In this newsletter:•   VALERIE'S TIP: How to automate to save you time
•   One-day Excel workshops in February: you’ll find one ideal for you
•   PAUL’S LIFEHACK: Multiple calendars - the easy way
•   QUICK CLICK: create an instant hyperlink to a website
•   GOOFY GADGET: Unlock your inner Australian Idol
•WIN: Richard Branson’s book "Business Stripped Bare"

Hi everyone,

Welcome to Productivity Plus, your weekly newsletter on how to get more done in less time.

When it comes to productivity, one of the best things you can do is to automate your tasks wherever you can. How?

Consider this:

• Think about a task that takes a long time.
• Can this task be done in a more efficient way - specifically, is there anything repetitive or tedious about what you are doing?
• Is there a way to automate the repetitive tasks?
• When it comes to data entry or calculations of any kind, there is almost always a better way.

I follow Paul’s mantra: if it’s slow and tedious, there MUST be a better way. And he’s right – there always is.

Excel can be a very useful tool which can automate calculations and present data in multiple ways – at the click of the mouse. All you need is to be shown how to do it. The rest is easy.

One-day Excel workshops in February: for all levels
There are two courses to choose from depending on your experience:

Microsoft Excel 2007 course - Basic to Intermediate - 19 February 2009
This seminar is ideal if you have basic Excel skills but want to build on them to get more out of the software. You'll harness the power of Excel to double your productivity.

You'll learn intermediate formatting, charting, and worksheet operations, as well as the use of complex analytical tools. You'll also learn time-saving features such as combining worksheets, automation, simple PivotTables and how to use macros.

When: Thursday 19 February 2009
Time: 9.30am - 4.30pm
Cost: $325 (includes GST)
You will receive a comprehensive take-home manual.

Click here to receive a comprehensive course outline. Or enrol here.

Microsoft Excel 2007 course - Advanced - 12 February 2009
Would you like to be a power user of Excel? This is ideal if you want to develop advanced skills that will really help you unlock the full potential of what Excel can do.

You’ll learn the more advanced features of Excel including advanced anaylsis tools, especially pivot tables, Solver. You’ll learn outlining and summarising, as well as key automation features such as macros.

When: Thursday 12 February 2009
Time: 9.00am - 5.00pm
Cost: $325 (includes GST)
You will receive a comprehensive take-home manual.

Click here to receive a comprehensive course outline. Or enrol here.


PAUL’S LIFEHACK: Coordinate multiple calendars for work and homeDid you know you can . . .

Use Outlook's Calendar to coordinate your children's soccer matches (or your boardroom meetings), and share the calendar with all the other mums and dads (or executives)?

We're not simply talking about adding the match schedule into your calendar. We mean:
1. create a whole new calendar in your outlook profile,
2. call it the name of your beloved team (The Mighty Under 12 Tigers)
3. Add the date, time and location of every match.
4. Insert a Google map for each location.
5. Email the calendar to all the parents by clicking on "Send a Calendar via Email . . ."

Parents can either print out the calendar or add the attachment (ics file) to their own Outlook profile. Those with with SmartPhones, iPhones or Blackberries can carry all the details with them.

Now there will never be confusion over the match schedule; but there may still be disputes over who was supposed to bring the oranges.

BONUS: insert last year's match photos and merge/print with a wall calendar template. Sell the calendar to families at a sausage sizzle fundraiser.

QUICK CLICK - Instantly create a link to a webpage in your email or document Let’s say you want to tell someone about a webpage that you like. You might be emailing them or including it in a Word document.

The fastest way to create a hyperlink to a web page is to drag the bookmark icon (located on the left of the address bar) and drop it into the body of your email or document.

In Internet Explorer 7 the bookmark icon looks like -

In Mozilla Firefox the bookmark icon looks like -

GOOFY GADGET: Midomi iPhone applicationYou can unlock your inner Australian Idol with the free Midomi app for the iphone. If you have a tune in your head - or hear one on the radio - but can’t think of which song it belongs to, all you do is:
•    go to the Midomi app on your iPhone
•    sing into it (if you are brave enough) or hold the phone to the radio for 10 seconds
•    Midomi will recognise the tune and display the correct song title for you.

Depending on the way you look at it, this is a time-saver (because you don’t waste time arguing with your colleagues about which song it is) or a time-waster (because you keep singing into it like we do!)