Ahhh, finally -- it looks like summer has made it to Mid-Michigan.  We've had the most beautiful spring so far this summer, but I'm glad the heat has finally showed up.  I was wondering if we'd ever see 80 degrees (and to my friends out west and in Texas, this would have been a GREAT year to take a vacation to Michigan!)

I'm going to do something pretty fun this month -- a little different than my typical Timely Tip.  One of my project partners during the Taming E-mail book launch, Jan Bolick with Business Class, Inc., did an interview with me, and she very cleverly took a 1-minute snippet out of it and made it into a share-able audio file.  It is about when e-mail DOES NOT make sense as a communications method -- she labeled this the "e-mail sniff test".  This might be something to share around with your group or team -- could clear up some of those uncomfortable "Office"-style communications situations.  And save you time, of course!  Here's the link to the 1-minute audio (works best on Internet Explorer -- may require a plug-in to play on Firefox):

http://www.businessclassinc.com/2009/07/14/e-mail-sniff-test/


Let me know your thoughts on this, and if you decided to share around a bit.  Any other times you recommend avoiding e-mail?  And, how's that for a very timely Timely Tip?

I told Josh he's got too many good ideas and too much info in his monthly e-newsletter -- yeah, right!  And I even held back the great results we had from my recent appearances at the Affordable Meetings Midwest program in Chicago, the IMA National Conference in Denver, and my recent MSU HRD Taming E-mail session -- I'll try to share those with you soon. 

Also, watch for me next month in DC at HIDA MedSurg, ICLE/Michigan Bar in Dearborn, the Katz School at U. Pitt, the IIDEX Conference in Toronto, and the MECRA Conference in Traverse City.  Make sure to stop by and say "Hi"!