My thought was to send him a note and let him know that as I had read his email on a phone, that much detail was too much to manage on such a small screen and the fact that I care enough to respond should have been a happy event. Not an opportunity to point out where I had made a mistake.  I also mused on what this said about his management style when he was so quick to correct a total stranger from whom he wanted help.  But as I went to hit send, I wondered, what would this accomplish?  Best case he would take my words to heart, not be so quick to judge and take care of people more in the future.  But is that really likely?  I decided that it wasn’t.  So now I have a bad feeling about this individual and he’ll never know.  I did not share the experience with the person who got his resume from me so it will probably never amount to anything, but if I’m ever called on to deal with him, it won’t be something I want to do.

So the point here is, think about your email responses before you make them.  If you send someone an email, be sure that on whatever device they have they can get the salient points.  Be sure it isn’t going to take too much time to get to those points and that the points are what they need right away.  At some level leaving some questions to later means the person will start a dialogue with you to get the answers and isn’t that what you want any way?

Also, if someone misses something or makes a mistake, don’t automatically forward your original message with the information highlighted unless you want the other person to feel bad.  Instead, think of a couple scenarios where they would have missed it to help yourself feel good and answer it again.  Maybe add a little more detail or phrase it differently.   I laughed at Disney when the trainer told us the most common question people ask on Main St. is what time is the 3:30 parade?  While the question itself sounds stupid, we all know of a ton of situations where something is scheduled for a specific time and doesn’t happen then.  Also, if you aren’t where the parade begins, you aren’t really asking when it begins, you are asking when it will go by the space you are standing in.  The trainer went further to say the staff are all trained to answer the intent of the question with when the parade will go by the spot where they are and then also to refer people to great places to be able to see, or where there are seats, or other helpful hints.  No one feels stupid – in fact, it is part of a better experience.

So today I didn’t send the two paragraph response putting this person in his place for being obnoxious.  But it also made me think more about the emails I did send this morning and how they might be taken.  Just re-reading an email before hitting send can make all the difference.

PowerPoint is an incredibly powerful tool – when used well. When used poorly, it is just BORING. In the past, I was taught to put everything on a slide, including our logo and “all rights reserved” at the bottom. Each slide had a header and a footer, and then we would cram as much text as possible into the slide. The idea was, when they took the slides as the handout, they would have all the information. I now know that thinking is completely WRONG.

Instead, your PowerPoint is to enhance your presentation. We all learn in different ways so the slides add a visual backdrop for your presentation. The key here is backdrop. YOU are the focus. YOU provide the content and the information. If you are just going to read to me, knock it off. I read faster than you talk. Send me an email. I’ll get to it – I promise.

One big hurtle I’ve had with the idea of PowerPoint being a backdrop was the handout at the end. I wanted a scenario where I was vital to the experience of the program, but if someone wanted the information as reference or to share with a friend, they could. Enter “Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery” by Garr Reynolds. The obvious answer? Create the handout as a DOCUMENT. Put all your information into a document form with as much detail and information as you like, with headers and other ways to quickly find what they need. Now, you are free to really use PowerPoint for the tool it can be.

Once you’ve written your handout, design your presentation. Slides become large pictures with few words to convey your meaning. There are no titles, logos, or disclaimers because they aren’t necessary anymore. One comment Reynolds makes is, you would never start every conversation with your name, so why start a slide with your logo?

Outline your flow and what information you want to provide. Then create slides that support that mission. You don’t need to put all the information on the slides because it is in the handout so think in terms of what is engaging, what will enhance your presentation and what will keep the audience’s attention.

For more on these concepts, I highly recommend checking out the Presentation Zen blog and book. Hope to see a change in your PowerPoints!

So what? Well, I’m not the only one who goes through this. Sometimes when something feels daunting, the right answer is to just try. Make sure you don’t have anything that could really screw you up first (for instance, back up the source code before you start editing – learned that one a long time ago) and then go to town.

What I also learned is those “experts” I consulted used jargon because they didn’t know it well enough to say things in plain English. So if someone throws out a lot of jargon, ask them to explain and if they can’t, they aren’t really an expert. Also, trust yourself. You know a lot more than you give yourself credit.

Next time I will try it. After all, how else do you learn?

A friend of mine sent an email to someone and said something sarcastic. It is difficult to be sarcastic in email but in her head, it was hilarious.  When it was received, the person took it at face value – in their head they weren’t being sarcastic. And the ensuing conversation was all kinds of trouble for no reason.  In fact, when I was shown the email I immediately pointed out the first person was being sarcastic and suddenly the receiver felt very foolish.  Her reason was she was busy and stressed at work when she read it, so she read it from her point of view – in her voice.

