Infero Training – Business and Technical Courses

Did you know that around 1 million PowerPoint presentations are given every single day? Unfortunately, many of these feature classic readability errors such as using bullet points with white text on a dark background, text that’s far too small to read and other errors! What do we mean by readability? We’re talking about presentations which are attractive, simple to follow and easy on the eye. So how can you make sure your own audience is sitting on the edge of its seat – not falling asleep?

Keep colours simple

A dark background provides a much more relaxing background for your audience – and helps them focus on the content. If you do choose a lighter colour, don’t go for white. It’s far too bright and can even become painful to look at.

Go for a font colour that strongly contrasts with the background colour. Don’t rely on the way the text looks on your computer screen. Instead project the image to check your audience will be able to see it.

Another tip is not to use red text on a green background or vice versa as these combinations don’t work for people with colour blindness.

Audience-friendly fonts

Don’t get too fancy with your fonts. Keep them simple and straightforward. For starters, your font size should be big enough so that it can read by people at the back of the room. Are you giving your presentation in an office, a hall or lecture theatre?  Keep the presentation space in mind when planning your talk. In general you should use 38 to 48 point type for titles and 24 to 32 point type for bullet points.

Put formatting first

Make your slides consistent with the same size style and font, and with text positioned in the same place on all your slides. This means you’ll get more of a ‘wow’ factor when you do change the font type, size or position for a particular slide.

You’re not obliged to fill every inch of each slide! If you do have so much text on your slide that you need to use small text, try to use a serif font like Times New Roman. Those clever little serifs (the bits that stick out on each letter) will help your audience to read and understand small text.

Don’t let your text come into the slide from the left. It’s distracting for Western audiences who are used to reading from left to right. Bringing your text in from the right or fading in words from the left will make your presentation much easier to follow.

Keep it consistent

Be kind to your audience – use the same font style and size throughout your presentations. Try to avoid using italicized type and lines in all capital letters, as they’re difficult to read.

So now you know some of the secrets behind giving great PowerPoint presentations. Interested in learning more? Find out how a short PowerPoint or Effective Presentations training courses could help you get even more out of electronic presentations.

This is the second article in Your Computer Health series. For simplicity, I do not distinguish between viruses, worms and Trojans in this article.

What is a Virus?

A computer virus is a computer program that is designed to spread from one computer to another and to interfere with computer operation without the permission or knowledge of the user.

What they Do?

A virus might corrupt or delete data on your computer, use your e-mail program to spread itself to other computers, or even erase everything on your hard drive. Some viruses are not designed to do any damage, but simply replicate themselves and perhaps make their presence known by presenting text, video, or audio messages on your screen. Even these can create problems for a computer user. Viruses typically take up computer memory used by legitimate programs. As a result, they often cause erratic behavior and can result in system crashes and data loss.

How they Spread

Viruses install themselves on your computer by exploiting security weaknesses. Computers which are not connected to the Internet or any network can receive viruses from a removable medium such as a floppy disk, CD, or USB drive, if they contain malicious code.

Most personal computers are now connected to the Internet and to local area networks, facilitating the spread of malicious code. Viruses can be disguised as attachments: funny images, greeting cards, audio or video downloads over the Internet or any number of other attachments in email messages. That is why it is essential that you never open an email attachment unless you know who it’s from and you are expecting it, nor download a file from an un-trusted source. Viruses can also be easily spread by instant messaging messages.

How to Prevent your Computer from Infection

Windows XP does not include antivirus software, so you need to download and install an antivirus program, such as Windows Live OneCare. You can get a 90 days free trial.

Microsoft also offers the free Malicious Software Removal Tool to help clean your computer if it should become infected. However, the Malicious Software Removal Tool cleans only a limited number of viruses and cannot prevent virus infections. Therefore, you still need to install antivirus software.

If you are not sure which antivirus software to choose, read the top 10 AntiVirus Software Review 2008. Installation of any of them will help.

If you use a single computer for home or non commercial use, you can take advantage of a free offer from AVG Anti-Virus. It is trusted by 80 million users.

The Free Edition offers basic protection against viruses, spyware, adware and identity-theft and it is compatible with Windows Vista and Windows XP.

Simply go to AVG Free Edition and download the software. Once you downloaded the software, follow the simple steps to install it on your computer. You will see the AVG icon  appearing in the tray (on the bottom right corner of your screen).

