Icebreakers & Group Exercises

The Contact Point website has a section dedicated to group exercises and ice breakers at www.contactpoint.ca/index.php?option=com_resource&view=list&category_id=9&Itemid=28.
We've shared this link in of Job Club Coach program and on our website under Did You Know, but I thought it important for us internally to remember the resource as well.

A Cup of Christmas Tea

I hope you each have an amazing Christmas with special times with friends and family and a chance to reflect on the year almost ending and the next soon to begin. One of my favourite traditions is to read or listen to "A Cup of Christmas Tea" - I hope you enjoy this video.

How to Change a Web Address to a Hyperlink on a Word Doc

Quick Tip: If you type in www. in front of the address in a Word doc and put a space after the entire address, Word should automatically hyperlink the document. To turn off the automatic hyperlink, right click it and then click remove hyperlink. If it does not automatically hyperlink simply highlight the address with your cursor and right click, select hyperlink, and type in the web address in the address line.

The Tyranny of the Urgent

As you know, our focus this fall has been on consolidation - trying to be more intentional about our work, spending more time on billable work and less on "internal stuff," trying to cluster our tasks, and ultimately spending more time on meaningful tasks that are personally and professionally rewarding. As is always the case, it's easy to get distracted by "urgent" but less important requests (e.g., phone, MSN, text, or email interruptions when we'd blocked out time to move important projects forward).

Just wanted to update you that we're still working on this...and will need to continue for the next few months at least. What this means to each of you is that there are less "just for fun" projects that we can fund right now, we need to move projects forward very efficiently, and yet we can't drop balls. I'd encourage each of you to keep looking for projects that interest you - we love the team we've built and want to keep working with all of you. :-)

Help A Reporter Out (HARO)

Roberta passed this along so I thought I'd share it in our blog. Help A Reporter Out (HARO) is a free website in which you can submit an inquiry which will be sent out to qualified sources around the world to respond. Go to http://helpareporter.com to check it out; there is a helpful audio explaining the system which provides more details.

Embedding Fonts in Word and PPT

Hi all...we've recently run across an "issue" when converting documents to PDF to upload to a publisher. The publisher needs fonts to be embedded which "just happens" for some fonts and not for others. Here is how you embed fonts:

• Click on the Microsoft Office Button in the upper left hand corner
• Choose “Word Options”
• Select the Save tab on the left
• Under the “Preserve fidelity when sharing this document” section, first choose your document. 
• Then check the box for “Embed fonts in the file” and “Embed only the characters used in the document”

This has worked 95% of the time so obviously not a perfect system. If I figure the rest out I'll let you know. If anyone knows of other "tricks" please let me know.

Password Protecting A Document

Some of the documents we use (e.g., the code table) need to be password protected for security. To do so within a word document:

1. Click the MS Office button at the top left hand corner of your screen
2. Select "Prepare"
3. Select "Encrypt document"
4. Enter in your password and click OK
5. Confirm your password and click OK

To ensure passwords are strong, include a combination of lowercase and uppercase letters, numbers, and symbols.

Outlook Task Reminders

When we're juggling multiple projects it's really easy to drop or overlook some of the "routine maintenance" types of activities (e.g., website updates, blog entries, updating resumes, writing projects, purging emails, backing up computers, updating virus software...the list goes on). I set recurring tasks for ongoing items and individual tasks for the "one offs" and find it really helps to keep the "chatter" out of my head when I'm not worried about what I may have forgotten. I certainly don't always get the tasks done on the day I'd intended but the nice feature about tasks is they are easy to re-flag for next day or next week! :-)