So what’s the point?  Well, when you read an email from someone you know, read it in their voice if you can.  It will help interpret things so much better.  If you don’t know the person, assume formality. There’s nothing worse than thinking someone is joking when they aren’t.  Awkward!   And when writing an email, keep in mind the person receiving it won’t start in your voice – they start in theirs.  So even if they know you well, they may not think about that right off.  Since I’ve had my revelation I have sent a couple emails with instructions at the top to read it as if I was saying it.  The feedback has been hilarious – people said the emails got much funnier because I am funny. I’m not even there!

What other tips do you have in our digital media world to help people avoid this kind of problem?

Because we get too much email right now.  The average person takes 30-60 seconds reading any given email. If you receive just 60 emails, you’ve spent an hour on that just cognitively processing them.  If you have to open and read, that time goes up.  How much time do you suppose you spend reading email?

So these gentlemen have tried to come up with a list of rules for email to help streamline the process. For instance, they both recommend using “EOM” (end of message) at the end of subject lines if that’s all there is to an email.  Imagine if you got four emails that had subjects with enough information in them that you got the information you needed, and then it said EOM so you knew you didn’t have to open them.  Cool, huh?

How about another one – NNTR (no need to reply).  It would no longer be necessary to send an “LOL” or a “Great!” back on something because the person indicated they weren’t expecting a reply.  In fact, they went to the trouble of telling you NOT to respond.  Nice.

In Seth’s list, his final question is genius – if you had to spend 42 cents to send the exact same message, would you?  Can you imagine how many fewer messages we would receive if everyone used that as a gauge?

My favorite idea from Chris is to offer multiple choice answers rather than open ended questions.  If you need one of four-six responses, list those for the person so they could respond with “A” or “E” rather than try to guess what you want to hear with a big long answer.

So stop and think before you send your next email.  Are the people receiving it going to want or need it?  Should I cut down on the CC list?  Is there anything in the email that shouldn’t be forwarded to other people (keep those issues to phone)?  Am I managing this email or just pushing it like a piece of paper out the door? If I’m not managing it, does that mean I’m wasting the other person’s time?   Let’s make email more productive!

EOM

Red Duck Pictures put together the video for basically no money.  The actors and the production crew were all volunteers.  I would bet there is at least 120 hours of work in this little 5 minute video.  Each scene was filmed from multiple angles with multiple takes and reactions. There were definitely times where those of us on set would laugh and ruin the take but no one got angry. All of these people brought their a game, their patience, their expertise, and their belief that people should stop smoking together to make this happen.

So please watch the video, comment, like it, share it, whatever you like to do with videos. And while you laugh, just know how much time it took to make this little video!

Which then led me to keywords.  At some level if I can narrow my search to the right keywords I should find more images that are worthy of consideration and less that make me want to throw up (sorry – been at this awhile now).  What did I find?  Different people who post the pictures use keywords in different ways. Where I was looking for “business people”, the site I was using uses “business teams”.  Once I used business teams, I started finding groups of people who (in theory) were at work.  But it never would have occurred to me to use business teams because I want two people – not five. So to me, they aren’t teams.

Okay – so what?  Why should we care how people are finding images on some random picture site?  Because people are also using keywords to find you.   And those people don’t think like you – because if they did, they wouldn’t be looking for you; they would have already found you.  So how do you find the right keywords so people can find you?

First, geographic location is a no-brainer.  When people are searching for something and need to narrow their results, their first stop is to add a geographic location.  Cool.

Second, check out the keywords people are actually using in searches.  One site that is helpful is  Google Adwords Targeting .  This site is designed to help those interested in AdWords identify the right keywords for their ads.   (NOTE: Doesn’t work with Opera as your browser just in case you’re like me and don’t figure that out quickly)  By using tools like this you can figure out keywords that other people will use to find your business. Then, those keywords go in your text, in your page descriptions, and in any profiles you have on sites, etc.  Optimizing those keywords is critical to people finding you.

Third, talk to real people.  I know this sounds silly, but asking people what they would type into a search engine to find you is a great way to get more customers like them.  Different regions of the country use different phrasing and ways to say things so appeal to the right people.  Also, if there’s a way people most often mis-spell your company name, enter that in your keywords too.

At the end of the day your keywords will either get you found or leave you buried on page 15 of the results.  You need to get good keywords.  And if you find great pictures of business people who look cool but also like they are working, let me know!

If you HAVE to use Reply All, I beg you to look at it carefully.  First, make sure all the people on the list need to see your response.  If they don’t, DON’T SEND IT TO THEM. It is rude. And an interruption for no reason.  Be smart and filter.

The only time I ever use Reply All is when I think someone may have been blind-copied on the message.  A reply all will get to them as well. But otherwise, I pick and choose who to send the email to because it is important.  Don’t be a reply-all-spammer!

