Wednesday March 26, 2008 by Hal → Articles
This will be an occasional topic as I try to share how adapted certain technologies to automate (and simplify) my life.
For years I sought technological answers to remembering things, and keeping important information safe, and especially not writing something down twice - I hate that.
Today I want to tout GSpace - one of the coolest ‘toys’ I found lately.
I have a GMail account - so do millions of people - which I only used for GTalk (IM) and as an alternative email address.
But at the bottom of my inbox it always said “You are using 5MB of your 6559MB available”.
Now don’t misunderstand - I have a wonderful account at Joyent where I have lots of storage. Buy why not take advantage of Google’s generosity?
I realize there are security issues with Google - so I don’t mean I’m going to store my important things but backup some photos and videos I shot with my digital camera.
So today I discover GSpace, a Firefox (or ick IE) extension that gives you a file explorer window in your browser that allows you to easily copy files to your GMail account.
It literally took about 10 seconds to download and install the ‘widget’ - and I am copying files as I type.
So take advantage of that free storage space - GSpace makes it easy!
Sunday August 19, 2007 by Hal → Weblog
Those who know me well know me to be a confirmed geek. I’ll let that sentence stand for itself.
One of my favorite sites is Lifehacker where they review all kinds of “life hacks”.
They recently ran a call for individuals to document their “Go Bag”; that is, the tote that they take out the door with them.
I participated and mine was reviewed - my 0.15 seconds of fame!
You can see how I travel and work here.
Saturday January 27, 2007 by Hal → Weblog
I have always been a big fan of “Mind Mapping”; the concept of doodling your thoughts graphically and watching for interconnections that appear. I’ve used it for brainstorming and note-taking for many years.
Originally put forth by Tony Buzan, mind mapping can be found as a computer application at FreeMind.
FreeMind provides a standalone application for your PC.
But today I found Bubble.us, which is a free “Web 2.0-ish” mindmapping tool that works in your browser.
I’m going to play with it some more but thought some might want to check it out for themselves.
Monday September 11, 2006 by Hal → Weblog
One of the articles I’ve written that has garnered the most response is my simple guide to writing and giving speeches.
Here is a question from a reader concerning how to teach others to give speeches.
Hi Hal
I am about to start coaching some young people in my team (a small administration team in a bank) on how to give speeches. Their roles are somewhat mundane and I think helping them improve their speech-making ability will keep them more engaged at work plus give them something to put on their resumes.
I saw your ‘Simple guide to writing (and giving) a speech’ on the net and I think it is a really good model for an inexperienced person to follow to prepare a speech.
I’m personally confident at speaking now (after many years of being terrified) but I’ve never really taught others how to do it.
I was just wondering if you have any quick tips on dos and don’ts in coaching people to speak better or if you know of any exercises that you have found to be useful?
Thanks for your time — Paul
And I reply:
Paul -
Thanks for your note - I’ll try to give you a “grab bag” of ideas; if any appeal to you feel free.
First, the goal should be to get them talking; not to have you talk TO them. Try some confidence building exercises. Have them tell a story one sentence at a time; have the first person start by saying “once upon a time” and then move around the group each person adding to the story by one sentence. Go through several rounds. This will get them to loosen up and feel more comfortable in the group.
Get them to build a speech outline in the same fashion. You throw out a topic and have them create an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. Coach them if their ideas don’t fit the right part of the speech process. Feel free to use my article to help them.
If they have ‘stage fright’ have them read prepared paragraphs (from a book or magazine) facing away from the group; then have them read the same paragraph facing the group.
After they’ve prepared their own brief speech have them read it aloud as fast as they can, then have them gradually slow it down - this does two things, first they’re going to go too fast at first anyway so forcing them to read fast will emphasize how this DOESN’T work. Having them gradually slow down will cause them to gain some confidence through repetition.
Once they’ve made a speech to your group; invite one or two other people in so that they get used to speaking to others. Finally, if this becomes something you want to expand or continue, consider starting a Toastmasters group at the bank.
Best wishes,
Hal Warfield
Friday June 23, 2006 by Hal → Weblog
I’m always trying to find metaphors, illustrations and allegories for the size of the Universe — both great and small. As I think I’ve blogged before, on a scale from smallest subatomic particle to the complete Universe, a human being is about halfway.
Which means that looking out at the cosmos (in your imagination), is the same as an electron “looking” at you!
But today’s mind-blower is this illustration of the relationship between a proton (subatomic particle in the center of an atom) and it’s electron (subatomic particle ‘orbiting’ the proton).
The Site is Here
In this illustration you’ll see a blue sphere representing the proton that is 1000 pixels across — to reach the electron which is ONE pixel across you’ll have to scroll to the right the equivalent of 11 MILES!
Makes the mind boggle doesn’t it? Everything that seems solid is made up of mostly empty space. Meditate on that for a while!
Saturday March 25, 2006 by Hal → Articles
As some of you know, I’m the highly introverted (INFP) who is also a Sales and Marketing director for a company that sells both nationally and internationally.
So, this tells us that I really, really, really dislike sales prospecting — at least in the stereotypical ‘pick up the phone and cold call’ ‘sales hunter’ way. I’m always looking for ways to find prospects in unorthodox ways.
One of these is spelled out in my article Cold Calling for Introverts where I detail a means of using the phone that won’t cause an introvert to want to lie down and die.
I found another one yesterday — it’s called Google Alerts and, as with most Google tools, it’s simple to understand and use.
In a nutshell (“look, I’m in a nutshell!”), you add some relevant search terms, tell it how often you’d want to be alerted and enter your email address. Poof! A Google-formatted email appears in your inbox full of relevant goodness!
Now, you may be saying, “Thank God Almighty! I see the light!” and others may be saying “So?”.
Let’s give some examples. Let’s say you work in state and local government sales in water purification. You depend on RFPs (Requests for Proposals) so in the Google Alert box enter government, RFP, water, purification — from that moment you will receive everything Google finds that references those terms.
Or if you sell large equipment to transportation companies, create an alert with the words heavy, equipment, fortune 500 or whatever makes sense to you.
Be careful not to fill the alert with too many words or you may miss opportunities because you’ve been overly specific. Keep it general — it may be better to create more than one alert that covers different aspects of your field and customers.
Now you may get immediate gratification and you may not — but it’s a lot quicker and easier than hunting for these manually. Let me know how this works for you by commenting or email me.