Some of you have asked for a copy of my recent presentation at WordCamp Cape Town. The organisers have loaded all of the sessions onto YouTube, so if you would like to watch my session (or any of the others, look below). If you are at all interested in WordPress and missed WordCamp , I highly recommend that you look out for WordCamp Cape Town 2012, it is going to be a fantastic conference. Here is the YouTube video.
And here are the slides
I have been using Microsoft Office 2010 for a few months now. When I closed Word the other day, the following dialogue appeared on the screen. Basically Word had made a list of words that I commonly use that are not in the Word dictionary, and gave me the option of uploading them to their spell check database.
I am sure that they are using the community-gathered information to add new words to the dictionary to make for an ultimately better product.
This is a simple and elegant way to make a better product, and to have happier customers.
A guest post by Louise Baker
Many people are afraid of speaking in public or have trouble doing so effectively. With today’s technology, the job of a public speaker is becoming easier. Here are 5 iPhone apps that you can use the next time you are giving a presentation.
“Presenter Pro” is available for $1.99 is designed to improve your public speaking abilities. It covers body language, the content of your presentation, the audiovisuals that you use, and many quick tips. By making use of ability of the iPhone to seamlessly blend text, pictures, and sounds, this application is ideal for a public speaker who is looking to improve his or her skills.
If the thought of public speaking makes you start sweating, try the “Public Speaking Hypnosis” application ($0.99). This application claims to use hypnosis techniques to reduce anxiety before your big presentation. It uses beats and soothing music to allow you to attain a state of relaxation.
“Speech Timer Premium” ($4.99) offers large, color coded timers for your speech. A light on your phone will indicate green, yellow, red, or flashing to alert you when you reach pre-set times. See at a glance whether you are on track or use the vibrate feature and keep your phone in your pocket. If you give a variety of presentations, you can save the timing information for each of your presentations. This application also comes in a “lite” version for $0.99 if you don’t need all the features of the full application.
4. iSpeechCards
“iSpeechCards” ($1.99) is a full featured cue card application that allows you to plan out your presentation on a series of notecards which you can flip or tap to turn allowing you to refer to your notes as you speak. You can also set a duration for each card to display and then “turn” automatically. The notecards can also be easily rearranged or edited.
5. iUmmm
“iUmmm” ($0.99) is a unique application which allows you to record your presentation and take note of your verbal tics or bad habits. You can set whatever habits you want to track and use an easy click to record each time it occurs. If you have a tendency to allow “um” or “like” to interrupt your speech or a nervous habit of clicking your pen, this application can make you more aware of the habit and track your progress in ridding yourself of it.
Public speaking is your opportunity to present yourself with confidence and professionalism. With the help of some new applications, you can be more in control of how you present yourself so that your next public speaking engagement will make a positive impression on your audience.
Louise Baker is a freelance blogger who usually writes about online degrees for Zen College Life. Her most recent article ranked the best online schools.
Heard in a presentation by (the other) Michael Jackson
“Yes, you should wake up every morning terrified with your sheets drenched in sweat, but not because you’re afraid of our competitors. Be afraid of our customers, because those are the folks who have the money. Our competitors are never going to send us money.”
Jeff Bezos, CEO, Amazon.com
Remember who could be sending you money, and do everything to gain their trust, respect and business.
Just before I went on Christmas leave, I tried to set-up an out of office at one of my clients (where I have an email address). I am used to setting it up in Outlook, which is a very simple procedure. However this client is running a rather old version of GroupWise (v7).
The help file in Outlook explains how to create an out of office in exactly 49 words, while the GroupWise help file took over 500 words to completely confuse me (I never managed to get it working in the end).
My point is twofold. Firstly that GroupWise is probably the worst email system in the world. Secondly, their help file is far to confusing. It managed to confuse a very experienced computer user. If I was confused, I really feel sorry for the regular user. It should not take 500 words to explain such a simple task.
Ok, here is the lesson. Are you ever a GroupWise help file when you communicate? Do you give complex, confusing messages that make no sense? Or are you Outlook, providing short, effective and powerful messages?
For your reading pleasure, here are the instructions for both products (good bedtime reading).
Here is how you do it in Outlook:
Turn an Out of Office Assistant rule on or off
To turn out of office rules on or off, on the Tools menu, click Out of Office Assistant.
In the Status box, select or clear the check box next to the rule you want to turn on or off.
Here is how you do it in groupwise version 7:
To create a vacation rule
- Click Tools > Rules > New.
- Type a name in the Rule Name box, such as Vacation Rule.
- Click the When Event Is pop-up list, then click New Item.
- Next to And Items Are, select Received. Make sure no other item source is selected.
