The Ultimate Planning guide/calendar for Publishers, Editors, Journalists, Broadcasters, Educators, Brand Managers, Advertising and Public Relations Professionals. Includes: 449 Individual Daily Events, 179 National & International Weekly Events, 332 Monthly events and 75 religious holidays. I'm sure you've noticed the parade of events, holidays and observances over the years. Today is National Health Day; this week is World Walk to School week; next month is International Bean Sprout Month. IF YOU ARE A JOURNALIST, EDITOR OR PUBLISHER: Use this calendar to plan features around topics that fit your market; Use it to discover traditions you may not know exist; Use it to identify issues currently receiving extra attention; Use it to identify potential feature stories; Use it for little trivia notations and 'Did you know' embellishments; Use it to create a sense of urgency and an entre to reach difficult sources; Use it to collect additional facts on that topic for future stories; Use it to identify trends. _______________________ IF YOU ARE A MARKETER: Use it to generate more revenue. If an organization has set aside a specific month, day or week, find out if additional Co-op dollars are available from manufactures to capitalize upon that event. Check with the regional managers of companies and organizations that are affected by the special event. Often they will have funds set aside to increase awareness that you can use to develop a promotion or event dovetailing with the national or international event. Use the calendar for advertising and promotional planning with agencies and individual companies. Most marketing is planned 6-18 months in advance. Traditionally fiscal years begin in September and budgets are finalized in July and August for the next year. The heightened awareness due to the PR push will make their products/services more desirable during that time. Use it to bring in new advertisers. The calendar is a tremendous ice breaker for new business development and a great strategy for securing that first meeting. Use it to plan your own PR push for new products and services. For example, if you are releasing a book on Diabetes, October and November have several weekly, daily and monthly events designed to bring awareness to the public about Diabetes maintenance, treatment, avoidance and living with the disease. This would be the ideal time to plan a book tour. _____________________ IF YOU ARE AN EDUCATOR: Use it for History: Many of the days mark historic events that impact how we live today. Use it to foster creativity: Have the students come up with ways to acknowledge a specific day like 'Do a Grouch a Favor Day', 'Random Acts of Kindness Day' or 'Incredible Kid Day' Use it to engage curiosity: International Literacy Day Use it to explore other cultures and traditions: What is Diwali and how is it celebrated? Use it to learn about global issues: World Indigenous Peoples Day This is a calendar of ideas. Each year we'll add more events and points of interest. There are thousands of special weeks and days. My hope is this calendar will make your life a little easier, whether you work in the media, market products or teach future generations. WHERE DO THE DATES COME FROM? Month, Week and Day designations come from a variety of sources. INTERNATIONAL OBSERVANCES: Most of the Global events in this calendar are from the United Nations and various NGO's. These institutions and entities have designated specific days, weeks or months to raise awareness to a specific issue like clean water, ending slavery and human rights. NATIONAL OBSERVANCES come from the US Government or various professional/business associations and interests groups. Most of these health, patriotic, historical or lifestyle related. RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES including Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim.
About the Author: Born in Rochester, New York, Laura Dawn Lewis is the eldest of two and grew up on the West Coast of the United States. She attended high school in Oregon and Brazil before graduating from Central Washington University with a BS in Marketing. She has also spent time in England and Saudi Arabia. In 1989 she began working for the Washington Post's The Herald in Everett, Washington, first in circulation and later in advertising where she discovered her talents in art, photography and writing before leaving in 1995. After spending a year in radio at KZOK in Seattle, in 1996 she moved to Los Angeles and began working for the Los Angeles Business Journal in advertising. Concurrently she began reporting as a freelance writer on issues dealing with the emerging technology of the Internet for other publications, whilst completing her first two short story collections: Sensuality Volume One and Sensuality Volume Two. Leaving the business journal in 1999, Lewis founded Couples Company, based upon the Eight Stages of Intimacy she identified after realizing that the majority of relationships break up due to a lack of attention in the areas of spiritual, emotional and intellectual intimacy. Covering the expected, advice on love, romance, dating and marriage, she discovered she enjoyed tackling the controversial subjects of faith, politics and finance. By February 2011 the site was drawing nearly 600,000 unique visitors a month. It was during this time she completed her first non-fiction book: Laid Off, Now What?!?: Surviving Unemployment. In 2010 she updated this book dividing it into four books covering the psychological, financial and job seeking strategies with an emphasis on the changes in tactics and tools for the Great Recession. Laid Off Now What?!? Thriving Financially through Unemployment was released in paperback in May of 2010. In 2008 whilst in England she joined forces with musician, lyricist and composer Michael Brech to pursue an idea she'd been thinking about since 2002. This idea is the Storybook Advent Calendar and Carols collection. The book was published in paperback in 2010. In 2011 Lewis merged Couples Company with two other companies. The web property will be re-launching with a whole new direction and look the summer of 2011. She currently resides in Los Angeles California with her cat, Sinatra.