OSU AP 2015 by Queenie Chow

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Slide Notes

OSU AP 2015

Published on Nov 06, 2015

In this session, Queenie Chow will highlight a collection of her favorite free tools administrative professionals can use to: share with less email, meet without leaving, learn in less time, book flights with one search, make slides on the fly, and organize work to leave it at work. Because staying on the same page isn’t about carrying paper, and doing more doesn’t have to mean working harder…just smarter.

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PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Queenie Chow

Manager, Digital Union

In this session, Queenie Chow will highlight a collection of her favorite free tools administrative professionals can use to: share with less email, meet without leaving, learn in less time, book flights with one search, make slides on the fly, and organize work to leave it at work. Because staying on the same page isn’t about carrying paper, and doing more doesn’t have to mean working harder…just smarter.

Photo by Stuck in Customs

*share with less email

Yammer | Evernote | U.osu

How many emails do you send a day?

Photo by RaHuL Rodriguez

Yammer.com

I have 20 part time student staff across 5 locations, and thanks to Yammer, I email them perhaps only once a week.

It's also a great place for OSU colleagues to ask questions and share information relevant to the university community. I've used it to share my blog articles, ask about resources when I don't know where to start, and publicize events for my office.

Photo by RaHuL Rodriguez

Yammer Feeds

All Company
Special Interest
Private

All Company is open to all of OSU. Great place to ask random questions related to university resources - the community is SO helpful!

Special Interest groups exist for all kinds of initiatives and departments, search and join an active group, or make your own.

Create your very own Private Group to use with your own office, project team, or whoever you want to add as members. I have a private group for Digital Union student staff.

Photo by colecamp

Digital Watercooler

Updates & Reminders
Current Issues
Questions & Advice
Volunteers Needed
Praise!
Team Problem Solving
Influence Culture/Model Attitude

Harness the problem-solving potential of your team. Know when to sit back and let issues get resolved vs. when to insert yourself and guide the discussion. This is a very open way to show your team the the type of attitude/values/culture you want to promote.

Don't be afraid to infuse a little humor and personality. You'll build rapport and save time by dropping the traditional formalities of email. There's even a Chat and private message function.

Photo by eric.domond

How To Be Email Free

Create a Private Group
Add Members
Define Frequency
Define Content
Don't Duplicate

I use Yammer as a way to monitor the daily ins and outs of 20 staff across 5 locations. All staff are expected to read all new posts from our Yammer group every shift, and post pertinent updates. This also promotes the group to discuss, share suggestions, and solve their own problems when I'm not available.

Photo by Scarleth Marie

I don't always email

Time sensitive
Important
Valued

Because daily minutiae are addressed on Yammer, the emails I do send have greater value, and are less likely to be skimmed/ignored/put off for later.

Evernote.com

Photo by spettacolopuro

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Untitled Slide

Photo by joe.ross

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Boss Dashboard

Date
Updates & Successes
Questions & Approvals
Notes
To Do

Create a Dashboard note for your boss to capture your updates/questions/ideas/etc. between regular check-in meetings

Photo by innovate360

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Team/Project Meeting

Date/Location/Format
Attendees
Questions
Updates/Topics
Summary
To Do

Create headings tailored to things you need to discuss during team or project meetings.

Photo by hjl

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Features

Include Photos & Documents
Record Meeting
Share for others to view or edit
Syncs to Computer,Tablet, Phone
To Do

Even the free version has robust features allowing you to capture and access all the information you need across your devices.

Photo by GollyGforce - Living My Worst Nightmare

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To-Do's

Capture
Assign
Date
Verbalize
Share

The purpose of most meetings is to figure out who has to do what. Capture to do's during your discussion, start each item with the name of the person assigned, add a due date if not obvious, verbalize list to confirm before adjourning, and share the list via Evernote or copy to members via email directly after meeting.

Having a copy of the to do list w/ names and dates makes it easy for you to follow up with the team.

Photo by o.tacke

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U.osu.edu

Who needs a webmaster anymore? Build your own website to share and GET information from your team or even the world. U.osu is OSU's branded instance of Wordpress, free for staff, faculty, and students to use.

Photo by DeaPeaJay

16.

Features

Multiple Sites
Private/OSU/Public
Forms
Email Confirmation
Multiple Content Editors

Photo by miss.libertine

17.

blog

Run a blog from your office to showcase projects, promote your research, or announce special events. This is my blog at u.osu.edu/chow.57.

18.

form

Make a form for gathering feedback or reporting issues. This is my form that Digital Union staff use to report problem patrons.

19.

send it

This is a "form" with only one field. Type in any email, and it will send the information above to that email. I made this for student staff to use any time someone asked them about and OSU lecture capture service called Mediasite.

What questions do people ask YOU or your colleagues get asked frequently that you could write a template email to answer? Purchasing information for colleagues? Travel arrangements for the boss? Information about your office for clients? You can even create form fields for variable information to be inserted into the resulting email.

20.

manage a project

This "form" was created to assign videos to staff for caption correction after an event. I created the chart, then delegated the assigning and follow-up to another staff person. Instructions are provided below the chart. This kept everyone accountable for their share of the work, and we were able to finish the caption correction of 15 videos in 3 days.

In a perfect world, everyone would sign into your project management software of choice and actually do the things assigned to them. That ideal can be a challenge even for a small internal team. Although the method shown here takes a little more work on your end, it puts everything in one place for all the people from whom you need work.

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*meet without leaving

CarmenConnect | Videoconferencing Rooms

Seeing faces helps build rapport. 55% of communication happens through non-verbal elements such as posture and facial expressions. If you can't meet in person, set up a videoconference.

