Where admins are clicking
A few of the top web sites for administrative professionals, according to Monster.com: CEO Express, Refdesk, Microsoft Clip Art, USPS, BrainyBetty and XE.com.
Category: Office Technology
3 good e-mail forwarding tips
When you first see “FW:” in your e-mail inbox, you never know whether the sender is sharing something useful or frivolous. Use the “forward” button wisely, and you can connect others with valuable information or make a new, prized introduction. Keep these three tips in mind:
How’s your company’s online literacy?
What if your organization doesn’t have an online strategy to speak of—a skimpy web site, no social-media strategy, no e-mail list, no e-newsletter. Is it too late to catch up? And how can tech-savvy administrative professionals help push an organization toward online literacy? Best-selling author and marketing expert Seth Godin recommends venturing forward with these strategies:
Tweak e-mails for clarity and purpose
A few things to consider when revising your e-mails: 1. Toss useless words. 2. Last things first. 3. Watch your format. 4. Use effective subject lines. 5. Set the right tone. 6. Always allow room to be corrected.
Social technology eating into your time?
If you find it hard to keep up with Facebook, Twitter and other social-media tools, you’ll love this idea for a New Year’s resolution: Stop trying to keep up with social technology. Alexandra Samuel, CEO of Social Signal, says you could spend half your life trying to figure out the latest, greatest tool—so don’t even bother trying. To refocus your relationships:
4 PowerPoint rules you should follow
To help an audience tune in to your PowerPoint presentation instead of zoning out, stick to these four cardinal rules from communications coach Carmine Gallo when creating a presentation: 1.Stick to three or four themes. 2.Type should be no smaller than 30 points. 3. Use charts sparingly. 4. Divide the number of minutes you’re allotted to speak by two—that’s how many slides you should have.
Co-worker wasting all day on Facebook?
An administrative assistant recently posted this dilemma on our Admin Pro Forum: “I know my office co-worker chats on Facebook most of the day … and now I have proof. Do I say something to the co-worker, or do I bring it up to the boss? I am usually not a tattletale, but there are times when I am overwhelmed with work and I know she’s chatting on Facebook and not getting her work done.” Forum readers weighed in with advice:
Create templates for everyday requests
Instead of reinventing the wheel every time you repeat a task, create a template and then reuse it. For years, Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, has used templates to improve his productivity …
1-Minute Strategies: Dec. ’09
Skip straight to someone’s voice mail by using Slydial, a service that lets you leave a message for someone you know you can’t reach in person … Take your job search to Twitter. Some companies are using Twitter to fill positions that tend to attract tons of applicants on job boards, such as administrative roles, one HR vice president tells The Wall Street Journal … Put a meandering meeting back on track by addressing those who veer off-topic.
3 ‘best’ online tools
Here are three great tools for creating to-do lists, collaborating on documents online, and viewing and modifying PDFs: 1. Best for tracking tasks: Doomi. 2. Best for word processing: Zoho Writer. 3. Best for viewing PDFs: Foxit Reader.