Create an Emergency

How to Create an Emergency Telephone Tree Template in excel

A phone tree is a group notification system. It is called a tree because the number of contacts branches out as each is called. For example, one person will call three people in the tree after a specified event, then each of those people will call three people, and so on. It is used for emergencies such as emergency weather situations, family emergencies or school emergencies. Microsoft Word, capable of designing a phone tree template, is a word processing software package but also has a feature for organizational charts.

Instructions

• Open a new document in Word 2007.

• Click the “Page Layout” button on the ribbon, click “Orientation” and select “Landscape.”

• Click “Insert” on the ribbon, click the “SmartArt” button. Click “Hierarchy” then click the first option, “Organization Chart.”

• Click on each box to change the shape and number of boxes. Depending on the number of people you want each person to call, you can add and subtract boxes by clicking on them. To add another text box below, right-click the box, click “Add Shape” and then select “Add Shape Below.” Right-click and select “Cut” to remove a box. For example, to have a phone tree where everyone calls three people, start at the top and add and subtract boxes until everyone has three boxes below them. To resize the boxes, click on them once and then click and drag one of the corners.

• Click one of the buttons in the “Layouts” section of the ribbon to change the layout if desired. Click one of the buttons in the “SmartArt Styles” section of the ribbon to change the styles.