Betsy Dorsett
Here’s the latest installment in our series on the “Day in the Life” of nonprofit communicators, where we ask you to describe your day in your own words.
Betsy Dorsett, MA, works as the Manager of Communications and Interactive Media at the American Society on Aging (ASA), a national nonprofit association whose membership is made up of professionals who work with older adults. She loves that her job allows her to make connections with ASA members and to come up with creative and effective ways to share educational information and resources with professionals who are dedicated to improving the quality of life of older adults around the nation (and globally).
Here is her typical day:
Before 8:00 am: 5:00 a.m. Wake up and immediately make coffee. Check email, Facebook and Twitter while sipping the first cup.
6:00 a.m. In the weeks leading up to my organization’s annual conference, this is when I get ready and go to work, usually skipping my morning run to get a head-start on the day. On the train ride to work I send emails and respond to social media messages, check my feedly and read blogs, or just zone out.
7:00 a.m. Arrive at work, check comments on our blog, finish emailing, check phone messages, make another cup of coffee!
8:00 am – 10:00 am: I work on our member newsletter (sent weekly) and our internal staff newsletter (sent every other week), post new blogs (usually written and submitted by members), schedule social media posts and catch up with my coworkers. By 10 a.m. it’s usually time for a snack (hummus and pretzels).
10:00 am – 12:00 pm: Every Tuesday we have a conference planning meeting at 11:00 a.m. Before the meeting I check our email and social media data and review any upcoming communications or promotions that are scheduled so that I can report to the group.
On other days of the week, I use this time to look at our social media and e-newsletter performance (though I don’t spend a lot of time with the data–I have 1 or 2 “data days” scheduled each month where I just focus on that), write blog posts or review and edit website content and/or communications, and respond to social media messages as necessary.
12:00 am – 2:00 pm: 12:30 p.m. Lunch at my desk while reading the news or catching up on emails and social media and chatting with my coworkers.
After lunch I usually start on any new tasks that came up during the conference meeting (e.g. emails or direct mailings about the upcoming event). Because I work in shared office space, new tasks also often come up during conversations with my colleagues. Those conversations also lead to fun collaborations and great new ideas.
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm: In the afternoon I work on the website updates that are necessary, including updating project and/or the conference website with any new information or fresh content, and/or changing the rotating image on our homepage.
After 4:00 pm: 4:00 – 5:30 p.m. I try to wrap up all the projects I started throughout the day, return emails, make notes for the following morning and check in with our Chief Operating Officer before leaving for the day.
6:30 – 8:30 p.m. Gym time! I started rock climbing a little over a year ago and it’s been an amazing way to get my mind off work and just focus on what I’m doing… because if I don’t focus, I fall! 🙂
9:30 p.m. Check emails and social media one last time and respond if necessary, then get ready to do it all over again tomorrow!
Want to be featured in this series? Tell us what you do in a typical day as a nonprofit communications pro.
