E-mail vs. Snail Mail

Recently, I sat down and wrote a heartfelt letter to some friends. I put it on some nice paper, placed it in an envelope and will be dropping it in the mailbox (after I buy stamps of course). These friends have lost touch with me via e-mail but I have their physical address. By the time the letter gets overseas it will be over a week old.

This got me thinking about what it means to get a regular old (snail mail) letter from a friend vs. getting an e-mail from someone. The time it takes to sit down and put your thoughts to paper, maybe proof read it and even lick shut the envelope (yuck). All of this takes so much effort but in the end I feel more like I am communicating my care and love for them.

This opinion of mine is shared by others. I recently read an article written by Bobbie Ann Pimm . She made some great points about how much more it means to sit down and write a real letter, she even complains a bit about the lack of personal touch with greetings cards today.

I hope my friends get my letter and I hope they enjoy it. I hope it encourages them and I hope to hear from them. I hope they send me an e-mail too.

In this season of fast-paced consumerism and the rush to get Christmas cards out in time, take a moment and sit down to write a dear friend one letter. A real letter. Buy some good paper that feels nice, use an expensive pen. Enclose a photo. Maybe you'll write to someone you lost touch with. Maybe your mother or college buddy. Make it real, if a tear drops on the page as you write, write about that too. A tear can never make it into an e-mail. If your dog is the reason for the stain on the page tell them, I am sure they will appreciate it.

Blessings and Season's Greetings,

TrainingNerd

PS TrainingNerd will resume his regular writing in the beginning of 2008.

E-mail Bankruptcy?

I recently read an article about e-mail bankruptcy. This term was quite new to me but the essence of it is that someone has so many e-mails that they will never possibly catch-up on them so they delete them all and tell everybody if they had sent something important they should try again.

So, I have translated traditional bankruptcy avoidance advice into e-mail bankruptcy avoidance advice.

• Don't overextend yourself, with e-mail it is easy to overextend yourself by signing up for every e-mail newsletter that looks even remotely interesting. It will cost you time (money) even to delete each of those e-mails. Each time you fill out a form online, pay close attention to the lines that offer to keep you updated, update=e-mail.
• Spend less than you earn, just because you can sign up for 14 different e-mail accounts plus your work e-mail doesn't mean you should. Keep it simple, one home account one work account. If you can use only one for everything. Make sure people know you only respond to certain accounts.
• Save money, not sure how this translates in e-mail. Maybe save disk space by deleting, maybe don't ever delete.
  
• Pay your bills on time. Don't ignore your inbox until it is unmanageable.
  

If you cannot get out of the e-mail debt you are currently in maybe e-mail bankruptcy is for you. There is after-all no e-mail credit reporting agency! :) If you need a strategy for paying off real (financial) debts then you might be interested in what Dave Ramsey has to say.

A Passive Voice Was Used

What is the difference between passive voice and active voice? Passive voice is when your writing makes it sound like something is being acted upon rather thank doing the action. Here are a couple of examples:

• Passive Voice - Information was presented to the crowd.
  
• Active Voice - I spoke to the crowd.

The differences are subtle but have a huge impact on readers. Word can check for passive voice as part of its spell check tool. To turn this on go to Tools>Options, Spelling and Grammar (Tab) and look for the settings button. Under the Style section you will see a check box for "Passive Sentences." Make sure it is checked.

If you are interested in reading more about the passive voice, the University of North Carolina has an excellent handout posted to their site.

Resume Writing… Keep it a Secret?

Oh no! You were on your lunch break and your boss saw you updating your resume. Will he bypass you for that promotion now because he thinks you are looking elsewhere? Actually, keeping your resume up to date is a benefit for any employer. When that promotion opens up (within your current company) you will be ready with a resume that shows why you are the right person for the job. The guys over at Resume Edge have a really good article on why you should keep your resume up to date all of the time.

Think of your annual performance review and all of the documenting you do for that as just one of the outcomes of your constant resume process. The ongoing resume process is the horse the annual review is just the cart.

Recently, I got connected to former co-workers and current co-workers using an employment-related social networking site called LinkedIn. One of the great strengths of this tool is that you can request endorsements from people who have worked with you in the past, or you can endorse others. These endorsements could be very valuable if your company tanks and you need some shining words to help you get a new job. Hopefully you don't need it for this reason , you could even use this to help you with your annual performance review. Some folks even include their public profile on LinkedIn on their e-mail signature.

