How your private Facebook photos can end up on Twitter

It was widely reported yesterday that a Zuckerberg family photo shared only to friends on Facebook during the holidays went viral on Twitter. This originally angered Randi Zuckerberg, Mark Zuckerberg’s sister, who originally posted the photo to share with her Facebook friends. All is well after Zuckerberg photo flap but many bloggers and reporters are commenting on how ironic it is that even Facebook creators aren’t able to use the privacy settings correctly. But based on what I’ve read so far it sounds to me that she had the correct privacy settings: Friends only. The problem occurred when a friend of the family saw the family photo on a Facebook feed decided to share it on Twitter.

Rather than dwell on the irony, what I want to focus on in this post is how a private Facebook photo can end up on Twitter in the first place and what the proper etiquette is when sharing photos. We don’t want to discourage sharing photos. After all, that’s what social media is all about…sharing! But here are some tips to consider when posting or sharing private photos, videos or other content on Facebook.

I’ve enlisted the help of my friend and colleague, Bonnie Low-Kramen, 25-year assistant to Olympia Dukakis, author of “Be the Ultimate Assistant”, and co-founder of New York Celebrity Assistants.

We are friends on Facebook and I want to use a couple of her photos to use as examples on what to do and what not to do when posting photos. And while she has plenty of celebrity photos on her profile, out of respect for her and her celebrity friends, I’m going to focus on non-celebrity images that we’ve approved in advance to demonstrate how easy it is to share even the most basic photos with the world.

Let’s start by understanding how in the world does a photo on Facebook end up on Twitter, then learn how to determine a friend’s photo privacy setting and how to set our photo privacy. Then I’ll leave you with 4 tips for photo sharing on Facebook.

How a Facebook photo ends up on Twitter in the first place

Whether you are a celebrity or not, if you post photos on Facebook for your friends to see, it can still end up on Twitter, regardless of your privacy settings. Keep this in mind — you can download any image you see on Facebook. Let me repeat that. You can download any image on Facebook! That’s right. When viewing a friend’s photo, simply right-click the image and choose Save the image as… , give it a name and store it in your favorite Awesome pictures of friends folder. Then, just like any photo you would tweet, go to your Twitter account. Compose a Tweet and upload the image.

While I never recommend posting someone’s family photo on Twitter, I merely want to inform and educate well-intended friends.

See this in action!

In the video tutorial above, I demonstrate how I am able to go to Bonnie’s Facebook profile page and take one of her family photos and post it on Twitter. Again, while I never recommend posting someone’s family photo on Twitter, I merely want to inform and educate well-intended friends.

Here is the Twitter post seen in the video tutorial. Don’t they look adorable in front of Rockefeller Center?

Bonnie celebrating the holidays with her family. http://t.co/JQ3v3V6A

—
Vickie Sokol Evans (@redcapeco) December 27, 2012

How to respect your friends’ photo privacy

If you’re unsure whether a photo is shareable, first examine a photo’s privacy setting. Each photo on Facebook has a privacy icon that indicates how the photo is being shared, as seen in Bonnie’s family photo below.

The privacy icon that looks like a globe means that she has it set to public so that anyone can see the image. She doesn’t mind it being shared. However, because it is a family photo, out of respect, I would want to ask Bonnie for permission to share this image with my networks.

Next is a picture of Bonnie and me during one of our workshops. I found this image in my news feed. Notice the privacy icon. The “people profiles” icon indicates that it is not a public photo.

When you hover over the privacy icon, as seen below, a message appears with the actual privacy setting. In our example, Bonnie shared this with her friends and then once she tagged me, it opens up the visibility to my friends.

The privacy icon shows you how your friend intended to share the photo. It is up to you to decide if and how to share it. If there is any doubt – ASK! Ask your friend for permission to share the photo.  Take it from Randi Zuckerberg — it’s the right thing to do.

Digital etiquette: always ask permission before posting a friend's photo publicly. It's not about privacy settings, it's about human decency

—
Randi Zuckerberg (@randizuckerberg) December 26, 2012

How to set the privacy for your photos

When you upload a photo, you have the ability to set the privacy for the image. As seen in the screenshot below, click the privacy button to the left of the Post button and then select who should be able to view this photo. This now becomes your default privacy setting. Now every time you upload a photo, this privacy setting will be saved for any new photos from that point forward. When you need to change the privacy for a particular photo, use the privacy button to make the change. Note: this new setting now becomes the default for new photos from that point forward.

