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Clearing Up the Confusion E-Zine Vol 04 Issue 03
------- Clearing Up the Confusion E-Zine -------
Vol 4, Issue 3
Lisa and Kaylie just got back from visiting her parents down in
Texas. They were there for less than a week, but I swear that
Kaylie changed so much in just that short time that it scared me a
little bit. Suddenly she's putting words together into
sentences, her clothes are getting too small for her, and her
gift of mimicry has really kicked in (I've *got* to get a video
of her singing "Do Re Mi" with the "Sound of Music" on TV).
One of the challenges we are having in our lives right now is
just keeping our schedules straight. Between each of us trying
to run our business, trips for vacation and work, and figuring in
child care, sometimes it's a challenge to get our free time to
synchronize. Don't even get me started on trying to plan
something with another couple!
Of course, we've all encountered challenges with scheduling.
With each additional person that you try to add to a gathering,
the difficulty of finding an acceptable time and date for the
meeting seems to double. Fortunately, there's a solution out
there on the Web -- the focus of the article for this issue.
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In This Issue...
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1. Article: A Time for Gathering
2. Blog Posts
3. Shameless Self-Promotion
4. The Fine Print
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1. Article: A Time for Gathering
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What's the excuse we all use for not getting together? Something
about "It's too hard to synchronize all our schedules"?
It's true. We are all busier than ever, so trying to get more
than two people together for a meeting can be an exercise in
frustration that would make Sisyphus blanch in horror. OK, so
maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit. Still it's annoying to try
to track everyone's schedule to find that perfect time that
everyone (or even most of everyone) can make it out for that
planning meeting.
As always seems to happen, when a problem arises, sooner or
later, someone on the Internet comes up with a solution. In this
case the solution is called Doodle (http://doodle.com/).
Doodle is a remarkably simple service which essentially does one
thing: It helps groups decide on a date and time for an event.
Here's how it works.
Go to the Doodle site. You don't even need to create an account
(though doing so will make it easier to go back to edit a
scheduling poll). Click on the "Schedule event" button and the
site will lead you through a simple four-step process to create
the time/date poll you need. You will specify the dates you want
to have considered and the particular time spans during those
days. At the end of the process you will have a URL which you
can send to your group which will allow them to connect to the
poll and indicate which dates and times will work best for them.
Couldn't be much easier.
After everyone has voted (or some time limit has passed -- that's
entirely up to you), you can find the time and date that will be
most acceptable to the most people and get it on everyone's
calendar.
The site is simple and does just this one thing, but it does it
so superlatively that I can't find any downsides to the
service. So, get busy and start planning those dinners, meetings,
and group basket-weaving competitions. You no longer have the
excuse that it's too difficult to schedule into everyone's
calendar.
Copyright 2010, Greg Peters
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2. Blog Posts
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Links to posts on the "The Reluctant Networker" Blog:
Monday, March 8, 2010 -- Simple Tools: The Tickler File
http://thereluctantnetworker.blogspot.com/2010/03/simple-tools-tickler-file.html
"One of the simplest and most effective tools you can create for
networking is a tickler file. If you don't have one, you are
making a lot of extra work for yourself..."
Thursday, March 4, 2010 -- Networking RSVPs
http://thereluctantnetworker.blogspot.com/2010/03/networking-rsvps.html
"I know that you already know about the etiquette of RSVPs, so
just pass this along to someone who needs to hear it..."
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3. Shameless Self-Promotion
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The "Clearing Up the Confusion" E-Zine is a production of Greg
Peters, owner, chief cook, and bottlewasher of Cyber Data
Solutions. CDS has been helping website designers develop better
web presence for their clients for more than a decade. Visit us
on the Web at www.cyberdatasolns.com to see how we can help your
webmaster.
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4. The Fine Print
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