TWORK...TWITTER TWEETS AT WORK

HOW I TWEET:

1. Answer the question "What is INTERESTING?" rather than "What are you doing?"
2. Use your Follow Friends to filter the most relevant Tweets for your interests.
3. Retweet so that anyone Following me can use me as a filter for interesting news.

Once your Twitter account has "hundreds" of Followers, it's interesting that more and more Followers start Following you non-stop after a certain point, eh?

HOW I FIND NEWS:

My Friends' Tweets have acted like a springboard to a wealth of informative sites.
Hashtags can be used like bookmarks when I Retweet these informative sites, and I can go back through and connect these to my own work;
if I'm lucky, by the time I go back to the hashtag, others have added similar Tweets under the same hashtag.

HOW TO GET RELEVANT FOLLOWERS

If you are promoting your business, you don't really want "anyone" to Follow your business' Twitter activity. You want relevant Followers that are actually interested in becoming a customer someday, right?

For marketing purposes, Tweets need to be sent in volleys of three to eight at a time, as close to each other as possible (you might consider using 3-8 multiple Tabs in your browser to achieve this).
One pattern that still seems to attract new Followers to you:

Tweet 1: interesting business news
Tweet 2: relevant information that is Trending at the moment
Tweet 3: your advertisement, promotion, or marketing
Tweet 4: interesting news
Tweet 5: relevant information that is Trending with a Hashtag at the moment
Tweet 6: your coupon (ala Dell)
Tweet 7: personal insight
Tweet 8: interesting business news

RESULTS: This model is used by people that perform SEO and SEM, and using it will give you at least the same number of interested Followers as the number of your Tweets...

IMPORTANT: Most of your Tweets ought to include links for full articles or for marketing links.
Marketing links need to go to "painless" actions...
think email subscriptions, automatic enrollments, satisfaction guarantees, and discounted payment pages with items already "in the cart."

LIVE AND SHARE IDEAS THAT WORK

MULTIPLE FLAVOURS OF CERTIFICATION

The lifelong CIU certification recently developed at IRM is specifically geared towards a software application that manages associations and non-profit organizations.







There are more generalized certifications for training professionals that can work hand-in-hand with virtually any software system. A few examples are as follows:





INSTRUCTIONAL SKILLS WORKSHOP (ISW) PROGRAM

The Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) Program is a comprehensive three-tiered instructor development program that serves as the foundation for several professional development activities.

The second tier is the University Teaching Certificate (UTC) Program.









CERTIFIED TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT PROFESSIONAL

Obtaining a CSTD designation demonstrates you have a thorough understanding of the common body of knowledge of our profession. Both the Certified Training and Development Professional (CTDP) and the Certified Training Practitioner (CTP) designations are based on the competency categories outlined in the Training Competency Architecture, commonly called the 'TCA", a common body of knowledge for the training and development profession.







TECHNICAL TRAINER CERTIFICATION

Individual trainers may pursue certification of their skills as a trainer. Applicants who are full members in good standing and have successfully completed the Advanced Train the Trainer seminar may apply to be certified as a Professional Technical Trainer (PTT) for a period of three years. Members may apply for recertification. The PTT certification is valid only for full members in good standing.







TAP LEARNING SYSTEM

The Training Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the status of L&D practitioners to that of genuine Professionals. True professions demand a credible Qualifications Framework and continuous professional development. As a career trainer, you may feel that traditional certificates in training practice, often achieved many years ago, may not reflect the full range of practical skills you need in today's fast-moving L&D world.

FRANKLIN COVEY'S TIME MANAGEMENT...MOBILE

Blackberry seems to have created a digital version of Franklin Covey's Pagefinders.

Pagefinders are clear plastic bookmarks that can be moved (like a normal bookmark) to today's date in your Day Planner.

The neat part is that you can write your list of to-do items on the plastic using eraseable felts.

That way, you can see (through) your list of Tasks while you're working on your Calendar;
the next day, you simply move the unfinished Tasks over by one day.

ALL TOGETHER NOW
With BlackBerry Calendars and Tasks, the Due Date and Name of each Task "lands" on the Calendar, next to each of your "real" Calendar appointments.

However, incomplete Tasks will need their Due Date adjusted manually. Sigh.

That means my digital organizer is almost as good as paper and plastic!

:)

GETTING THINGS DONE...MOBILE TASKS

How does Windows Mobile and Blackberry fair when it comes to sorting out your list of tasks?

Allen recommends using contextual Categories (I used to to mine by topic, until I saw the light).

Windows Mobile works like Outlook, and I can drill-down using combinations of Categories.
For instance, any Tasks that have both @GroceryStore and @Pharmacy.

Blackberry shows one Category at a time.
For instance, use @GroceryStore for your snacks.

Sweeet.

ACADEMY CERTIFICATION - from on-site training to webinars to e-learning...