1. Save the Installation Media
2.  Make a System / Image Backup
3.  Set up your backup system (my personal favorite)
4. Enable the Firewall and connect to the Internet (up until now, you shouldn’t be connected)
5. Install your anti-virus and anti-spyware software
6. Run updates – Windows and any other software
7. Save the product keys

I’m going to add, “what to do on the old computer” first.  Obviously you have a bunch of data on the old computer that needs to be transferred. So to start with:

1.  Make a list of all programs you use in the “All Programs” menu.  You would be amazed how easy it is to miss something once you get working on your new computer and when you need it, realize it isn’t there.

2.  Find all the installation media for the software you currently own.  If you were good and filed everything in one place, this is easy.  Some things were downloads and may be on the computer. Others should be downloaded again.  Across the board make sure you understand the licensing so you aren’t breaking any rules installing it on the new computer!

3.  Check your current backup.  There is nothing easier than downloading a backup of your old computer onto the new machine and then filing the information in the proper place. UNLESS your backup isn’t working.  So double check that now so you can remedy it before you get started.

4.  Turn off programs.  Go through and turn off your email account (either delete it or just stop the send and receive), turn off the backup system on the old computer, and generally make sure it is not doing anything anymore. You want everything new on the new computer.

Now you are set!  Follow Leo’s advice and go through his steps.  And once that’s done, simply copy the “restore” file from your backup system onto the new system, install your software, run through the configurations and you will be ready to go!  Okay – okay. I can hear you complaining already that this is going to take TIME.  I know. But, investing the time up front will allow you to get it all done and not slow you down when you are trying to get work done. I promise you if you don’t have a PDF reader on your system you will find out when your biggest client calls to follow up on an email they sent you with a new project or contract and you will have to stall while you get the program installed. Save yourself the aggravation!

That got me thinking, how else can you use today’s technology to test out your messages? There’s nothing like doing it for real, but can you communicate your value proposition in 140 characters? My experience on Twitter is I often don’t use all 140 characters. And the value in the communication is still there thank you. There’s discussion as to who really said it, but I’ve always been told it was Mark Twain who apologized for not writing a more concise letter as he didn’t have time. It takes time and effort to get a message down to that size and still get the meaning through. But, imagine – you have a 60 second window to communicate your value. Your value proposition is 140 characters. That leaves a whole lot of the 60 seconds to tell a story or add something else compelling. And the person gets a lot more information from you than the next guy.

What about keywords? We are all so used to keywords, when you are communicating with people, what keywords should they hear? Or say it another way – when they walk away from you and want to find you, what terms should they have gotten out of what you said that will allow them to find you? Search Engine Optimization is only necessary if the person doesn’t know who you are. If you’ve talked to them, you should make sure you have specific keywords you target in each conversation.

As you use technology in your daily life, see how it can help you refine your message for all contexts. How do you use technology to do that?

First and foremost Outlook has a storage limit of 2 GB. With most emails being around 14 kb, it takes a long time to get to 2 gb. But, when you do, it takes a long time to fix! Instead, make it part of your daily management and you won’t have problems later.

1. Shift+Delete is your friend. Shift+Delete actually deletes the item from Outlook rather than moving it to your recycling bin. For all those spam messages, jokes, and read newsletters, this is a great way to keep your Deleted Items to a manageable level.

2. Archive projects – Filing emails in folders will keep you organized. When you conclude a project, go to File and select the Archive function. Be sure to set the name of the file to something meaningful so it is easy to find later. That is done under the “Archive file:” box at the bottom of the window.

Archiving removes the emails from your Inbox. TIP: I pull sent items related to the project into that folder first so that everything is together.

3. Empty your deleted items. When you press “delete” on a message it just moves it to the trash. The trash then takes up space until you empty it. It is important to clear the deleted items on a regular basis.

4. Go through your sent items. Sent items can really take up a lot of space with all the attachments you send, etc. Go through those items and delete what you can on a regular basis. For the rest, create a folder and archive them by date.

To access an archive file, simply go to File and select Open. From there select Outlook Data File. It will appear at the bottom of the folder list in Outlook. See September’s issue of Foundations for additional tips!

A little maintenance on a regular basis will go a long way to keeping Outlook functional. How do you keep your Outlook organized?

I got my new computer home and spent the evening installing software as one should never try to copy software installations from one machine to another as well as downloaded the backup file.  I chose to download the entire file so that took a good part of  the night as the file is quite large (I could have downloaded it in pieces which would have been faster but I was functional enough on an older machine to just want to get it done.).   But, first thing in the morning, I had my entire old computer at my finger tips.  The best was about 3 minutes after it downloaded I had Outlook back up and running as if nothing had ever happened!  I was able to move all my files quickly  and easily and was back to work in no time.  In the past, it has taken up to three days to get everything found, copied over and settled in but not with my backup.