Our Trip to Wyoming for Grandma's Funeral

We just got back from our trip to Wyoming to attend grandmas funeral. Her funeral was really amazing. You can indeed learn a lot about a person by looking at their friends. As we experienced Ten Sleep Wyoming in the past it was clear to us that Anella and Hank are a big part of that small sleepy little city. Being there this time we were so amazed to see all of Ten Sleep step up to honor her. She attended a very small church there but every single congregation pitched in food and people to serve food at the dinner after the burial. There were about 250 people in attendance at a funeral that took place in a city of only 300 or so people.

The kids are all very good road trippers. Her is a photo of them in the back seat of the Acura.

Here is a photo of a reservoir we saw on the way up this place is about half way between Shoshoni and Thermopolis. This was a beautiful drive. We had always taken the Buffalo route down the pass.
We had a good ride up with the exception of Braydn getting ill. We ended up staying in Casper overnight at the Motel 6 and I even got pulled over by the police for forgetting to turn on my headlights after I picked up some groceries. We also found that Dawby could sit up by himself when we were in the hotel room.

Another video was taken while were were still in Colorado. Before Braydn got sick (I know I am doing this backwards) he was telling us about his Mack Truck toy that he just got.

So as it goes with funerals this was a sad trip but it was also a celebration of Anella and her life.

Here you can see her Obituary taken from the Northern Wyoming Daily News.

Grandma's Funeral

Here is a panoramic image of Anella's funeral.

Google Yourself to De... Productivity!

Do you ever find yourself having a hard time searching the Internet? It is a big place so how do you navigate it? Most people have a favorite search engine, some even have many favorite search engines that they use for different purposes. A search engine, like any software resource, is only as good as its user. If you don't know how to use it properly, you are not going to get the kind of results you are hoping for. So here are a few tips you can use when using Google (the author's favorite search engine):

• Use the "Advanced Search" option, you will see a link for this next to the search box. It allows you to further narrow your search and to get really specific. If you are getting 1,874,987 results your search is pretty worthless, I mean do you really have time to go through all of them?
• Get Help - Why are people so afraid of getting help? Google has it's own page of, "Advanced Search Tips." Read them, they are pretty helpful.
• Don't stop using the search engine just because you have found the website you are looking for. Open a second browser window and use Google to search that website for the content you are looking for. This can save you valuable time going through the website trying to find specific content when chances are Google already crawled it for you.

So what about other things you use your computer for? Below are a couple of examples of things that Google can do for you, if you don't believe it click the links and see the examples.

• Calculator - Yeah that program that is buried in the accessories folder and takes a couple minutes to find if you have not used it in a while. Typing the math problem you need solved into the Google search window will return the results quickly. It can also tell you how many quarts are in a liter and other useful stuff like that. You can get help here
• Do you have a hard time tracking down the phone number for your local theatre and then hate sitting on the phone listening to the times that each movie is playing? Then how good are you at understanding the scribbled notes you took while the message was playing? Well you can search for movie listings and show-times using Google too.

Keep in mind, the Internet should make your life easier, your work quicker. It should not be the thing that bogs you down and gets you stuck.

This is not an endorsement of Google, there are a number of sites that offer very similar features. Getting good at one search engine will help you increase your productivity, and you have to start somewhere, so this is my suggestion.

Word 2003 Can Summarize it for You

So, you get some long document or story and you want the executive summary of it (also known as the abstract). So you open the story in Word and go to Tools>AutoSummarize and you will get the screen shown here.

You can choose from four different options and it only takes a couple seconds to do it. Sometimes it does a great job. Other times Word totally misses the mark. What do you have to lose though? I especially like being able to use the, "highlight key points" option. That way the whole story is still there but Word is using it's intelligence (I know that is a stretch) to figure out the key words and paragraph structure to indicate the key statements for you.

Watermarks - Not Coffee Rings

Real watermarks are made by introducing an intentional flaw in paper during the paper making process. They ususally verify the authenticity of something. If you look at the 10 dollar bill in your pocket you will see a watermark on it.

You can create a printed watermark in Word 2003 that can help to identify the status or authenticity of a document. You could even use it to warn people of the sensitivity of the information in a document. All you have to do is

1. Choose Format>Background>Printed Watermark. This opens up the "Watermark" dialogue box.
2. Then select the type of watermark you want to use, your choices are: Picture and Text. You will see a number of options that you can further add to your document.

If you need to remove the watermark you can do that from the same menu.

Templates - Let Someone Else Do Your Work!

So... You get a huge project assigned to you to create some big newsletter, tracking database, or presentation. You don't really know where to start. Microsoft has already done some of the work for you. If you go to the Online Templates Library you can browse and download a number of free resources. This link is available from within Office 2003 and 2007. It is probably worth bookmarking this site.

