LOL!

Featured

LOL! Laugh Out Loud? Lots Of Love? As an instructor, LOL is Lots Of Learning. LOL (Lots Of Learning) is my new training program. LOL includes:

  • 3+ hour Zoom, live, interactive webinar 10:00 AM – 1:30 PM EST with 20 minute “virtual lunch/breakfast” break,
  • Extensive PDF manual on the subject,
  • Practice files,
  • Certificate of Achievement (for CPE/CEU credit).

All this for only $29.99. Special Bonus Offer! When you register and complete four classes at any time (unlimited time offer!), you’ll receive a greeting card with a refund of $20, as a reward for your achievement, reducing the cost to $24.99 per class.

But, wait there’s more… The LOL program includes technical, soft-skills, and combination classes. Each bullet below is hyperlink, so click on your subject and enjoy. Here are some of the upcoming sessions:

Pricing is for individuals and is charged one person for each session. If your organization would like a custom LOL! session with multiple students, including the Zoom class, PDF manual, practice files, and certificate of achievement, please contact me at creechgreg@bellsouth.net for pricing and procedures. THANKS!

LOL? You can have it all; love, laughter, and learning with this LOL! training program. This website provides a full list of offerings, dates, and course objectives and descriptions. To register visit my Shopify online store. Thank you and enjoy!

Enjoy an autumn Admin, HR, and Operations Conference with Nancy and Greg, Fri, Oct. 13, 8:30 – 4:00

We have postponed this event until the spring, stay tuned. Thanks!

Put on your soft skills and geek hats! It isPropeller Geek Hat an Education Celebration!

Autumn – The Season of Learning

A Training Day designed  for Administrative, Human Resources, and Operations Professionals

Hosted and Presented by
Nancy Colter and Greg Creech
Register Here!

Friday, October 13, 2017,  8:30—4:00 PM   

City of Light Church, 3125 Presidential Parkway, Atlanta, GA 30340

Learn soft and technical skills with these general
sessions:

  • Time Management and Using Outlook (Nancy and Greg),
  • HR and Administrative Data Analysis using Excel’s PivotTables (Greg),
  • Working with Difficult People (Nancy),
  • Presentation Skills and effective PowerPoint Presentations (Nancy and Greg).

Cost is $110 per person (register before October 1), $125 after October 1.
Save $25! Groups registering five or more people may register for $100 per person.

Includes four general sessions, handouts, lunch, prizes and entertainment. Register at this link or through gregcreech.com or  gregcreech.biz.

Enjoy!

Conferences in St. Augustine and Tucson

Recently I presented at the 2017 Florida Secretarial Leadership Conference on Winning Communication tools in St. Augustine, FL and then at the 2017 TEC IAAP conference on Access Relational Databases and Windows. Two very different areas of the country and two very different subject matters. I enjoy the diversity of our nation and the diversity of my clients and programs. I appreciate the opportunities and the great travel.

NEW! Windows 10 and Office 2016 Books and Classes

I have a new Windows 10 manual updated for the Anniversary Edition and a hot-of-the-press Office 2016 and More manual. The “Win with Windows 10” book covers new features, like Cortana, Task View, and Settings. The “Sweet 16! Office 2016 and More” book includes versions 2010 and 2013 and covers new features and productivity with Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook. These comprehensive books provide current Windows and Office clients with full color and step-by-step instructions with big fonts and lots of screen shots.

Order your books today at this link to my on-line store.

Win with 10: How to Win with Windows 10! A Free Webinar

Here’s the link to replay the webinar, if you registered. On behalf of the technology giants, I apologize for the screen freezes. I wish I could control the technology and telecommunications industries! ENJOY!

Let’s start the year off right with learning and laughter! On Friday, January 22, at 1:30 PM (EST) join me for a free 30-minute webinar on Microsoft’s latest and greatest operating system, Windows 10. I’ll overview new features, removed features, and important gotcha’s with upgrading, installing, and using Windows 10. Here’s a PDF of my favorite 10 items in Windows 10, enjoy!

