You changed the schedule at 9am. The whiteboard still says yesterday's plan.
You are an activities coordinator. Your job is to keep residents engaged, active, and enjoying their day — not to spend twenty minutes every morning rewriting a whiteboard that someone will accidentally wipe by lunchtime. NowBoard gives you a screen you can update from your phone — between sessions, from the craft cupboard, or while you are setting up chairs for the afternoon sing-along.
No credit card required • Cancel anytime • From £10/Location/month • If you can use WhatsApp, you can use NowBoard
You plan the activities. You run the activities. And somehow you are also responsible for a whiteboard that nobody trusts.
Activities coordinators carry a role that touches every resident, every family, and every inspection. You plan the week. You source the materials. You adapt sessions for residents with different abilities. You manage volunteers and visiting entertainers. And on top of all of that, you are expected to keep the activity board in the lounge current, readable, and accurate — using a whiteboard marker and whatever time you can steal between sessions.
An activities coordinator at a 50-bed home in West Yorkshire describes her morning. She arrives at 8:30am. Her first task — before setting up the craft activity, before checking which residents are going to the hairdresser — is the whiteboard. She writes out the day's schedule. It takes about ten minutes if nobody interrupts her. Somebody always interrupts her. A resident asks a question. The phone rings — it is Dave, the singer. He is ill. He cannot come at 2pm. She puts the phone down and walks back to the whiteboard. She wipes "Music with Dave — 2pm" and writes "Film Afternoon — 2pm." A resident watching says: "Oh, I was looking forward to the music." By 10am the schedule has already changed once. By 2pm it might change again.
You spend more time writing about activities than running them. And nobody reads the paper schedule anyway.
The whiteboard eats your morning
Ten to twenty minutes to write the daily schedule — every single day. If you have two lounges, double it. An activities coordinator in Hampshire calculated she spends roughly six hours per month writing on whiteboards. Six hours she could spend with residents.
Nobody trusts the board because it is often wrong
You write the schedule at 8:30am. By 10am, something has changed. The singer cancelled. The volunteer is late. The schedule on the board is wrong — but you are mid-session and cannot walk to the lounge to fix it. A family arrives expecting music. There is no music.
Paper schedules are dead on arrival
Created on Monday. By Wednesday, three things have changed. The printed schedule in the entrance still shows Monday's version. Families plan visits around sessions that are no longer happening. The printed schedule creates more confusion than no schedule at all.
You cannot update a board you are not standing next to
A whiteboard requires your physical presence. If you are running a knitting group in the conservatory and the 3pm session is cancelled, the lounge board stays wrong until you finish, walk to the lounge, find the marker, and fix it. If you are off sick, the board goes blank.
Update your activity board from your phone. Mid-session. Between sessions. From the craft cupboard.
NowBoard replaces the whiteboard with a screen you control from your phone. When the schedule changes, you change the screen from wherever you are. No walking to the board. No hunting for a marker. No leaving a session to fix a display. The whole thing takes less time than finding a dry-erase marker that works.
A NowBoard Player connects to a TV or screen in the lounge
A small device — about the size of a phone charger — plugs into any TV via HDMI. Uses existing wifi. The Player costs around £139. Use a TV the home already has, or a dedicated screen mounted near the lounge entrance.
Set up your activity schedule
Open NowBoard on your phone or tablet. Type today's activities — times, names, locations. Save. The screen shows it. If you plan a week in advance, set up each day and NowBoard shows the right day's schedule automatically.
When something changes, change it from your phone
The singer cancels? Open NowBoard, change the 2pm slot, save. The lounge screen updates in seconds. You do not leave the room. You do not interrupt the current session. You do not rely on someone else to walk to a whiteboard.
If you have multiple lounges, they all update at once
Ground floor lounge, first floor lounge, conservatory — change the schedule once, every screen updates. No more writing the same information on three different whiteboards.
How activities coordinators use NowBoard to spend less time on boards and more time with residents
The daily schedule — always current, even when the day does not go to plan
No activity schedule survives contact with reality. The hairdresser is running late, so the 10am pamper session starts at 10:30. The craft supplies did not arrive, so you are switching to a quiz. These are normal days.
With NowBoard, the schedule on the wall changes as fast as your plans do. You open your phone between activities, change the 3pm slot, and save. The screen in the lounge shows the new plan within seconds. Residents see it. Families see it. Carers see it. Nobody arrives expecting music and finds a film instead.
For coordinators who plan the full week in advance, NowBoard rotates the schedule automatically — Monday shows Monday's activities, Tuesday shows Tuesday's. Edit individual days when things change. No more rewriting the entire board every morning.
Keeping families in the loop — without explaining the same thing twelve times
Families visit at different times. Each one asks the same question: "What has Mum been doing today?" or "What's happening this afternoon?" When the activity board is blank or outdated, you become the activity board. You answer the same question twelve times a day.
A NowBoard screen answers the question before it is asked. The family member walks in, sees the screen, and knows what is happening today. "10:30am — Armchair yoga. 2pm — Art group with Sarah. 3:30pm — Afternoon tea and music."
"The biggest change was not the technology. It was that families stopped asking me what was happening and started asking if they could join in. That felt completely different." — Activities Coordinator, EssexMultiple display points — one update reaches every screen
Many care homes have more than one communal area. A main lounge. A quiet lounge. A conservatory. A dining room. Each area might have residents who want to know what is happening next. With whiteboards, that means maintaining multiple boards — each one requiring a separate visit and a separate rewrite.
NowBoard lets you push the same schedule to every screen, or show different content on different screens. The main lounge shows the full day's schedule. The first-floor screen shows a simplified schedule with larger text for residents with visual impairments or dementia. Change the 2pm activity once and every relevant screen updates.