Writing Proposals

Hi everyone - Thought I'd share info on a webinar that Miranda passed on to Deirdre and me...
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D.
Date: Tue, Nov 16, 2010 at 12:00 AM
Subject: Get a Plan! Get a Grant! (12-1-10)/Anno - free teleseminar hosted by Meggin
To: Miranda Vande Kuyt
Greetings, Miranda,
**Do you have more than enough money to fund all the professional and civic work you do?
**Have you thought about writing grants to get more funding for your research, service, and other projects?
**Do you need to be writing grants to help fund the work that you do?
Then you will want to learn from Vickie Galindo, who in the
last 6 years has authored grants resulting in over $56 million
in funding. She has graciously agreed to share tips and
tactics with us in this free teleseminar, which I'll be sponsoring:
http://www.getaplanguide.com/GetAGrant.php
Vickie shows no signs of slowing down in the highly
competitive grantwriting field, which is lucky
for her university and lucky for us because we can learn
from her expertise and experience.
You are invited to take part in the upcoming free
teleseminar: *Get a Plan! Get a Grant! Tips, Tools, &
Tactics for Writing Successful Grant Proposals* on
Wednesday, December 1, 2010 with special guest instructor
(and prolific grant writer), Vickie Galindo.
For more information and to register just go here:
http://www.getaplanguide.com/GetAGrant.php
You may register and participate free – either “real-time”
on Wednesday, December 1, 2010 (or by listening later via
the recording).
Thanks! I look forward to having you join us for this
learning event!
Meggin
P.S. All participants will also receive a coupon for a
discount on Vickie’s new Get a Plan! Guide™ to the ABCs of
Grantwriting: http://www.getaplanguide.com/GetaGrantGalindo.php
Twitter • www.twitter.com/MegginMcIntosh

Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D.
'The Ph.D. of Productivity'tm
Emphasis on Excellence, Inc.
PO Box 18390
Reno, NV 89511
www.meggin.com | meggin@meggin.com

Webmail Upgrade

Our webmail system has gone through an upgrade. It's now running version 7.3 and offers a new look (e.g., tab items on the side) and a variety of synchronization options for cell phones. Although my cell phone isn't fancy enough to sync with anything, I though I'd mention that there are options to sync with the iPhone, Windows Mobile, and Blackberry, among others. You can likely also sync with Windows outlook, but this offers another option.

If using outlook to manage your emails, just a reminder that even though your email are downloaded, some junkmail items remain in the webmail system. Be sure you check on a regular basis (i.e., weekly).

Still on About Writing...

Hi everyone - Still following up on writing, just wanted you to know that we've posted two tip sheets (one on writing, one on editing) that you might find useful:
10 Tips for Writing Professional Documents
10 Tips for Editing Professional Documents

We hope you find both useful - feel free to download or print. :-)

Writing and Editing

As Deirdre and I prepare for the "Professional Writing" presentation for the Fraser Valley career development group, I came across an internal email I sent a couple of years ago, which I resent last year, and which still holds true today. We've used it as the foundation for some new Tip Sheets (which we'll post to the site), but here's a more complete version for our internal use.

1. Standards: Develop (and use) a writing standards checklist for each project. In many cases, standards will remain constant (e.g., re which font to use, margins, spelling, punctuation). However, some projects will use design elements that everyone working on the project needs to know about. When sending a project for review, please attach the appropriate writing standards document.

2. Accountability: Before hitting send, take the time to carefully review the project, compared to the standards. It's unreasonable (and a waste of time) to send something forward hoping that the next person will review in detail. As a benchmark, I asked Deirdre to be my second set of eyes on a journal article on Friday. It took her 10 minutes to review a 14 page paper in detail; she made 2 changes and asked 1 question in a comment. This is how "clean" a final draft should be.

3. Formative Reviews/Consultation: If you are looking for feedback before a project has been carefully edited or formatted, be VERY specific about the kind of feedback you are looking for (and about what hasn't been done). This is actually challenging for any reviewer as it's tempting to correct errors we notice in fear that we'll miss them the next time around. So...our preference is that projects aren't sent on in a rough format. However, occasionally (e.g., if I am travelling and know I'll be offline for the whole day you're at work), this might be necessary just so someone else can use her available time to move the project forward. As an example, I sent Cassie a pathetic draft from Chile so that she could pull general content for a PPT presentation - I was clear with her what a mess it was and then fixed it up as soon as I got back online.

4. Proofreading and Editing: We have found that printing is most effective for noticing the fine details. However, it's not the editor's job to make the changes. This means that you may need to come to the office to pick up the paper revisions. If there were a signficant number of revisions, send back to your reviewing partner (with the hard copy edits for her to compare to) and clearly indicate with highlights or comments what has been changed. This, unfortunately, will slow you down but, eventually, we hope that the errors will be less and these extra steps will be unnecessary. Deirdre and I will still need to be the final set of eyes.

5. Scheduling/Logistics: It seems obvious, but likely worth mentioning, that it's super important to let the reviewer or editor know what stage the project is at (e.g., when Deirdre or I ask you to create a PPT presentation, there is no point asking a reviewer to spend time looking for stray commas or inconsistent capitalization when you don't even know if we'll keep the slides in; in such a case, send the PPT draft to Deirdre or I, indicating your comments and questions, and telling us what stage you're at - i.e., "Still needs editing - very rough draft just to see if I've captured your visions" or "I'll add pictures after you identify which slides to keep.")