AVG will automatically download updates everyday (unless you change the settings). Make sure the icon in the tray doesn’t appear like this:  . This indicates that you may have an outdated database and you will need to download updates, or one of the security components requires your attention.

The working world is changing fast. More and more companies are creating “virtual teams” – groups of people working together from locations across the country, or the world.

Cutting edge technology allows us to work in increasingly flexible ways, bringing skills and experience together from diverse locations. Thanks to the internet, faster and more reliable communication, and emerging collaborative tools, people can work together wherever they’re based.

Virtual teams may be good for business, but this globalised way of working comes with its own particular challenges. Yours may still be a traditional team in the sense of working together to achieve a common set of objectives.  But when set of colleagues is based in London and another in Singapore, for example, how do you ensure they achieve their goals? Just put the following techniques into practice:

Establish your aims

It’s not about location – it’s about a sense of belonging. Each and every member of your team needs to understand their role and the overall project goal. Make sure each person sees the bigger picture rather than just looking at their own role.

Take on the right technology

It’s amazing what’s out there. You’ll find there are all kinds of powerful tools to help you manage your project and your virtual team. Get the right technology and you’ll soon have your team moving in the right direction, whether you use audio conferencing, video cameras, collaborative software, or shared directories.

Be sensitive to cultural differences

From first introductions to closing the deal, culture affects the way people behave in business. Across the globe, colleagues work together in different ways. That’s why it’s essential to take cultural differences into account. What is standard business practice in one culture may not be acceptable in another. Your employees might not all work from the same location, but it’s vital for the success of your project that they get on and understand eachother’s perspective. Working across multiple countries and cultures requires sensitivity.

Communicate, communicate, communicate

Communication is the secret behind the success of your project. So how do you make this happen when your virtual employees are thousands of miles away from eachother (or even just down the road)? Working at a distance demands a strong focus on communication so that everyone understands what’s expected. Your employees need to feel connected to stay fully motivated. Make sure communication is steady and consistent – and keep everyone in the loop.

Keep assignments short and sweet

Stay in control of your virtual project with bite-size chunks of work. A long assignment and distant deadline is not likely to work well for a virtual team. Instead of assigning a six-week activity, for example, assign the work in three two-week activities. This means you’ll be able to check progress much more quickly and take the action you need to along the way. You’ll also have more scope to check exactly how well your virtual team is working.

It’s an increasingly small world. With the right teamwork, technology and training, you could reap big rewards! And do not forget – we are here to help you.

If you want to hide the name of a built-in table from the Table submenu in Microsoft Project without actually removing it from the project file, follow these steps:

1. On the View menu, click Table.
2. Under Table, in Table submenu, select More Tables and select the table you want to hide.
3. Click Edit and clear the Show in Menu option.

What does MCSE stand for?  Good news for your business. Well it actually stands for Microsoft Certified System Engineer – and businesses are fast discovering the unique benefits of these professionals. Bring in the professional with the best skills and watch changes happen in your business.

What is the MCSE certification?

It’s the mark of quality. In fact it’s the premier certification for a professional involved with analysing the business requirements and designing and implement the infrastructure for business solutions based on the Microsoft Windows platform and Microsoft Windows Server System. In other words, a person involved with helping to make a business more productive through installing, configuring, and troubleshooting network systems.

Who needs MCSE certified professionals?

You do. The MCSE qualification is designed to suit the needs of a wide range of medium to large organisations. What they have in common is the need for specialist skills and knowledge to maximise typically complex systems and ways of working.

Why your business needs Microsoft Certified System Engineers

Microsoft products are designed specifically to boost business performance. Whether it’s engineering or egg farming, Microsoft’s technology can drive a business forward with extra agility, speed, and reliability to compete and win. An MCSE-qualified professional provides your business with an in-house expert with the most up-to-date expertise on these powerful tools and solutions.

The qualification is so well respected that according to Microsoft, in a 2001 survey of 225 technical and non-technical hiring managers representing companies in a variety of industries, 89 percent of respondents said they recommend Microsoft certification for candidates seeking an IT position at their company.

So why doesn’t your organisation benefit from training such that your IT personnel can become MCSE professionals?

Sometimes it is imperative to temporarily black out the screen while you are running Slide Show. In this case, press the letter b on a keyboard.