Many of these templates will work with OpenOffice.org software as well.

MindMapping for Learning

Mind-mapping is a great way to get organized. It is an even better way to organize learning materials. I found a really cool template on the Mindjet website. This template is designed to be used by students but the closer I looked at the more I realised an instructor/teacher could adapt it into a lesson plan pretty easily as well. For students though I think one of the biggest aids this would provide is help in creating research papers and written assignments. MindManager has some really great tools for exporting to Microsoft Word. By the time you use RSS feeds in MindManager and use it to track your research and notes from lectures you can have a tool that is practically doing the work for you.

Everything you ever wanted to know about free software but were afraid to ask... (well almost)

Often I get the opportunity to help small non-profit groups to deal with computing problems they are having. One of the biggest problems I see is that they have spent all of the money they had for computing on software when they could have use a free alternative. One example of this is with Office software. Those folks over there at that MS do offer some great discount programs for medium sized non-profits but when it comes to a smaller organization like your typical church congregation or animal shelter, the options with them are fewer. Especially in instances like this, alternative (open source) software options can be a great choice. If you are working with the homeless it is a shame to spend 200-300$ on software that you could have essentially gotten for free. That money can make a big difference in a non-profit.
In most cases file types are not an issue here. Many of the free titles will work with the files created by many of those other guys apps. Below are some categories of software and suggested options for getting free programs:

• Office Productivity Tools

• Openoffice.org (entire office suite)
  
• AbiWord (Word processing suite)

• Virus and Malware Tools

• ClamWin Antivirus (antivirus scanning tool)
• AVG Grisoft antivirus (thanks for the heads up Andrew)
• AdAware (malware scanning tool, not open source but free to home user)

• Operating Systems

• Ubuntu Linux
  

I will try to add more suggestions to this list in the near future. Happy computing!

Millenium Development Goals - Tracking Tool

You may or may not be aware of the MDG program that has been developed by the UN/ It is a list of 8 goals that we as a global community must accomplish in order to eradicate poverty by the year 2015. I just added a permanent link to my blog for the new Google Earth tracking tool for MDG. I just tried it out and it is very cool.

Bullet Points and the Art of Presentation Maintenance

Ok this is a bit of a rant but I hope it is a helpful one. It seems there are generally three categories of presentations:

1. Those that have an excessive amount of information in them

2. Those that do not have enough information or it is not appropriate information

3. Those that are a good balance of slide content, speaker value and time

What is the point of having slides that go along with your message if the slides just repeat what you are saying? Worse yet are the 0nes that pre-peat what you are about to say so that you sound like you are just reading them to everybody? Bullet points are great when someone has taken the time to distill the message down to a couple of memorable takeaways. The most memorable takeaway will always be a picture. If you do not have a couple of takeaways your presentation will sound like one long list of unorganized information. So before you deliver a presentation with slides that each have 3 neat little bullet points on them and some animation scheme that is more interesting that your information ask yourself these questions:

Ø Would this information have been better received if I delivered via an intranet site, e-mail or bulletin board?

Ø What value am I adding to this information by delivering it in person?

Ø Should this message be delivered by someone else (am I the authoritative source on this subject)?

Ø How much of this information do people actually need?

Ø Is this information appropriate for everybody in the audience?

Ø How will I know I accomplished what I set about to communicate? (How can I measure the impact?)

E-mail Effectiveness Tips From TrainingNerd

Here are three things I have learned that can make e-mail more effective:

1) Make the subject line work for you

a. Make sure that you include the action you are requesting and the main topic (or subject) of the message in your subject line. After a person reads the subject line, they should know exactly what the message is about and whether they will need to respond or follow up. It is kind of like people are asking themselves, "Will I get fired if I ignore this message."

b. For example, if you need to send people information regarding a new policy you could have a subject line like this: "FYI: New Corporate Sick Leave Policy" (keep in mind "FYI" may not translate into other cultures).

c. Alternatively, if I need to get information from someone about his or her progress on a project I could use a subject line such as, "Response Requested: Code Review Project Status."

d. Unlearn the idea that the subject line is called the subject line, in your mind think of it as the expectations line. This is your one chance to set the expectations you have for the recipient.