6. Compatibility: It's essential that we be working from compatible software. There have been some issues with MAC/PC conversions as well as old and new versions of Word. When at the final, picky stages of editing it is absolutely essential that the computers involved are using the exact same software. This may mean scheduling time to physically work in the office so that you can sit right at the computer that the project is being edited on. It is completely inefficient for several people to make hand-written edits and then phone one person to enter them in. If several people are contributing to a project, the compatibility issues have to be dealt with.

7. Big Picture: Before embarking on your contribution to a project, take time to step back to ensure you have a grasp of the big picture. Who is the audience for this project? What's the purpose/objective/rationale? If it's not obvious, ask.

8. Core Services: We have a lot of projects right now that require writing (e.g., conference presentations, marketing, newsletters, papers). We also have several potential projects (e.g., curriculum development, papers) that will require a similar degree of team input. If we can sort out the editing process, the projects will become much more creative and fun for everyone involved.

I'm excited about the work we're doing and I hope you are, too. We're getting excellent feedback. If we can work together to minimize the need for multiple revisions, that will make the projects much more fun (as well as profitable). :-)

Proposal Writing Tips

We're just completing an interesting process supporting an external organization in writing their proposal. Here are a few "lessons learned":
1. Allow extra time to accommodate schedules. We never anticipated that the final days before printing would be Halloween weekend, complete with parties, trick-or-treating, and, on an unrelated note, our grand-daughter's birthday. Look at specific dates/events prior to proposal due dates.
2. Deirdre printed and edited on paper as she always does, and then passed on her print edits to me, as well as the revised soft copy - this was immensely helpful as I picked up changes she'd made that I wouldn't have noticed and then could engage in discussions with her about rationales.
3. Be open about other commitments, availability, and the best way to be reached when working with teams and tight deadlines. That way you're not sitting around waiting for responses when the other person isn't even online.
4. Develop writing styles early on...and then refer to them! Right up until the end we were finding inconsistencies.
5. Use "find" for the types of errors that you've noticed often and think you've caught - we found this helpful for wait list vs. waitlist, field trip vs. fieldtrip, stray periods, etc.

Windows Live Messenger Update

Windows Live Messenger has an update for 2011. It's upgrade does have some changes that I wanted to note as I've been working with it over the last few days

1. The default view features an expanded messenger screen. To adjust to the smaller one click the rectangular icon at the top with the dotted lines above the search the web box. This will switch you to the compact view.
2. Conversations don't display in separate windows anymore; instead, it uses tabs much like Internet Explorer does
3. Your toolbar isn't set to show automatically. To get it to show, click on the double arrows below the message box where you type and select "Show the menu bar"
   

Also, Cheryl and I have experienced some issues trying to send files as the send file action is sometimes greyed out. It's intermittent and there doesn't seem to be a solution on the help forums so I'll update you once we find a solution.

More from India

Here's a link to the website for the conference I attended: http://www.jivacareer.org/conference.html

Unfortunately, I can't seem to attach a document here - if you're interested in Tony Watt's final reflections, just email me (I share his reflections).

Finally, here's a blog I wrote for the Career Development Chapter of the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association: http://ccpacdchapter.blogspot.com/

How to include data in Excel in a Powerpoint

You might occasionally have data in Excel that you want to include in a PowerPoint presentation or a Word document. One option is, of course, to copy and paste the cells into the presentation or document. Although this works, the cells are converted to a table and they often look very different to the original cells in Excel.
So how do you get the pasted cells to look the same as they did in Excel? Take a picture of the cells and then paste the picture into your presentation or document.
To copy cells as a picture in Excel 2007:
1. Select the cells you want to copy
2. Home tab, Clipboard group, drop-down arrow below Paste button
3. Select As Picture then Copy as Picture
4. Make sure As shown on screen and Picture are selected
5. Click on OK
Seems a bit strange going to the Paste button to find a Copy command but that's the way it is.
To copy cells as a picture in Excel 2010:
1. Select the cells you want to copy
2. Home tab, Clipboard group, drop-down arrow next to Copy button
3. Select Copy as Picture
4. Make sure As shown on screen and Picture are selected
5. Click on OK

AVG 2011 - Update Now

The 2011 version of AVG is now available. To keep our computers up to date, please update to the 2011 free version.

