| Greetings!
Hi Everyone! I hope your Summer 2010 has greeted you with nice weather and a slightly less hectic schedule. Things have definitely stayed busy here, as I have recently finalized arrangements to speak at several big national and regional conferences this fall, as well as a number of corporate & university workshops and training sessions. (But you can guarantee I'll also carve out some fun time too.)
And many of you have asked about my recent knee surgery on May 26 (thanks for all of the "get well" wishes!) Well, I'm happy to report that I actually walked out of the surgery center THAT day, and I've been getting better and stronger ever since, taking client appointments and sessions again starting last week. I even traveled to and presented at the HSMAI Affordable Meetings West conference in Long Beach, CA yesterday. I'm ready and physically able for your speaking and training needs, so BRING IT ON!! ;-)
This month, I'd like to share a timesaver for those not on Office 2010 yet, as well as those currently using Office 2010. Let's dive in:
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Great Online Service for Those NOT Using Office 2010 -- http://www.docx2doc.com
| This is ALWAYS the place to look for your Timely Tip!
I know many of you have resisted making the move to Office 2010 -- hard to blame you when the previous versions of MS Office are quite good at creating Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations. But I'm sure that you've also experienced the fun of getting a .docx, xlsx, or pptx document sent to you by a client, customer, or colleague that has made the migration to Office 10. And many of you had to send that fun e-mail back to them, asking if they could re-save the document they just sent to you in an earlier version of Office, and resend to you. GRRRRR! (For all parties involved!)
(Of interest, I personally found this move to the ".docx" platform yet another example of Microsoft's "not-very-customer-friendly" behavior [did this bug anyone else as much as it bugged me???]. So, I decided to take a look at what else was out there, and decided to give OpenOffice a try -- I've been using it for nearly two years now! And it is free! And it works GREAT! Check out OpenOffice.org to find out more about this wonderful, NO-COST office productivity tool.)
Of course, I still use MS Outlook -- I think it is a great productivity/calendaring/e-mail tool, but, per last month's comments on the suite of Google tools now available and the emerging dominance of Apple's hardware solutions and apps, I believe even Outlook is facing significant potential market share loss in coming years. I certainly hope Microsoft "gets the memo" that the "make-it-hard-on-your-users" games they played the last 20+ years doesn't fly much anymore in this decentralized, app-device-Cloud crazy world.
OK, now that I've gotten off my soapbox, let's talk about that useful online service if you are NOT an Office 10 user, but occasionally receive files from Office 10 users:
http://www.docx2doc.com
I've been using this simple web-based converter tool for a couple years now to convert Office 10 files to earlier versions of Office compatible with my OpenOffice and Google Docs platforms. Amazingly, you can convert ALL of the documents you want, from all Office 10 platforms (docx, xlsx, pptx, and more) for a flat fee of $7.95 a year. You can even save and open the documents as PDF files. I've never had a problem converting, saving, and opening an Office 10 document using this service, and it certainly looks better than going back to your client or customer asking for a "resave" (not to mention the obvious time saved!)
Now, here's the tip for Office 10 users: DON'T FORGET that the majority of Office users haven't made the leap to Office 10 yet! If possible, whenever sending a document external to your organization, save to an earlier version of Office! That will save you AND your document recipient time and trouble (and, frankly, it is just good courtesy -- you shouldn't expect others to be using your exact same suite of software products in this rapidly changing, going-to-the-Cloud world -- please create and send documents in the most compatible, acceptable format.)
I'd love to hear if any of you are using other Office 10 converters, and how they work for you. Send me a note.
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Follow up from last month's tip & discussion on Google apps for Time Management -- another app to consider
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My friend, client, and very active Timely Tips reader Rob Chabot wrote to me about seven minutes after I sent last month's Timely Tip, where I recommended rememberthemilk.com as a way to manage projects/tasks when using Google apps, Gmail, and numerous other devices. He let me know about a competitor app -- toodledo.com -- that actually appears to have a broader set of capabilities and supported devices than rememberthemilk, including possible linking between Outlook & Google and pretty much every popular smartphone on the market now (this made me think you theoretically could use toodledo as a conduit to link your Outlook task list to Apple products like IPods, IPhones, & IPads via Google -- I haven't tested this yet, but it sure looks doable.).
So, if you are looking to make the leap to the "Cloud" or are just looking for ways to better link up your productivity activities between your smartphone, Outlook, Google apps, and Apple/Droid/BlackBerry products, take a good look at both toodledo.com and rememberthemilk.com to see which one meets your tech needs the best. (Things haven't gotten confusing at all when it comes to personal productivity technology at all these days, eh?)
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More Happy Clients!
Had an awesome experience presenting the lunchtime keynote at the recent Iowa Telecom Marketing Conference -- check out this letter I received from my client after the conference. I had a similar experience & program ratings at this year's American Bus Association Annual Conference -- I've been reconfirmed for next year in Philly, and it has directly led to 3-4 other conference engagements, including August's huge National Business Travel Association conference in Houston (with other speakers including Richard Branson & Lance Armstrong). And here are some of the other places you can look to see me AGAIN this year (all repeat clients): Affordable Meetings National, ICLE/Michigan Bar, U. Chicago Booth, University of Michigan HRD, Ohio State Fisher, U. Pittsburgh Katz MBA, Michigan State HRD, US DHHS, and GMAC. (If you are curious, yes, my late summer and fall is starting to get pretty full!) But I still have some open days available -- give me a call or send a note! Have a wonderful 4th of July holiday, and get out and enjoy that beautiful summer weather. Until next time, Stay Timely!
Sincerely,
Randy Dean
Randall Dean Consulting & Training, LLC
or http://www.emailsanityexpert.com
PPS: Always feel free to use the "Forward E-mail" option below to share this info with your family, friends, & co-workers. |
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HOLD THE DATE -- AUGUST 24!
My Next Public Taming E-mail Session will Take Place in Howell, Michigan
| I'll be leading a 2-hour intensive morning session on Taming the E-mail Beast on Tuesday, August 24th in Howell, Michigan (halfway between Lansing & Farmington Hills on I-96).
This program is being co-sponsored by the Livingston County Area Human Resources Association and the Howell Chamber of Commerce, and will be open to the public (for a fee of course).
I'll have more information and registration options in next month's Timely Tips. For now, pencil this date in on your calendar.
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DARN Tangled Headphones!!!
| OK, this is something I first shared on my Taming the E-mail Beast Facebook Fan Page and my Twitter feed, but I wanted to share with all of my Timely Tips readers too -- especially those of you that are rabid Pandora/IPod/MP3/multimedia users (meaning, you love your headphones!)
One of my single biggest pet peeves: headphones that you just KNOW you put away neatly, but come out all tangled (HOW does that happen!?!). Check out this quick video link on Steph Calahan's blog to see a way to never have this problem again. IT WORKS!!!
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