2) Make your message as short and clear as possible

a. When you are trying to gather information or ask questions, a shorter message with fewer topics will be easier to understand.

b. If possible, communicate only one idea in each e-mail, this makes each of your questions or issues a separate action item. Think GTD.

c. If you are sending information such as a policy to a large group of people, it is best if your e-mail is only a summary of the information that points the recipient to the source such as a corporate policy website. Make sure the message indicates the most appropriate method to ask questions, this will keep your inbox from being flooded.

d. Ask yourself if e-mail is the most appropriate way to accomplish the task, there may be some better method.

e. Get a friend to proof any message you are sending to more than 5 people.

3) Send the message only to the appropriate people

a. Unnecessary e-mail wastes time and money. This also demonstrates how important it can be to spell check your message and check it for clarity before you hit the send button. A 5-minute e-mail to only a 500 employee staff equates to over a 41-hour chunk of company time for your message. Imagine if you forgot to include an important attachment or some key piece of information and you silly mistake turns it into a 6-minute message, there goes another 8-hours of company time.

Do not reproduce without citing this source, thank you.

Missing Formula Bar in Excel 2003

Today one of my users found that her formula bar had disappeared when they were using Excel 2003. I am not sure how exactly this happened but the fix for this issue is easy.

All you have to do is to go to Tools>Options then under the first tab called, “View” there is a check box near the top that says “Formula Bar.” Just make sure the box is checked then click, “Ok.”

Pecha-Kucha Presentations

Just today someone here at work introduced me to the idea of 20x20 PowerPoint presentations. They sent me a link to Daniel Pink's Blog and an entry he made regarding this. He actually gives an example tht is pretty good. he talks about emotionally intelligent signage. Anyhow, a 20x20 presentation is 20 slides that each display for 20 seconds. This comes out to a total of 6 miutes and 40 seconds of information. The slides advance themselves and the presenter must only use the time alloted. This got me thinking about the white space of a presentation, the dead air. It seems to me that we need to get better at using this. , by we I mean me. A great example of the use of white space is in Rob Bells Nooma video entitled "Noise" (the preview only shows some of what I am talking about). The other thing that this gets me thinking about is the typical use of title slides. With the 20x20 idea you need to make better use of a title slide and actually have it convey information.

Translating Text Using Word 2003

There is a little known tool in Word 2003 that allows you to translate text from one language to the next. It is not perfect but when the sentences and statements are simple it is pretty fun. Instructions for using this tool are included in the picture.

Training Tech Solutions Conference

Conference

I am actually sitting in my hotel room in SLC (I should be packing) after attending the Training Tech Solutions Conference. Overall it was a very good conference, there were only two one-hour session that seemed to be duds. Pretty good. I attended 3 sessions by Jane Bozarth who I especially enjoyed hearing. She really focuses on getting back to the basics of Instructional Design and she encourages trainers and instructional designers to stop focusing on all of the fancy tools and stuff when much of what you need to do could be done in PowerPoint anyway. I also enjoyed hearing Steven Johnson speak, his session keynote was compelling. I bought a couple of his books that same day. His book "Everything Bad is Good for You" reminds me of Daniel Pink a little bit in his book "A Whole New Mind" he has an interesting take on how some of the elements of pop-culture are affecting the way that we use our minds, it is making us smarter. More on that when I finish the book.

Pastor Karl

Earlier this week, I called around to get in touch with the churches in my denomination. I was surprised to see that there are only 2 here in SLC. I finally got ahold of Pastor Karl and he and I had a burger together. He drove me to both churches and we talked a bit about the affect the LDS church has on our denomination in this city. I promised to be praying for Pastor Karl and his church. Specifically that he would be successful in his ministry to this city.

Temple Square

I did the tour yesterday of the temple square as well as watched two of the free movies they show in the visitor center and Joseph Smith memorial building. One of the movies especially was very well produced and I enjoyed seeing the LDS perspective on their history. I found it funny that before the movie began the usher (an LDS Missionary girl) told everyone that if they needed Kleenexes there were some available. There was some tragic content as far as the part where Joseph and Emma (?) Smith lost many children. It was interesting to me that the reaction of some of the people in the theater was one of highly intense emotion. Interesting new experience for me to be an onlooker for someone else's religious experience without being affected much because of the differences in my beliefs. Overall, I really enjoyed the tour and I must say, the Mormon church does a great job of making everybody feel very welcome and connecting with people.

Reading Layout

It can be annoying when you open a Word Document to have things looks all magnified and blown out of whack. This feature is supposed to be about saving trees (some people hit print all the time when they need to read a document) and is set to turn on automatically when you open documents. If you would like to turn it off just go to:

Tools>Options (General)

(None of the other references I found for this topic included pictures.) Hope you find this helpful, let me know by posting a comment.