Making your programme visible — care home activity coordinator ideas that work
You spend hours every week planning a varied, engaging programme. Themed days. Seasonal activities. Visiting entertainers. One-to-one sessions. The programme is the heart of life in the home — residents, families, and inspectors should be able to see it. NowBoard lets you display the full picture: today's schedule on the lounge screen, this week's highlights on the entrance screen, upcoming special events displayed weeks in advance so families can plan to attend.
When the programme is visible, residents engage more. They see the afternoon quiz on the screen and ask to join. They see the gardening club on Wednesday and remind their keyworker. Visibility drives participation.
CQC evidence — your activity programme, documented on screen
Under the Responsive key question, CQC assesses whether the service provides activities that meet people's needs. Inspectors look at how the programme is communicated to residents and families. NowBoard screens are timestamped. The inspector sees the lounge screen showing today's activities with a clear date and time of last update. The dashboard shows every update recorded, every change logged.
"Our activities coordinator was already running a brilliant programme. The problem was that the evidence was all in her head and on a whiteboard that got wiped every evening. Now when the inspector asked about activities, the coordinator just pointed at the screen and said 'that is today, and I can show you every day this month.' It was the most confident she has ever been in an inspection." — Registered ManagerWhy activities coordinators switch from whiteboards to NowBoard
Update from your phone in under 30 seconds
Open NowBoard. Tap the screen. Edit the activity. Save. The screen on the wall updates. From the craft cupboard, from the garden, from home when you are planning tomorrow's schedule at 9pm.
Stop rewriting whiteboards every morning
Set up the weekly schedule once. NowBoard shows each day automatically. Edit individual slots when things change. The twenty minutes you spent writing on a wall is now twenty minutes with residents.
Every screen updates at once
Two lounges and a conservatory? Update NowBoard once and every screen shows the right information. Different screens can show different levels of detail — a full schedule in the main lounge, a simplified version on the first floor.
Families see what is happening without asking
The lounge screen answers the question before relatives arrive at your door. Today's schedule is on the wall. Current. Dated. Readable. You spend less time narrating and more time coordinating.
Professional appearance without design skills
Large text. Calm colours. High contrast. Clean and professional without anyone touching a design tool. Your programme deserves to look as good as it is.
CQC-ready evidence without extra paperwork
Every screen update is timestamped and logged. If an inspector asks how you communicate the activity programme, the answer is on the wall — and in the dashboard. No extra documentation.
Your activity board is showing today's real schedule in under fifteen minutes. No IT department. No design skills. No fuss.
Sign up for a free trial
No credit card. No forms to send to the manager. Create your account in two minutes.
Plug a NowBoard Player into a TV in the lounge
A small device — about the size of a phone charger — connects via HDMI. Uses your existing wifi. Five minutes.
Type today's schedule
Open NowBoard on your phone. Add today's activities — times, names, locations. Save. The screen shows it. Ten minutes.
Tomorrow morning, skip the whiteboard
Open NowBoard on your phone. Edit the schedule. Save. The screen updates. No walking to the lounge. No hunting for a marker. No rewriting the entire day.
Add more screens when you are ready
A second lounge. The dining room. The entrance — so families see the day's highlights before they walk in. Each screen takes five minutes to set up.
Questions activities coordinators ask about NowBoard
Can I update the activity board from my phone while I am running a session?
Yes. Open NowBoard on your phone, change the slot, save. The screen updates in seconds. You do not leave the room, interrupt the session, or ask someone else to walk to the whiteboard. The whole process takes about twenty seconds.
What if I plan the whole week in advance?
Set up each day's schedule at the start of the week. NowBoard automatically shows the right day's activities. When something changes mid-week, edit that specific day. No need to rewrite the entire board.
Can the manager see what is on the activity board without being in the lounge?
Yes. The manager can see every screen from the NowBoard dashboard — on their laptop, phone, or tablet. They can see what the lounge screen is showing right now, when it was last updated, and who updated it.
What if I am off sick? Can someone else update the screen?
Yes. The manager or a colleague can access the lounge screen and update it. Unlike a whiteboard — where nobody knows what to write because the plan is in your head — NowBoard shows the planned schedule. If you set up the week in advance, the board runs itself even when you are not there.
Is the text large enough for residents to read from across the lounge?
Yes. NowBoard layouts use large, clear text designed to be readable from a distance. High contrast, uncluttered display. Residents in chairs across the room can see what is happening next without getting up or asking a carer.
Can I have different screens showing different things?
Yes. The main lounge can show the full daily schedule. A dementia-specific lounge can show a simplified version with fewer items and larger text. The dining room can show afternoon activities alongside the menu. Each screen shows whatever content you assign to it.
How much does it cost?
£10 per Location per month. A single screen in the main lounge costs £10/month. Three screens at one site (mirroring) is still £10 — one Location, multiple TVs. Three separate Locations (lounge, dining room, entrance hall as different content feeds) = £30/month. For care home groups needing multi-site hierarchy and the Pro Board Templates, Professional is £20/Location/month. No setup fees. No annual contract. See pricing.
Do I need to be good with technology?
No. If you can send a text message, you can update a NowBoard screen. There is no design software, no complicated menus. Activities coordinators in their sixties tell us it is easier than their phone's calendar app.
You became an activities coordinator to brighten people's days. Not to rewrite a whiteboard every morning.
One screen. Your phone. Thirty seconds. No more whiteboard runs. The lounge screen shows today's real schedule. The entrance screen shows families what is happening before they ask. And when the singer cancels at 11am, the screen says "Film Afternoon" before the residents even know the plan changed.
No credit card required • Cancel anytime • UK-based support • From £10/Location/month
Part of a care home group? Get in touch — we can show you how NowBoard works across multiple homes so every activities coordinator manages their own screens.