Although the book is out of print, the advice from the 3M Meeting Management Team, in How to Run Better Business Meetings, is still pertinent.
“The controller is the diagnostician who determines when and where the company is ill. The manager is the surgeon who operates on that ailment.
The surgeons need a diagnosis, and not a [...]

Filed under: Finance, Meetings, Presentations | No Comments »

Don’t waste time comparing shipping rates at individual carrier sites. Enter your starting point and destination, and let ShipGooder calculate the rates for you. This free service compares major courier and postal services, and local carriers. You can also find US or Canadian postal codes, by address or city.
For example, if I want to ship [...]

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If you’re looking for an item to buy online, check the Jungle Crazy site to find the best deals listed on Amazon. For example, enter Cables as a search term, and see all the discounted cables:
 http://www.junglecrazy.com/search.php?query=cables

a2a_linkname=”Find Deals at Amazon”;
a2a_linkurl=”http://blog.contextures.com/archives/2008/05/28/find-deals-at-amazon/”;

Filed under: Office Supplies, Purchasing | No Comments »

As you work on your computer, you probably have several windows open most of the time. Even with multiple monitors, it can be difficult to arrange the windows so you can see the ones you need, and get the others out of the road temporarily. FreeSnap is a free utility that lets you use keyboard [...]

Filed under: Excel, Keyboard Shortcuts, Utilities | 1 Comment »

Before you buy a book, or drive to the library, you might find the information you need online. Google Books has an extensive collection of books that you can search, from the comfort of your office chair:
 http://www.google.com/books?hl=en

Then, if you find a book that looks worthwhile, you can purchase it online, and have it delivered to your office [...]

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When saving or opening a file in Excel or Word, you might have to navigate through several layers of folders to find the one that you need. To make it easier to open folders that you use frequently, add them to the My Places bar. To do this in Excel:

Click the File menu, and click [...]

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While working on a project, such as creating a database, or programming an Excel file, I make notes about the changes I’m making. Before quitting for the day, I add a few notes on what steps should be taken next. For example, “Create a data entry form” or “Add project codes list”.

This makes it easier [...]

Filed under: Project Management, Time Management | No Comments »

It only takes one keystroke to create a chart from data in Excel.

Select a cell that contains the chart data or a heading.
On the keyboard, press the F11 key
A chart sheet is inserted, with a chart in the default chart type, as shown below.

a2a_linkname=”Create an Excel Chart with [...]

Filed under: Charts, Excel, Keyboard Shortcuts | 2 Comments »

While working in Excel 2003 (or earlier versions), you might open several files, to compare them, or copy and paste from one to another. When you’re finished with those files, you can quickly close all of them, and leave Excel open. (Note: This tip also works in Word)

On the keyboard, press the Shift key.
In Excel, [...]

Filed under: Excel, Toolbars | 1 Comment »

Throughout the day, I log in to several web sites that require a user name and password. I store them all in a list in an Excel workbook, but it’s tough to remember all of them, and easy to waste time guessing.
A couple of months ago a colleague recommended RoboForm, so I downloaded the trial [...]

Filed under: Internet, Passwords, Utilities | No Comments »