Initially transformed on-site training to a blend of telephone consultation, synchronous webinars, and on-site training, which dramatically reduced expenses and increased efficiencies.  Later, we moved training content to movies, online documentation, and a collection of articles in our knowledge base.
Took one-on-one consultative projects and 'flipped' the work back to the clients, using online documentation, shared spreadsheets for data transformations, and data import validation.  Developed an industry-first certification process for on-boarding of new clients, new staff, and new users through an online educational Academy, with automatically provisioned certification process.
Access to the online training Academy movies and certification exams was given to both internal staff and over 500 organizations across North America, amassing over 100,000 end users.  The yearly completion rate for certified IRM Users was approximately 95%, and the advanced IRM Administrator certification rate was approximately 85% per year.

What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis

Okay, this is one of my new heroes because he authored a brilliant book...


...more ideas at Buzzmachine.com

Teach, market, and work the "Google" way for the next several years with some contemporary concepts!
Warning: some of the innovative and down-to-earth ideas might make some people cringe, perhaps because they are such a true depiction of how people learn nowadays.

This book is an "easy read," and the first half contains very keen insights about how to improve profits (across industries) today through Google.

After reading about the future of sales, I considered how experiential marketing, brand awareness, and advertising is becoming a more essential part of the Google world. I mean, how would anyone know what to type in the search box without marketing?

Oh, while you're at it, have a look at the Popular Search terms box on the top left of my blog. Pretty nifty, eh?

The latter chapters have some proposed models for the way the world might work in the future, and I noted how formal training, education, and continuing education is already changing into a more self-taught "Google" paradigm. Today, education is still a hot commodity - I think it can be kept "hot" with some of the following ideas, for starters:

• integrating WWGD? advice for both learners and instructors
  (like requiring less rote memorization per se)
• motivating institutions to establish creative marketing partnerships,
  especially with respect to helping companies to develop their staff effectively;
  Continuing Education, anyone?
• flexing the requirements for instructors when it comes to
  tenure, research, and field experience
  

Go ahead! Type some brilliant words into the Google box, and you get millions of results for products to buy, topics to learn, and incredible new experiences.



Oh boy, I wonder if the library needs my copy back yet?

BOOKMARKS - WORK ANYWHERE NOW!

1) ASSUMPTION
Major software applications that you need to get your work done are already, or soon will be, in the online cloud; all you will need is the right URL, username, and password to "get to work."



2) THE WAY WE WORK NOW
People are getting their work done in offices, at homes, and en route because laptop computers, fully-featured mobile phones with browsers, and public computer kiosks are ubiquitous.

3) A TINY TOOL BECOMES A HUGE LEVER
We can "work anywhere" with the right URL, username, and password.
Thus our URLs, usually kept as favourites or bookmarks in our favourite (favorite) internet browser, become the first stepping stone to reach our "work anywhere" office.




FREE SOLUTIONS...

DEL.ICIO.US
Challenging to add new bookmarks with mobile phone browsers because the functionality of "Submit" buttons need to be simplified.

Well developed bookmarks that can be made public for social networking (i.e. how many other people using Delicious have bookmarked the same URL that I added).
Mobile phone browsers can log-in and use existing bookmarks.
Owned by Yahoo.

YAHOO BOOKMARKS
As of this writing, still very Beta with low search ability.

Good import ability.

DIIGO
Challenging to add new bookmarks with mobile phone browsers because the functionality of "Submit" buttons need to be simplified.
Challenging exportability because Tag details are lost.
Delayed updates to large quantities of bookmarks due to reindexing.

Well developed bookmarks that can be made public for social networking (i.e. what are other people using Diigo saying about the same URL that I added).
Mobile phone browsers can log-in and use existing bookmarks.
Previous views of websites are stored in cache, which is useful for defunct pages.
Based in Australia, and new owners of Furl.



GOOGLE BOOKMARKS (my choice)
Rushed development, but it works
(e.g. the Google Cart logo appears in older versions of Internet Explorer,
the Add and other functions appear at the bottom, after scrolling through your entire list of Labels).
Bookmarks are private, without social quantifiers nor caching.

Good search ability (of course).
Can add new links with mobile phone browsers because of simplified "Submit" button.
Good exportability.

TAKE HOME MESSAGE
Move your bookmarks and favorites out of your current browsers (i.e. home computer, work computer, and mobile phone) and import them into an all-in-one online bookmarking tool.
This will merge your collection of URLs, centralize access to them, and help you to truly "work from anywhere."

GO! JUMP ON THE TIMEBRIDGE FOR OUR MEETING!

The Timebridge tool (from a subsidiary of Yahoo) eliminates the "coordination" requisite for meeting with two or more people.
http://forum.37signals.com/basecamp/forums/3/topics/9853

By the way, one of Alan Moore's characters, Jonni Future, also uses a ficticious "Timebridge" device...

...and my friend Shazia was also impressed with my Web 2.0 geekiness
during her recent visit. Wow! Shazia! Impressed! Wow!

Online and phone meetings just got easier; try it for yourself!

http://www.timebridge.com/home.php

As expected, the emails sent are coded so that click-throughs automatically identify the Attendee for the meeting.

This is similar to the coding in Messages from Basecamp Project Management, wherein reply emails get attached to Basecamp Message threads.

Web-based software vendors could utilize similar technology as an alternative to the BCC idea when users need to coordinate meetings.

