor (e.g. Welbi Park Lodge - Memory Care)
• You can change the name to appropriate Location (e.g. Gymnasium)
• You can change the name to appropriate Facilitator (e.g. Sarah’s Calendar or Life Enrichment Coordinator Calendar)
  
  

Edit the title  while in your print calendar as well to eliminate seeing four different ‘April 2024’ calendars

Setting Defaults to Make Designing Quicker

Set it and Forget it!

Setting defaults in your print calendar can help speed up your calendar preparation.

• With defaults set, every time you open a calendar, certain formatting can already be taken care of for you
• You can set the following as defaults in your calendar
  • Location abbreviations
  • Formatting and colour coding (Tags, Announcements, Dimensions of Wellness, Levels of Care, Locations, Facilitators)
  • Program types (e.g. only show Group & Announcements)
  • Calendars (e.g. Recreation or Staff)
  • Spacing
  • First day of the week
  • Font and font size
  • Number of pages

Talk to your Customer Experience rep to set defaults in your community

Keeping Your Calendars Clean and Simple

Don't Overcomplicate it

Creating a simple and clean print calendar is beneficial for your residents.

• A simple calendar with clean design and minimal text ensures that information is easy to read and understand, especially for residents with visual impairments or cognitive challenges.
  
  
• A clutter-free layout makes it easier for residents to navigate the calendar and find the information they need quickly, reducing frustration and confusion.
  
  
• Residents may find it overwhelming to process calendars with too many graphics or text elements. A simple design reduces cognitive load and helps residents focus on the programs rather than deciphering the calendar layout.

Tips and Tricks

Here are some tips and tricks for creating beautiful calendars:

• Less is more. Don’t feel like you need to add images to every cell. Keep your calendars clean and clutter-free.
  
  
• Use your own images. Do you have photos of residents in your community or special events you’ve run? Use those images on your calendar when appropriate.
  
  
• Remove backgrounds when possible. When adding a graphic to your calendar, try and find ones that don’t have a background. This allows you to fit it more easily and cleanly within the calendar.
  
  

Resources

Here are some resources for you when creating your print calendars.

• Canva: the free version of Canva offers tons of beautiful images and graphics
  
  
• Vecteezy: free images and clipart (searching ‘Watercolor’ yields incredible results)
  
  
• Hex codes: more colour options for your print calendar