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!

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!

Microsoft Office Certification Study/Support Group Webinar 7

Hi,

Our seventh MOS Study/Support group webinar consisted of PowerPoint 2013 and new features. The webinar displayed areas of PowerPoint for which the certification exam will cover. After demonstrating using features of PowerPoint, I took a practice project exam and scored a 1000! Shocking, I know. So, please watch perfection in PowerPoint exam in progress. ENJOY! Here are the registration and replay links. You must register, if you haven’t already, and then you may view the webinar at no cost. THANKS!

Registration Link: http://www.anymeeting.com/PIID=EB58DF83894D3D.

Replay Link: http://www.anymeeting.com/gregcreech/E950DF80894D3F.

MOS Webinar 4 – Project Based Exams

Thanks to Kathi Robinson, CAP-OM and MOS, our webinar proved successful with educating everyone on theses items:

  • Differences between task oriented exams and project oriented exams
  • Best learning tools and resources for preparation
  • Important tips and tricks in taking practice exams, such as the Reset and Save buttons
  • Her example of why as an Executive Assistant she is building and using Microsoft Access

After her interview, we demonstrated taking an Access 2013 project oriented training exam.

If you have not registered, you will need to register before watching the replay.

Here is the Registration Link: http://www.anymeeting.com/PIID=EB54DC84844639

Here is the Recording Link: http://www.anymeeting.com/gregcreech/E153DE858846

Our next webinar is Tuesday, February 27, 2015 at 7:00 PM EST. Let me know the application and version that you would like for our webinar.

Happy Computing and best wishes on your certification path.

 

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.

Microsoft Office Specialist Study/Support Group – Webinar 3 – November 4, 8:00 PM EST

We’ll have our third and final MOS webinar for this year on November 4, Tuesday. We are honored to have Richard Hemma, Sales Director at Certiport, as our featured speaker. Please forward questions to me for Richard to address by Monday, November 3, afternoon. While I’m sure he will answer questions on line, let’s plan and prepare in advance as much as possible. Our webinar begins at 8:00 PM EST on November 4, Tuesday, so go vote and then attend our webinar.

I hope you can plan to spend some time studying and preparing to certify sometime next year over the holidays. Certifying makes a great New Year’s resolution. We’ll have our next webinar in mid-January, 2015.
Here is the registration link to attend the webinar live or to replay at your convenience:
Thanks!

Greg Creech
www.gregcreech.biz
404-299-1706

Technology Across America with IAAP’s TEC15

I am honored to present in February – April for the International Association of Administrative Professional’s (IAAP) TEC 15 conferences. These technology conferences cover a wide range of technology and office productivity sessions and span a variety of job titles from Administrative/Executive Assistants to Program Managers/Coordinators, Project Managers and Coordinators, CPAs, Lawyers, you name the job title and these conferences benefit. Here is a list of cities and dates:

Here’s the link for more information: http://www.iaap-tec.org/home.

I’m teaching Microsoft’s Office Applications including Data Analysis and Functions of Excel, PowerPoint Pizzazz, Take Note! It’s OneNote, and performing my popular technology humor show, “Technology Bytes: And it just bit my funny bone” at lunch.

Here are links to some of my sessions:

MOS Certification Webinar 2 and 3

Hi! Here is information about our Microsoft Office Specialist Certification second webinar. My plan for Webinar 3 is to have Richard Hemma, Certiport – Sales Director, answer questions that you provide in advance and give us insightful tips on taking the exams, the process, etc. My plan is to have this the week of November 3 or November 10, so stay tuned. We will plan our fourth webinar for mid-January. I want to thank Vanvisa for the information below and Richard for helping us with Certiport and certifications. Thank you and look forward to our webinar in November.

Here’s a link to replay the second webinar http://www.anymeeting.com/gregcreech/E055DE848346. Please ensure you register for this webinar first and then use your login and password to replay; here is the registration link: http://www.anymeeting.com/PIID=EB50DE88894E38.

Thank you to Vanvisa Sivali, CAP-OM, MOS for the terrific and helpful information and links below.

1) IAAP Options Technology
For those who are certified CAP or CAP-OM, there is an additional discount available for Options Technology purchases.  The discount is not available online; this is the link to the information:http://www.iaap-hq.org/events/options

2) 2013 MOS Exam Format
I don’t recall if this was mentioned in the first session, but the exam format has changed for 2013 MOS testing and I didn’t think the G-Metrix exam really reflected the change.  I thought it could be helpful to share the demo video: http://www.certiport.com/Portal/desktopdefault.aspx?page=common/pagelibrary/mos2013.html  I read somewhere on the Certiport website that additional changes to the testing format were being made as well; the changes will be effective this month.

3) MOS Exam Objectives
I found knowing the exam objectives very helpful to prepare for my exams.  I think it could help other people and maybe it would be good just to point them to the link where they can find them: http://www.certiport.com/Portal/desktopdefault.aspx?page=common/pagelibrary/MOS2013-objectives.html

4) Certiport MOS Bundle Offer
I’m not sure if you know about this already, but every so often, Certiport offers a special deal to IAAP members for testing bundles that include online training and testing vouchers which are good for 90 days.  I purchased the bundle for one of my previous MOS certifications and found it useful and economical.  I contacted Certiport to find out the end date for the promotion but customer service said they didn’t have an end date at this time.  It might be good to mention this as there could be IAAP members who are in the study group and ready to take at least one exam sooner: http://ww2.certiport.com/lp/mos/2014/gfbgeneric2014.html?jujrtyghfud135185a1279588a-1a-1a57322&jujrtyghfud415748a1610824a267a4353a57740

MOS Webinar 1 Review – Off to a great start

Our first Microsoft Office Specialist Study/Support Group’s webinar held on August 27 got us off to a great start with 76 attendees. I apologize for some of the audio difficulties, and my verbal fillers, such as “ok”, “um”, etc. As a professional speaker, I detest verbal fillers and became a victim with this session. Since this is a very interactive session and I’m nervous taking tests anyway and then to do so in front of 76 folks really added to my anxiety and verbal fillers. In spite of these “challenges”, we learned a lot and had a good time. I believe you will find this webinar helpful as you prepare for your MOS certifications in the months ahead. Enjoy.  Here is the link to replay the webinar.

Also, here are links to the PowerPoint presentation and to the Certiport $75 practice test for a year deal. Also, attendees requested my TIPS form that I use in my management and leadership presentations for mentoring, tasks, and performance management, so I have included the PDF link below to the TIPS sheet. On the webinar, I show my TIPS form for my plan to certify in 2013 PowerPoint by September 30.

PowerPoint presentation as a PDF file.

Certiport $75 annual practice test deal.

TIPS (Task/Time frame, Information, Process, and Status) form that I use for Mentoring, Tasks, and Performance Management.

Let’s plan the next webinar for Tuesday, September 23, 8:00 PM EST. I’ll have an agenda the closer we get to the date. Thanks to everyone and look forward to our time together in the next 18 months.