We’ll look at these new features:

  • Cortana – The New Microsoft Assistant and help system,
  • Edge – The New Web Browser,
  • Action Center,
  • Settings,
  • Task View,
  • Start Menu and All Apps view.

Plus what to avoid and “issues” Windows 10 has.

This is the registration link for you to register and receive your login and password to access the webinar.

I look forward to our time and winning together in Microsoft’s Windows 10.

Alabama/Georgia IAAP Branch Event

IAAP Branch Logo SmallI’m honored to speak at the inaugural Branch Events for IAAP at the Hyatt Regency in Atlanta. I’ll put on my education show in both technology and soft skills training on Office 365/2013 and Communications in the Digital Age. Simply because our communication tools enable us to communicate faster doesn’t necessarily mean we communicate better. I’ll teach traditional and new age communications in all forms – verbal, written, presentations, and more plus I’ll include tips and tricks on how technology helps in being a better communicator, including grammar (get rid of passive voice, don’t split those infinitives, don’t end a sentence with a preposition, and more). With Office 365/2013 we learn the latest and greatest features of Office 2013 and the wonderful, magic powers of Office 365. Enjoy!

Your entertaining and educational Summer School is here!

Let the Geek Speak!Here’s your technology and soft skills summer school. Attend Millennium Manager – How to Supervise and Manage in the Digital Age at no cost with the discount code ManageMe. Move from zero to hero with Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint with the popular Excelling @ Excel series and How to present like a Pro – PowerPoint Pizazz. Also, Office 365/2013/2013 and Windows 8 in August. Stay tuned and stay informed.
Here are the links to register with the subjects, dates, and times:

Happy Valentines! Free OneNote manual and webinar.

Happy Valentine’s!

Happy ValentinesFall in love with being an organizational maestro with Microsoft’s OneNote – a notebook for the digital age. I love my clients and friends and celebrate with technology gifts of Microsoft’s OneNote.  Let’s learn and have fun – download the 2010/2013 OneNote Manual as a PDF and register for the webinar. Webinar is WOneNoteednesday, February 18, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM – use the Discount Code – loveonenote to register and attend at no fee with this link. Enjoy! 

 

MOS Support/Study Group – Webinar 3 and 2015 Plan

My Geek Hat

Hi, Everyone!
Special thanks to Richard Hemma, Senior Director of Sales Corporate and Commercial Pearson – Certiport for his presentation and information. He provided valuable information on the value of certifications, taking exams, location issues, and offered members of this MOS Study/Support Group a free trial of GMetrix – the practice test and training tool for MOS certifications. You will want to register and view this webinar. Here are the links: Registration link and Recording link.

Here are quick notes from the webinar and our plan for 2015.

  • Locations must honor vouchers from IAAP, Certiport, and other organizations. Locations may set their own hours and offerings and may charge a proctoring fee.
  • When taking an exam use the Ribbon rather than keyboard shortcuts, such as CTRL + S for Save, CTRL + C for Copy and so on. Using keyboard shortcuts rather than the Ribbon for commands may make part or all of a question incorrect.
  • You may use the new Office 2007, 2010, and 2013 feature entitled Key Tips as keyboard shortcuts by pressing the F10 or ALT key to activate the badges for Key Tips.
  • In the future there may be a re-certification process similar to the Adobe associate certification; however, once you certify as a Microsoft Office Specialist in a particular application and version that certification lasts forever.
  • Several webinar participants commended GMetrix for the practice tests and using the product.
  • We discussed text books; there are plenty of resources and books available. My personal favorite and that I recommend are the QUE In Depth series which are more detailed that most Office books. Richard concurred that these books follow the domains and learning objectives for the applications.
  • FREE! Richard will provide a free GMetrix trial for those people in this MOS Study/Support Group. I will collect emails and information over the next two weeks and provide them to Richard. If there is a limit to the number, I will prioritize the list based on regular attendance of these webinars including viewing the recording. Look for details in the coming weeks. Email me at creechgreg@bellsouth.net if you wish to be part of the GMetrix free trial offer.

