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 Message

Every time you leave your office set Out of Office AutoReply on, when you’re back turn it off.

Image from Flickr

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:

• Create table of contents for your handouts
• A variety of elegant document templates, with titles, page numbers, headers and footers
• Can create speaker notes or delegate handouts
• Custom logos can be added to your documents
• It is very easy to use

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.

• Sample presentation (an extract of one of my presentations)
• Speaker Notes – generated by George
• Session Handouts – generated by George
• Handouts generated directly from PowerPoint

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. 

I just came across a great article on Ramon Thomas? website about the power of LinkedIn. He gives a brief overview of social networking and then discusses LinkedIn specifically. There are some great suggestions on how to grow your network, and more importantly, who you should grow your network! Ramon should know ? he has over 1000 connections.

One of the most powerful comments he makes is that most people who get business through connections get it not from a direction connection, but from one of their connections. Eg – a friend of a friend. So, you aquire business through weak, and not strong connections. This means that the bigger you can grow your network, the more you are creating business opportunites for yoursef!

I have been growing my LinkedIn network ? I am up to 134 (from about 110 a week ago), and my goal is to get to 200 by the end of May. So come on over, and let’s link.

Here is a link to my profile.

Just a quick note to let you know that I have completely revamped my website – www.craigstrachan.com. It is easier to navigate, contains free resources & RSS feeds.

Have a look when you have a moment, and let me know what you think!

I have just completed a CD containing over 400 PowerPoint templates. What is special about this CD is that the templates are categorized, and EVERY TEMPLATE has a thumbnail view, making it very easy to browse and find the best template for your job!

You can view a sample, and download 24 free templates here.

I am selling the CD for $15, which is less than 3.75c per template – and to celebrate it’s launch, you can use the following discount code to get a 20% discount – valid until the end of April 2008. Just enter the word PowerCode on the checkout page. Buy now – only $14.99.

To celebrate even further, I am going to give away five copies in a lucky draw – just leave a comment on this post, and I will select five random names. I will contact you for delivery details if you are one of the five (names by April 25 please).

Hi all-

Just a quick update: In an attempt to keep my speaking and IT businesses separate, I have changed my blog site from http://blog.cdssolutions.com to http://www.craigstrachan.com. In theory, if you visit the old URL’s, all should still work fine. I will shortly be making similar changes to the main sites as well.

I have also updated the RSS feed address, so please use http://feeds.feedburner.com/craigstrachan if you view the posts in a RSS reader.

Sorry for any inconvenience caused, but in the long run it should make things a bit simpler. Please give me a shout if you have any problems with the site.

thanks

Craig