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.