In 2015, we will continue our monthly (or so) webinars with the next webinar in mid-January. We will update our certification plan and process and answer several exam questions for two applications. Plan now to make your New Years resolution about certifying next year and perhaps as you wait for Santa take some practice tests and study! I’ll send the content, date, and time for January’s webinar after January 2. Happy Holidays and Enjoy your learning.

Windows 8 or Windows Hate: You decide

Read the full article – Windows 8 or Windows Hate: You Decide Article

Here are honest eight points about Windows 8.1 from my clients and me – “average” users (if there ever was such a thing as an average user!). To be fair, four points are Love it and four points are Hate it. You decide – do you love Windows 8.1 or is it Windows hate for you?

  1. Love it! Touch me, Touch me – The touch screen capabilities are great and you can even right click (or secondary mouse click) to get shortcut menus through tap and hold on the screen.
  2. Hate it! So darn buggy it needs an exterminator! Windows 8 has more updates than you could count and will update when you need your computer the most (or so it seems) and the system declares, “Do not turn off your computer.”
  3. Love it! Ribbons and Quick Access Toolbar. Adopting the Microsoft Office Ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar interface, the Windows 8 ribbons allow you to get to great features quickly and easily, such as managing your drives, showing your file extensions, and using check boxes to select files.
  4. Hate it! Downgrade instead of Upgrade. After upgrading existing machines from Windows 7, I felt as if I had been downgraded instead of upgraded. Do not upgrade existing computers wait until you purchase a new computer that has a touch screen with Windows 8.1
  5. Love it! Cloudy with a chance of productivity. Windows 8 is very cloud friendly and works fantastic with OneDrive, Dropbox, etc.
  6. Hate it! Looked good on paper, but. . The idea of having an operating system appear and act the same on various devices looked good on paper (even I was excited and got Windows 8 on the release date), but in reality, many of us use our smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktops differently. However, time will tell as we acquaint ourselves with Windows 8.
  7. Love it! Have it your way – I like customizing my desktop and taskbar, plus moving, resizing, and grouping tiles on the start screen apps are terrific
  8. Hate it! Need improved apps. While some of the preloaded Start screen apps, like weather, are good. You may want to avoid some of the store apps you can download. Pay attention to reviews and comments about the app before installing. Use your desktop apps for multitasking, more functionality, split screens, etc. instead of the start screen apps.

E is for Empathy.

E is for Empathy. As I present my “Customer Service Excellence” Workshop at Athens Technical College, the word for today is Empathy. Empathy is a primary skill I learned in acting school and theatre 101 in order to develop my characters and “become” them on stage. Knowing and experiencing what another person endures carries over into many areas of our business, especially when evaluating job performance and providing customer service excellence. Like the old joke says, “Walk a mile in another person’s shoes – you’ll have new shoes plus good exercise!”

Your Signature, Please

TechTip: My pet peeve – Your Signature please. Often I receive emails with “Sent from my iPad/iPhone”, etc. with no name or contact information. These smart devices and computers have enough advertising – you should advertise you. No matter the device or software, they all have signatures. Please go into your Settings or Options and personalize the signature to include your contact information. Many devices and software allow you to customize the signature based on your email account(s) and different replying/forwarding signatures.  Following your contact information use the free advertising for the device with some fun lines like these from my clients:

  • Sent with iPhone autocorrect issues plus a few (harried) operator errors.
  • Sent from my mobile phone.  If there are errors, it’s Siri’s fault.
  • Sent from my iPhone with my iFingers and using my iBrain. Please excuse brevity and typos.
  • Sent from iVan my iPad who has a mind of his own and writes things he shouldn’t.

 

Outlook 2013 Tech Tip

TechTip Outlook 2013: If you write something like see attached or I have inserted and DON’T attach/insert file (not that you have ever done this), Outlook’s message box says: You may have forgotten to attach a file; you may choose the button Don’t Send or Send Anyway. This new 2013 feature did not take me and my clients very long to discover. Enjoy!

2013 Outlook - You may have forgotten!

2013 Outlook – You may have forgotten!