That’s how photo privacy works on Facebook. Hopefully, you’ll continue sharing great images, while at the same time maintaining a level of digital etiquette.

A word from author and former celebrity assistant Bonnie Low-Kramen

Before we go, I asked Bonnie —  who certainly understands the importance of maintaining a level of privacy for yourself and those in the public eye — to share a few words with us.

Social media privacy is very tricky stuff for celebrity assistants who try their best to protect their employers. Everyone with a smartphone has the ability to be a member of the paparazzi and to instantly share unauthorized images on Twitter and Facebook. Be very careful though. The Internet is forever.

My advice for my students is, before you press the “Post” button, give careful thought to whether it will cause a problem. How would you feel if that photo ended up on the front page of the NY Times? If you are ok with that, post away!

Great advice! Thank you, Bonnie.

A Special Thanks

Special thanks to Bonnie Low-Kramen for generously allowing me to use her profile for this valuable teaching moment. If you would like more information about Social Media privacy and other topics for professional assistants and their high-profile employers, join Bonnie and me for one of our two-day intensives in a city near you. Visit www.bonnielowkramen.com/workshops or my website at www.redcapeco.com/classes.aspx.

With that, we leave you with 4 photo privacy tips that can be used when posting and sharing anything on your social networks.

4 Facebook Photo Privacy Tips

• When posting photos, set the privacy setting for that post. The last privacy setting you used will be the default going forward.
• Before sharing a photo, review the privacy settings set by the person who originally posted the photo
• When in doubt, ask for permission to share a photo
• The number 1 tip for Facebook privacy – Don’t post anything on the Internet that you wouldn’t want posted on the front page of the New York Times

Bonnie and I would love to hear from you. What are your thoughts?

How’d they do that? Create a meeting agenda tool that calculates start and end times

As part of RedCape’s webinar series “How’d They Do That?” here is an example Excel tool that allows you to enter length (in minutes) when creating a meeting schedule to automatically calculate the start and end times for each speaker or topic, plus breaks. This is a great tool! Now let’s see how they did that. [Here's our final version: http://sdrv.ms/OEutz7]

Overall steps:

1. Create a new Excel file and set up the table
2. Create the calculation for end times
3. Fill in the start times
4. Insert the session lengths
5. Format the table
6. (Bonus) Add conditional formatting for breaks & lunch

Step by Step instructions

These are the step by step instructions using Excel 2010, but can be used in any version of Excel (PC or Mac).

Step 1 – Create a new Excel file and set up the table

1. Launch Excel to create a new workbook.
2. In cell B4 type Timeslice and hit [Tab]
   (note: you can change the column name if you prefer)
3. In cell C4 type Start and hit [Tab]
4. In cell D4 type End and hit [Tab]
5. In cell E4 type Length and hit [Tab]
6. In cell F4 type Session Name and hit [Enter], which brings the active cell to B5
7. In cell B5 type 1 and hit [Enter]
8. In cell B6 type 2 and hit [Enter]
9. Select both B5 and B6 and use autofill to fill the series to 11. (How to: Fill a series of numbers, dates, or other built-in series items)
10. In cell C5, type the start time 8:30 AM and hit [Tab] twice so that your active cell is E5.
11. In cell E5, type 20 and hit [Tab].
12. In cell F5, type Welcome and hit [Enter].
13. Select cell B4 (or any cell with data in it) and on the Home tab, in the Styles group, click Format as a Table and choose the very first option “Table Style Light 1″. Make sure “My table has headers” is checked and click Ok.

Step 2 – Create the calculation for end times

We are going to use the Time() function to add minutes. The Time() function allows us to specify hours, minutes, and seconds. Because we are working with minutes, we will use 0 for the hours, the Length column for the minutes, and 0 for the seconds.