Photo by DeaPeaJay

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CarmenConnect.osu.edu

Photo by DeaPeaJay

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Features

Video/Voice
Share Files
Collaborative Notetaking
Record Meeting
Share Screen
Screen Control

How often do you have a meeting after which no one has to act on anything? Capture to do's during your discussion, start each item with the name of the person assigned, add a due date if not obvious, verbalize list to confirm before adjourning, and share the list via Evernote or copy to members via email directly after meeting.

Photo by Rainforest Action Network

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Tips

Headphones/headset
Firefox
Fast Wifi
Setup Room
Test w/ Team

Tips to make sure the VC goes off well.

Photo by el patojo

25.

odee.osu.edu/videoconferencing

OSU has many H.323 videoconference rooms that can be reserved for free. This is ideal for more formal meeting situations, not only because the space looks nice, but the connection is stable and secure.

Photo by DeaPeaJay

26.

Denney Hall 063

Digital Union in Denney Hall houses a videoconference system. Stop by any time for a tour!

27.

*learn in less time

Digital Union | lynda.com

Brushing up on Excel to sort through your data and write a report? Trying to figure out Photoshop to prepare images for the newsletter? You don't have to pay hundreds of dollars or take a semester-long class to learn new tools. You might not even have to leave your desk!

Photo by Leo Reynolds

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DigitalUnion.osu.edu

Photo by DeaPeaJay

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Record videos without knowing anything about lights, cameras, or microphones. Just bring a USB drive! Or in this case, a blowtorch...to make Chem lab videos of course.

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Helpful Staff
Meeting Rooms
Color/Poster/3D printing
Multimedia Editing
Videoconferencing
Free Lynda.com Access
ADA Computer Stations
Audio & Video Recording Studios

Friendly staff are always here to help with basic questions on content creation.

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go.osu.edu/lynda

Photo by Leo Reynolds

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Use Lynda.com to learn at your own pace and at your own office! OSU provides free access through the Digital Union.

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34.

*Book flights with one search

Google Flights | TripIt | Yelp

Photo by Justin in SD

35.

google.com/flights

No more searching across a dozen sites. No more re-entering your information multiple times just to find the cheapest date to fly out. Surprise surprise, Google is doing another thing way better than everyone else.

Photo by Leo Reynolds

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Untitled Slide

Google Flights is amazing for elegantly showing all the information you need to make a decision on when to fly where. Let's start in Columbus.

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Untitled Slide

If you don't have an airport preference, just type in a general destination like California. The map will show you the airports in the area and how much it's costing to fly into each.

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Untitled Slide

Once I click to choose a departure date, a graph pops up to show me airfare for the next several months. I use this to decide when I'll travel based on lower airfare.

Seriously, how do travel agencies even still exist?

39.

tripit.com

No more cross referencing all your email notifications! Just link Tripit to your email account.

Photo by Leo Reynolds

40.

phone demo

This app will automatically pull information from travel emails such as flight booking and car rental confirmations to display a handy itinerary showing you where you need to be and when.

41.

yelp.com

Photo by Leo Reynolds

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Features

Restaurants, Hotels, Cafes Etc.
Directions
Hours, Menu, Atmophere
Photos, Testimonials
and most importantly...

Most have used Yelp for restaurant and cafe recommendations, but there's one thing you might not have thought to use it for...

Photo by hanspetermeyer.ca

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Search for "free wifi"

Search for "free wifi!" Very helpful when you're traveling!

Photo by thefoodgroup

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*make slides on the fly

Haiku Deck | OSU Stock Photo | Flickr Creative Commons

Part of having a great slide deck is knowing the elements that make great slides and presentations.

Photo by trustypics

45.

haikudeck.com

No pics? No time? No USB drive? No problem! Use Haikudeck.com to assemble simple slides using Creative Commons images. No need to cite - it's already done for you!

Photo by Leo Reynolds

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Untitled Slide

*For live audience, I would now skip to a demo of assembling a Haikudeck presentation about making lemonade.

Photo by robert.molinarius

47.

ucom.osu.edu/photo-gallery/

Photo by Leo Reynolds

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All images here are free to use in your presentation. Contact the the Comm team if you need higher resolution or prints.

49.

flickr.com/creativecommons/

Photo by Mark Seton

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Still can't find what you need? Browse through Flickr Creative Commons for even more royalty free images.

51.

*organize work to leave it at work

Wunderlist | Trello

Make it easy to organize all your tasks and projects so you can truly relax on vacation.

Photo by wili_hybrid

52.

wunderlist.com

I use Wunderlist to help me keep track of work and personal tasks. I also share the list with others who are working with me on the same project.

Photo by Leo Reynolds

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Untitled Slide

You can use it on any device!

Photo by Gustavo da Cunha Pimenta

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There may be a million to do apps out there, some with more advanced functionality, but I specifically appreciate the simplicity of the Wunderlist interface.

Photo by Gustavo da Cunha Pimenta

55.

trello.com

Try Trello for larger scale project planning. It's great for keeping track of several people or items moving through checkpoints.

Photo by Leo Reynolds

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Untitled Slide

Here's an example of a project I have in Trello. I had to work with our design team to make several posters. Each poster is represented as a 3 letter code as outlined in the poster plan I had previously shared w/ the team. I used Trello to track the progress of the each poster so I could tell which were ready and which still needed drafted or reviewed.

57.

*staying on the same page isn't about paper

tech setup & learning curve

Jump in and explore! The time it takes you to learn and setup any of these tools pales in comparison to the time and stress it will save you later.

Photo by alles-schlumpf

58.

*doing more isn't working HARDER

Just SMARTER

It has never been easier to share so much information with so many people instantly and on demand. Tech allows for this, and when used right, can save you time, money, and stress. What could you do to write 10 LESS emails per day?

Photo by frankieleon

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