Now Booking Dates for 2016.....

I am a scheduler.  I like having things planned out as far in advance as possible.  I have one of those small two-year calendar books that I use as a backup for the schedule I have in my IPhone--and it is practically full--through 2015.  I've got my golf tournament schedule, officiating and umpiring schedule, work schedule, vacation schedule and major events schedule all set--and it doesn't leave many available dates.

I've always thought that long-range planning shows consideration for others--and I wish more people would do it.  How many times has someone thrown out a vague invitation to "do something" around a certain date, but then doesn't get back to you for weeks or even months?  What invariably happens is that you commit to some other event and then that person calls you up with the "You comin' over this weekend to do what we talked about doin'?"  And you're left with the awkward "Well you never gave me a firm date on that, so I planned to do something else."  Then you give them a list of dates for which you are still available and they always reply "Yeah, I'm not sure what we're doin' those days--I'll have to get back to ya about that."  And the cycle of missed opportunities rolls on.

There is nothing that drives me nuts more than people who ignore all of the schedules that are already out there.  I'm talking to you, brides who select a Badgers home football game Saturday in the fall to hold their weddings.  Ladies, the Big Ten schedule for every season through 2017 is now available at uwbadgers.com I would highly recommend going to that site right now and using it to put big X's through a number of Autumn Saturdays.  (I can also give you the dates for upcoming Masters and Final Fours if you would like them as well.)

Why do I bring this up?  Well, we heard from Oshkosh City Manager Mark Rohloff this week that one change that may come out of a review of the Special Events Permit Policy is no longer double- or triple- or quadruple booking events that require city resources in the future.  That means all of the fishing tournament organizers, concert promoters, conventioneers, marathon runners and pub crawlers are going to have to start scheduling a lot farther in advance to avoid being the odd-man left out.  And believe me, there is going to be a pecking order for events--with the big moneymakers like EAA Airventure, Country and Rock USA and Lifest getting priority--regardless of who else may have put the application in first. 

So if you want to join the party here in Event City, I would highly recommend buying a calendar--or downloading an app with a future calendar feature--and start plotting the dates of everything already going on around here--or you may end up on a Sunday with a home Packers game against the Bears competing for your customers' attentions.