Here are just a few handy ideas for how you can e your whiteboard, and why this us of interaction is still so popular today in a world of internet and computers:

• Calendar - You can draw a calendar template on your whiteboard using a permanent marker and fill out the dates and days each month. It’s not as feature-rich as your Google or Outlook calendars, but like the messageboard, it’s a good way to share your schedule with your analogous workmates.

Also, not all workers are comfortable with digital calendars. So if you find that you prefer to use pen and a planner for note-taking and and scheduling, then you might find a whiteboard calendar useful.

For bloggers, you can also include your editorial calendar on your whiteboard to remind yourself of your blog’s regular feature articles.


• Brainstorming Panel - If you prefer brainstorming using a tactile medium, you can opt for the whiteboard instead of your mind-mapping software. For the draft, at least. Designers might also find a whiteboard handy when making quick sketches or studies. It’s not going to be as wasteful as using all that paper. Personally, I’m often intimidated by the idea of drawing directly on blank paper when I’m starting a design project, but it becomes less daunting when I already lay out the basic elements on a whiteboard and move on from there.

If you’re brainstorming with another person face-to-face, a whiteboard can work much better than software - because you’re both equally familiar with the tools and the brainstorming isn’t constantly interrupted by technical errors and questions such as “What button do I press now?”


• Inspirational Notes - If you or your staff like receiving inspiration throughout your workday to motivate you, you can use your whiteboard as your source of inspiration. You can write down motivational quotes (in my case, it’s “Stop looking at this and get to work!”) or attach photos that interest you.


• Contact number list - My whiteboard contains a section of emergency numbers, as well as the mobile phone numbers of everyone living in my house. That way, we don’t need to waste time going through an address book (digital or otherwise) during emergencies.


• Presentations - If you need to create a video presentation for your vlog but don’t have the time or skills to make a tight PowerPoint slideshow, making the presentation via a whiteboard could work if you’re a good enough presenter. After all, it works for highly reputable companies with multi-million dollar turnovers, so don't assume that you are either too big or too good for a whiteboard!

You don’t have to limit these kinds of presentations to vlogs. You might also need to make a quick presentation or video proposal for an overseas client, or to demonstrate a point during a video conference.

If your whiteboard is big enough, you can use it to fulfill all the functions listed above. As web workers, we often laugh and mock old school tools like the fax machine, the Rolodex, and the whiteboard. But if we look hard enough, we can often find that there are more ways to use them than we originally thought.