To return to the Slide Show from the blank black side, press the letter b again.

In todays world, blogging has become a big part of the way we share our experiences. A blog (short for weblog) gives individuals the power to publish anything they want to say to the world. The incredible simplicity of blogging is one of the things that makes blogging so popular. You don’t have to know anything about HTML or how to link from one page to another – only create a page within the software provided and upload it to a Web server.

In the 2007 Microsoft Office system, Word has become that software. Now you can create blog posts from within Microsoft Office Word 2007 with a few simple clicks of the mouse. This article shows you how you can start blog posts with Office Word 2007.

Follow these steps to start a new blog post:

1. Start Word 2007.
2. Click the Microsoft Office Button, then select New.
3. In the New Document window, click New Blog Post.

The Blog Post window opens, and you will receive a popup dialog box asking you to register your blog account.

If you already have a blog account with one of the blogging service provides (such as Windows Live Spaces, Blogger, TypePad, WordPress or other), then select Register Now button and select the service to enter the information for that account as shown below.

If you do not then click Register Later and you are returned to the Blog Post window.

The Blog Post window includes two command tabs: Blog Post and Insert. Mainly you will be working with the Blog Post tab, where you have tools for working with your blog, clipboard, entering basic text, applying styles, and proofing your entry. The Insert tab is available only if your blogging service enables you to include photos.

The work in the Blog Post is based on WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) technology, in which content displayed during editing appears very similar to the final output. It is the same as creating any other document—you click and type your text as you want it to appear.

Good luck in writing your first article!

Credit control is very important for every business. How Microsoft Access can help you to find all overdue accounts?

Let’s say you have a table in Microsoft Access with your Customer names and Invoice date:

Your invoices should be paid within 30 days of issue. In order to find overdue accounts you can create a filter that compares today’s date with the Invoice Date in the table.

1. Open the Query in Design View
2. Select the field for the filter and in the criteria row enter <Date()-30

After running the query you will receive records for customers, where the Invoice Date is 30 days before today’s date.

Projects are a big part of working life for many of us. But all too often, they end up failing to meet their deadline, their budget and their goals. As with many things in life, a successful project comes down to good planning. Here are five smart tips to put you in better control of your projects:

1.  Know and understand it

Sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how many teams aren’t clear on the aim behind a new project. Yet this is vital to a project’s success – and the motivation and morale of a team. If your colleagues see the bigger picture, they’ll be much more likely to get fully involved and support that new project from start to finish. With a solid business case and the support of senior managers and your team, your project will be off to a great start.

2.  Keep it real

You know the feeling. Your team has taken on a brand new project. You’re excited and enthusiastic…then reality and challenges hit and you fail to meet your targets.

Research shows that this happens a lot. The prospect of a new project gets in the way of reality. That’s why it’s vital to have clear, realistic expectations for budget, schedule or scope. Start by estimating how long each activity will take – keeping in mind that most of us aren’t great at estimating!

Here’s a more precise approach to working out what your team is capable of. For example, you estimate your project task will take three days. Then you work out how confident you are that you can deliver in three days by using %, e.g. “I’m only 40% certain I can deliver in three days.” You should aim for 80%. And if you don’t think you can achieve 80%, then simply recalculate.

3.  Make roles and responsibilities clear

Ever been part of a team where people weren’t sure what their responsibilities were? It certainly makes it harder to get things done. Successful project management comes from having a clear role for each and every member of the team. Define who does what in the overall management of the project, document this on the PID, and outline each person’s role in a brief paragraph.

4.  Make the most of your Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

Get to grips with your project right from the beginning by creating a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). Listing all the activities you’ll need to complete your task, is a vital tool for staying in control. Your WBS gives you a complete overview of your project, showing the major deliverables in a chronological and easy to view format. Creating your WBS with post it notes on a flip chart or whiteboard allows you to move your project targets around easily, too.

Your WBS is also a great asset when it comes to project cost estimating and budgeting. By allowing you to view the project in smaller parts, you can budget more accurately by each deliverable – and add your estimates up for a more accurate project budget proposal.

5.  Communicate clearly

It’s important to stay in regular contact with all the people involved in a project. Create a communication plan and you’ll know who you need to speak to at exactly the right time. You can review your plan regularly and include it on your Gantt chart. Stay organised and stay in control of your project from start to finish!