Livelihood

I just got back from Asia - while in India, as most of you know, I attended the IAEVG conference in Bangalore (a conference that Tony Watts said has the potential to be the most important conference he's ever attended, which is saying a lot!). One of the interesting things was their use of the word "livelihood," even in their association name (I'm an associate member of the newly formed Indian Association of Career and Livelihood Planning :-)). What I like about the term "livelihood" is how it honours the full spectrum of work, including entrepreneurial activities and "crafts." In Canada, too, there are many people earning a livelihood who wouldn't self-identify as having a "career" or even a "job" - they're just doing the work available to help support their families. In our own work and courses, let's introduce this term to our clients and students.

Profit is Priority

I just read part of a newsletter from "By Monday" and one of the paragraphs resonated with me so I'll share it with you:

Profit is Priority

Prioritize tasks that maximize the bottom line.

Everything in your job description is important, but not everything is equally important. You have to meet deadlines, and you have to be conscious of how your completion of tasks affects your co-workers. But keep in mind that the most important things you do are the things that bring in the most profit.

GoToMeeting and Windows Messanger

Did you know that the newest version of windows live messenger has a "meet now" function for GoToMeeting so you can quickly share your screen with someone you're chatting with. This is helpful if you're working on editing a document so it's up on both your screens or if you're trying to troubleshoot something and it's easier to show what the problem is rather than describe.

Mailing Labels in Word

When sending out our proposal submissions via mail, it's important to take the time to include printed labels on the envelopes. Word has numerous templates you can use but for quick printing use the "Mailings" tab. Under "Create" select "labels." Here you can print just a single label or a full page.

Cascading Windows

Recently I've had a lot of windows open on my computer throughout the day so it got me thinking about how I manage to sift through everything. One tip I wanted to pass along was cascading windows. To do this go to your toolbar at the bottom of your screen and right click the grouping of files (e.g., Word documents, PowerPoint files, even your outlook) and select "Cascade." This will bring up all the files at once but staggered so you can see them all at the same time.

You can also close the group when you are done - by right clicking on the task bar and selecting "Close Group." And don't worry about loosing changes to files as you will be prompted to save any files that have changes not yet saved.

PowerPoint Masters - Handouts

In our summer training sessions, we learned about working with the PowerPoint slide master from Jayne. In addition to this, you'll notice there is also a master page for handouts. Often when printing workshop handouts, I'll find that the current date prints out. This is due to the date existing on the handout master. To adjust simply go to "View," select "Handout Master," and delete the box containing the date.

Juggling Multiple Projects

Within our team, as all of you know, we're ALWAYS juggling multiple projects. However, if you're in the office the week before I leave for an extended overseas trip, you'll be familiar with the mad rush to move a month's worth of projects forward concurrently...

So...lessons learned from this:
1. Take a step back and look at due dates within the next 6 weeks
2. Chunk time - block it off and make appointments with key stakeholders (we've had lots of teleconfs, GoToMeetings, and meetings in the office this week)
3. Give every project some attention
4. Communicate what's been done and what needs to be done next
5. Delegate where necessary
6. Strategically decide to set lower priority projects aside
7. Plan for longer days (i.e., realistically, schedules don't work perfectly, so allow some wiggle room)
8. Leave space for cool new opportunities or important requests (we've actually put 4 new certificate programs on our "books" this week - things we'd thought of but wouldn't have chosen right now to focus on except that opportunities came together and it made sense to pursue them)
9. Be kind to each other - in the midst of juggling multiple priorities, mistakes will be made or communication will be misinterpreted. Check in often...and assume positive intentions :-)
10. Laugh...a lot! Without humour, we'd never get through busy times!

Thanks everyone - see you after October 18th!

Glitzing Things Up in Word

We had a lot of fun this week creating a "job aid" for an assessment framework. I'll let Deirdre share how to make the letters curvy on a SMART ART diagram but I used some of the 3D features to set off text boxes.
To create this type of text box within Word, I:
1. Clicked on Insert, then Text Box
2. Selected "Exposure Quote"
3. Selected Shadow / Drop Shadow / First Option
4. Typed in Text Box
5. Right Clicked / Chose Format Autoshape
6. Chose Fill Colour

Moving Sheets in Excel

In Excel you have two ways you can move a sheet:

1. Selecting the tab with your cursor and dragging it to the desired spot
2. Right clicking on the tab, selecting "Move or Copy," and then choosing the sheet you'd like the current sheet to go before.