- Do not make any selections under Item Types.
- Use Define Conditions to add specific information to your rule. The following are examples of using Define Conditions.
- If you want to set up the dates during which the rule is in effect. Click Define Conditions > click Delivered in the first drop-down list > click On or After Date in the second drop-down list > in the date field, select the date you are leaving on vacation. Click the End pop-up list > click And. On the new line, click Delivered in the first drop-down list > click On or Before Date in the second drop-down list > in the date field, select the date you are returning from vacation > click OK.
- If you want to make sure you reply only to items that are sent specifically to you (and not to list servers or newsgroups). Click Define Conditions > if you have already specified information in this dialog box, click the End pop-up list > click And. On the new line, click To in the first drop-down list > click [ ] Contains in the second drop-down list > in the next field, type your name as it displays in the To field of a mail message.
- If you want to make sure that you do not reply to items from yourself (possible through delayed delivery). Click Define Conditions > if you have already specified information in this dialog box, click the End pop-up list > click And. On the new line, click From in the first pop-up list > click [x] Does Not Contain in the second drop-down list > in the next field, type your name as it displays in the From field of a mail message > click OK.
- If you want to reply to internal items only. Click Define Conditions > if you have already specified information in this dialog box, click the End pop-up list > click And. On the new line, click From in the first drop-down list > click [x] Does Not Contain in the second drop-down list > in the next field, type @ > click OK.
- Under Then Actions Are, click Add Action, then Reply.
- The Reply dialog box is displayed, showing Reply to Sender selected (you cannot select Reply to All). If you want your reply to include the sender’s original message, select Include Message Received From Sender. Click OK.
- Type a message, for example:
- I will be out of the office from September 3-September 10. If you need assistance during this time, please contact Martha Robbins at extension 1234.
- Click OK.
- Click Save. Verify that the rule has a check mark next to it, indicating that it is enabled, then Click Close.
- Rules that trigger a reply (such as this vacation rule) keep a record of who a reply has been sent to, and make sure that a reply is sent only once to that user.
For completeness sake, here is how Google’s Gmail does it (36 words).
1. go into Settings->General
2. then scroll down to Out of Office AutoReply
3. Fill Subject and MessageEvery time you leave your office set Out of Office AutoReply on, when you’re back turn it off.
PowerPoint is a great tool for creating presentations, but it has never been particularly good at creating documentation or handouts. However, it is a huge amount of work to maintain two completely separate sets of documents.
Enter George! for PowerPoint by Leaders Guide Pro. They kindly gave me a free license to play with the product.
This simple little addin fills the gap very nicely by providing a simple yet powerful documentation creating capability for PowerPoint.
Some of the features are:
Here is what a typical PowerPoint handout looks like. Nothing wrong with it, but kind of boring.
But put it through George!…
Notice the header at the top, and copyright details at the bottom.
You can finally add a table of contents to your handouts.
A variety of templates to choose from.
George! uses a simple process called “tagging” to create the table of contents.
Would I buy it – yes! Would I recommend it? Yes if you find yourself creating handouts on a regular basis from your presentations. If you are just using it for Speaker Notes, then the default printing capability of PowerPoint will probably be ok.
George! uses Microsoft Word to create the actual documents (I suspect the Office scripting engine), and as a result the actual document generation process is a little slow (especially for large documents). So, best to create your documents and grab a coffee or something while you wait. However the results are worth it.
You can buy George! for about $40 from Leaders Guide Pro.
A final comment: I had a few problems getting my free license to work. Nancy from Leaders Guide Pro was absolutely superb with assisting me, providing support and follow-up. Full marks for their customer support.
Hi all
I have just upgraded this site to the latest version of wordpress – version 2.8. Everything appears to be fine, please let me know if you find any funnies.
thanks
Craig
A new public speaking website has just been launched – Speaking Pro Central. They describe themselves as “a community that collects and organizes the best information on the web around the business of speaking.”
Anyway, I was having a look on their site today, and I discovered that I am featured on their website. Just visit the site, and have a look at the featured links on the right.
Go and check the site out – there are some great resources and some fantastic public speaking websites to explore.
Are struggling to find good quality images that you can use in your presentations? If so, you need to watch this 4 1/2 minute long video.
It shows you how to use the photo-sharing website – www.flickr.com to find images that you can commercially use at no cost.
Enjoy
Just a quick apology to anybody trying to visit my main website – www.craigstrachan.com. A setting that has worked fine for many months seems to have suddenly started causing issues a day or so ago.
Anyway, without telling you all the boring details, I have made the repairs, and all is up and running again. Sorry for any inconvenience caused.