Frank has invited you to a
meeting:Click this link
to reply:http://app.timebridge.com/meeting/reply/sReQBKyUhzujUjfFMessage from
Frank:========================Please click the "Reply" link to enter your
availability for this meeting.

Timebridge is definitely one of those "killer applications" because it is so quick, simple, and effective!

It can even "reach into" meeting attendees' calendars to find open time slots. Nifty, eh?

NOTE: In practice, people are currently a bit reluctant to believe that it is actually quick, simple, and effective. To wit, the application never requires new users to "create an account," which in my view is one of the best features!

Service is free, and users can opt to pay for their online meeting service (ala GoToMeeting from Citrix or NetMeeting from Microsoft). Let's keep an eye on how well they are doing when it comes to attracting cash, ya? Yahoo?

NOTHING=GOOD CRM...SEARCH FOR NOTHING ON A REGULAR BASIS!

Speaking of nothing...

With oodles of details about your customers in a given "digital phone book" or CRM (customer relationship management) software, it is really nice to get reports of all the details that you have stored.



Almost as important is to report on what is missing. "Looking for nothing" can accomplish any of the following important questions:

• Which customers are missing a postal code / zip code before we send out our mass mailers (you can read that as "ma$$ mailer$" when the bill arrives)?
  
• What city is the most popular office location for our customers? Is the city spelled correctly so that I can get the proper numbers (e.g. Calgary, calgary, Cal gary)?
  
• Who is missing a job title? How accurate is the spelling of the job title, and how current are the job titles on-file?

I'm sure you can predict the embarrassment that might arise if your office forgets to "search for nothing" just prior to a mass communication, eh?

LEARN ONLINE, GET CHALLENGED, AND ADD VALUE!

I've been a member of TrainingZone for several years, and they seem to have more mature insights on the training profession, perhaps because the UK has advanced differently than Canada.
Below are a few helpful articles from 2008.

BIG PICTURE IDEAS ABOUT LEARNING ONLINE
Is e-learning just a mass-market delivery mechanism that offers the prospect of cutting per person training costs? What lessons have been learnt from its use? And how is its use changing and its value being assessed?



ATTENDEES THAT CHALLENGE YOU
How do you manage new employees who criticize your training methods, complain to senior staff and take the induction into their own hands? What training strategies will win back control and keep it?



REDUCE THE EXPENSE OF NO-SHOWS
How do you count the cost of no-shows to training? There seems little in the way of hard facts, but what we do know is they cost money - and lots of it.

EVEN EGYPTIAN GODS HAVE KNOW-HOW FOR WEB 2.0?

Alan Moore wrote Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and thought-provoking short stories for DC comics. Have a look at him in the middle of a other cartoon characters in the Simpsons, below:



Quote from a fellow named MYSTICO in Moore's Terra Obscura:
"They were drowning in data, but almost bereft of knowledge....and of wisdom they knew nothing."
This definitely describes the plethora of web-based opportunities available in "the cloud" of information available nowadays.

The data that was previously stored in hard drives is now "in the cloud," which poses a different set of security challenges; improving security of web-based software is the cost - the benefit of having data available anywhere / anytime.

Alluding to the above quote, the data stream ("knowledge") flowing to your browser is only as safe as the standard features ("wisdom") implemented by the vendor.



What are some of the features that might be important? Think about the following:

SECURE: It's brilliant that many of the free vendors are including HTTPS options for their software applications - Gmail is one popular example. Though it may slow-down the performance of retrieving the data, security is crucial for some people's information, which might include CRM data, financial details, and communication logs.
Let's follow Gmail's example and at least have the option available, eh?

SHARE: The application ought to be open and usable by other applications, through a current API / online standard format. It's messy out there with all of the different options running around, so making data available to standard online tools is essential.
For instance,
integration with iCal/Outlook calendars,
strong searchability,
and comma-delimited import/exportability is nice, isn't it?

STABILITY: Free is great, but what happens if the vendor gets subsumed by another vendor, or simply closes business forever? If you examine the Legal Agreement that most people click-past, most free vendors simply state that "if we close our doors, your data is toast, and we aren't responsible"...!
Pay for an web-based system that is redundantly backed-up every day for 30-60 days, with the back-up significantly away from its operating servers, and an iron-clad 99.9999% (six nines) guarantee of "up time."

LOOK OUTSIDE! YES, RIGHT NOW!

For the new year, do something simple, relaxing, and healthy for your eyes...
Preserve your vision by looking into the distance, which relaxes the muscles - if you are sensitive enough, you can actually feel tension vanish inside your head when you do this.

Specifically, take two minute breaks every 45 minutes.
Look outside for enormous, distant, scenery.

Mountains, clouds, and the horizon work brilliantly!

Though your eyes are one of the fastest-healing parts of your body, the slow assault of close distance work can make them more and more myopic.

*sigh*
Yes, I know from experience.

NOTE: the challenge for most people is to actually take the next step and start using a timer device of some kind!

Right now, go ahead and do a search for "free online timer," pick something, and implement it on your workstation.
http://www.google.com/ig/directory?q=timer&type=gadgets
Your eyes will thank you, right?