The first option is great for a short move; however, in longer documents (e.g., the project update) it's easier to use the second option.

Prezi - A New Presentation Tool

Our latest "cool tool" is Prezi - introduced to us by two different presenters, we decided to play with it a bit this week and try it out. Here's one example of a prezi - it's worth looking at as it also talks about corporate "story" and we've discussed trying to document our story for Life Strategies - perhaps this is one way to capture it with words, quotes, pictures, and a timeline?

Here's another example - a wee bit long, but perhaps some of you would be willing to create a Prezi with 10 things about you...to share here and with our students?

Looking Ahead to Fall

It's the last day of summer vacation for school kids and the first few days of September have been the beginning of what looks like a very busy fall season for our team - between Deirdre and I we have taken on 3 new contracts in 3 days!

Juggling multiple projects (and/or larger projects with multiple smaller components) requires extra organization and planning. To help us out, Cassie will be creating a dynamic Gantt chart (which we'll likely house in our project update) to anchor key milestones for projects and see, at a glance, where we need to focus our energy for the week.

If you have other scheduling/organization/project tracking tools that keep you on track, please let us know. This is an ongoing challenge for independent contractors (like many of you) and for project-based organizations like Life Strategies.

Can You Choose the Perfect Career?

Many high school and even college students feel the pressure of deciding what to do with the rest of their lives. They may have dreams of a six figure salary and a job they absolutely love, but how do they get there from here?
Once a decision is made many people will l find life getting in the way of their career goals, many people start their careers with high aspirations and find that life gets in the way, often in the form of financial or family obligations.
I have learned over time, and by trial and error, that circumstances have often dictated my career options. My folks believed that if I wanted a university education I would have to fund it myself. As a single mom I found myself having to support a family on very little income. Have I made poor career choices over the years? Absolutely! However I have also had some wonderful career opportunities.
In my musings about my meandering career path I’ve come to understand that it’s wasn’t reasonable for me to expect the perfect job. It has been about deciding on the most important things in my life and working from that point. For much of my working life my family has been the center of my life and my jobs had to fit. In fact, my education was completed at a community college in alternating years with having children. I then I ran a home-based business when my children were very young.
Years later as an Executive Director, I interviewed scores of applicants for a variety of positions. I met a few young people with clear career goals and enough enthusiasm and drive to ensure career success, however most were like me...doing what it takes to get the job done, whatever that job may be for that particular person. That sounds an awful lot like career success to me! Life Strategies can help you navigate your career path. Call 604-856-2386 for more information.

Google Docs

Cassie and I have been fiddling with Google Docs. There are definitely limits. It seems like it's best used with a small project team and with documents that aren't heavily formatted.

For one organization, we've posted a document listing upcoming blog topics - a simple document, amongst a few contributors, seems to make sense.

However, we wanted to use Google Docs for our policy manual (which has a lot of necessary formatting). It seems like the Intranet or our own computers may still be the best home for a document like this. Google Docs might be useful when crafting/word-smithing new policies.

I'm interested in your thoughts and reflections

Shared Learning

Just wanted to update those of you who we don't see quite as often about what's been going on "in head office" (AKA the garden patio :-)). Our revised website is almost ready to launch (thanks Deirdre!), Cheryl has worked miracles with Moodle (it finally has graphics!), and we're actively working with SUCCESS again designing Essential Skills training. We expect fall to be busy...and the focus of our work internal to Life Strategies is "consolidate." To do this, we're working on integrating our social media (blogs, websites, linked-in, Twitter, Facebook) to make them work better for us. We're also going to be more consistent with writing and design standards (Cheryl will work with us to develop and share the standards) and we'll develop and use more templates (for flyers, handouts, PowerPoint, etc.). We'll be working on smaller project teams, so wanted a means to share some information with our complete team (hence this blog!).

We miss the shared learning and tech tips from our team meetings, so hope that this blog will allow us to continue to learn together. Did you notice you can even upload video? So, if something's easier to just "show us" try that. :-)

Getting Started

During our social media workshop today, a key recommendation Linda identified was to create an organizational learning blog for staff to share learning from workshops, conferences, and courses. We decided this was a great idea but wanted to expand the focus to an overall keeping in touch.

We've made the blog private so it should (if the settings are correct) be just for our team. Please set a reminder task to check-in weekly (whether you have something to post or not) just so we're confident that if we share something here everyone will see it.