Now, had I not had this backup, I would have been in real trouble as my old computer can’t run more than 1 hour without overheating.  So the fact that I didn’t need to worry about getting things copied over was a real benefit.

So the question is – ARE YOU BACKING UP???  I highly recommend running a small test of your backup procedure BEFORE you need it.  Create a file that is for testing purposes and delete it.  Then restore it from the backup.  This give you the knowledge you need to handle the situation when it comes up.   Also, knowing the backup is working is HUGE.  Backblaze was a really great utility for me and I highly recommend it but there are many out there that can work. The bottom line – BACK UP YOUR FILES!

My first, and primary reason, to love FoxIt is the speed.  PDFs open in a fraction of the time whether it be while browsing or from my hard drive.  There is no hesitation and I’m moving on with my day much, much faster.

The second reason to love it is the ease it offers to share information.  I often come across articles I would like to share with clients but it may be just a piece of the article or I may want to make a comment about it to them.  I can certainly include that in the email, but for real impact, I love using the Foxit features that let me draw arrows, insert comments, and call out text.

Finally, security doesn’t appear to be a problem with FoxIt.  Obviously as the big player on the market, people looking to hack software will go after Adobe so security holes pop up fairly regularly.  Adobe’s update process can be cumbersome and recently required a restart of my computer!  FoxIt updates but seems to be quick at that as well and doesn’t have the security vulnerabilities that Adobe experiences.

I highly recommend trying out FoxIt!

The cardinal rule of tech support is Reboot and Err No More.  We always joke that IT people tell you to reboot before anything else, but there are lots of reasons this is a smart move.  Most importantly, if something has gotten corrupted or stored improperly, a reboot can often repair the problem as nothing else can.  So if you are having a problem with your computer including slow, weird error messages (write these down first), email not working – sending or receiving or both, etc., reboot your computer.  You’ll be amazed how often that fixes it.

The next step is to Google your problem.  Type it in words you would use to describe it to someone else.  Or, if you are getting an actual error message, enter the text of the error message.  Generally you will find others with the same kind of problem and solutions.  If a solution tells you to download an application or edit your registry, consult someone who knows about computers.  If the software is downloaded from CNet, that is okay to load.  Otherwise, you may be introducing a whole new problem.

Run a tool to clean up malware every other week or so.  I really like malwarebytes which is a solid tool for removing these kinds of problems.  Run the updates first and then run the scan.  I generally start it as I’m going to lunch so when I get back, it is done.  I also run a virus scan every other day.  Viruses can give you all sorts of problems and good anti-virus software will knock them out before you ever have to deal with them.

Finally, run software updates and utilities.  Windows has an automatic update setting that I turn on all my computers.  This will automatically download and install bug fixes Microsoft finds with Windows.  Office and other software can be checked under the Help menu so if you are having a problem with a specific program, you can check to see if there are updates.  Microsoft Office also has a “detect and repair” function (Office 2007 calls it Office Diagnostics) that can help fix issues with Office programs.  This generally takes between 15 and 25 minutes.

One other trick I can’t take credit for – my husband did this first.  If you run a laptop and it seems to run hot, it may not have enough airflow underneath to let the fan do its job.  An overheated machine will have all kinds of strange problems with shut downs and not doing what you want it to do.  To see if that is the problem, find that roll of duct tape sitting around the house and put it under the back of the laptop.  The laptop will get better air flow and technically you will type at a more natural angle.  Yet one more use for duct tape! (You can use anything to prop your computer up but duct tape is a great height and most people have some they don’t need right that minute.)

If you are still having a problem, it is time to call in a professional.  But, you will save yourself and the technician a lot of time by explaining you have rebooted, run anti-malware and anti-virus software, software updates and specific software utilities.  At that point, they should be able to determine if you have a hardware or software program and get you to a solution more quickly!

We can all use ways to save money and let’s face it; much of the printing we do is for ourselves. So in those situations, you can use a new font designed to use less ink. It is called Ecofont and was designed based on Verdana. The idea is the letters are full of holes so when it prints, it prints using much less ink. Above are examples of the text in Verdana 10 pt and Ecofont 10 pt.

Now I know it isn’t pretty, but that’s not the point. If I need to print something to read later, reference as I’m working on something else, or just print to put in a file, the sample on the right is just fine. For those purposes, it doesn’t have to be perfect. If I’m doing a presentation, sending a document to someone else or generally doing something for public consumption, I would obviously use a regular font. According to the website, this font uses 20% less ink than regular fonts. That is definitely money I can put to better use. How about you?

Thanks to BNet’s Dave Johnson for blogging about this today!