1. In cell D5, type an equal sign (=) and then point to cell C5, which is the Start Time for row 5.

2. Type a plus sign (+) for adding.

3. Then begin typing Time(, which displays the autocomplete tip for the Time function.

4. Type 0 for the hours since we are only focused on minutes and then type a comma (,) to move to the minutes.

5. Type [Length] to use the value in the Length column and then type a comma (,) to move to the seconds.

6. Type 0) for seconds since we are only focused on minutes. Then hit [Tab].

Note: The function should look like this: =[@Start]+TIME(0,[Length],0)

7. Note: if you get number signs (######) in the cells it means that your column isn’t wide enough. Change the width of column D to see the End Times. Tip: Position the mouse pointer between column headers D and E so that your mouse turns into a double-headed arrow. Double-click and you should get the best fit for that column.

8. This is what your table should look like at this point. We haven’t filled in the Start times or the Length of the remaining session names.

Step 3 – Fill in the start times

The only start time you need is the very first one. Once the end time is calculated for each row, that end time can be used as the start time for the next row.

1. In cell C6, type an equal sign (=) and then click on cell D5, which is the end time for the previous line. Then hit [Enter].
2. Copy that calculation to the remaining Start time rows that are empty by using Autofill. Select C6 and position your mouse on the bottom right hand corner of the cell so that your mouse turns into a little black plus sign. Drag (using the black plus sign) down to the last row so that your table now looks like this:

Step 4 – Insert the session lengths

Now we’re ready to use our table to calculate the start and end times for our meeting.

1. Because we know what the structure of our meeting is, let’s first type our Session Names. Start in cell F6 and type the following:
   1. Speaker 1 and hit [Enter].
   2. AM Break [Enter]
   3. Speaker 2 [Enter]
   4. Panel [Enter]
   5. Lunch [Enter]
   6. Speaker 3 [Enter]
   7. PM Break [Enter]
   8. Speaker 4 [Enter]
   9. Speaker 5 [Enter]
   10. Closing Remarks [Enter]
2. Enter the times for each Session Name. Start in cell E6 for Speaker 1 and type the following:
   1. Type 70 and hit [Enter]
      Note: if you get number signs (######) in the cells it means that your column isn’t wide enough. Change the width of column C to see the Start Times. Tip: Position the mouse pointer between column headers C and D so that your mouse turns into a double-headed arrow. Double-click and you should get the best fit for that column.
   2. In cell E7 for the AM Break, type 20 and then hit [Enter]
   3. Fill in the times as seen in this example:

Step 4 – Format the table

There are a few things we can do to the table to make it look even better!

1. Let’s center align the Timeslice and Length columns. Hover your mouse over the Timeslice header (a little bit above the word “Timeslice”) until you see a black arrow point down. Once you see the black arrow, click once to select the column in that table. Then apply center alignment. Repeat for the Length column.
2. Add the total row
   1. Click anywhere in your table so that you see the Table Tools Design tab on your Ribbon. Click on the Design tab to activate the ribbon and view the table commands.
   2. In the Table Style Options group, click Total Row.
   3. In cell E16, type the following formula to calculate the total hours: =sum([Length])/60
   4. Format the total hours to include 2 decimals places: Select cell E16 and on the Home tab, in the Number group, click Increase Decimal twice.
   5. In cell F16, type Total Time. Your Table should look like this:

   

3. Style your table using one of the Built-in table styles
   1. Click in your table to display the Table Tools Design Tab ribbon. Click on the Design tab to activate the ribbon if it isn’t already showing.
   2. In the Table Styles group, explore the built-in table styles and select your preferred one. I used “Table Styles Medium 11″, which is green.
4. Let’s add a groovy arrow that points to the Length column so that when we use the tool in the future, we’ll know that we only have to update the Length column.
   1. On the Insert tab, in the Illustrations group, click the Shapes drop down.
   2. In the Block Arrows category, choose a block arrow pointing down.
   3. Draw the arrow above the Length column.
   4. (optional) use the Drawing Tools ribbon to format your new arrow (perhaps change the arrow using one of the many built-in Shape Styles).
   5. (optional) add another arrow pointing down at the Session Name column, which is another column you will modify.
   6. This is what the table looks like now (I did not do the optional steps d and e above):

Step 5 – BONUS STEP – Add conditional formatting to highlight rows for breaks & lunch

In our original example, the rows for AM / PM Breaks, as well as lunches, are highlighted grey. Rather than manually highlight those rows, let’s use conditional formatting to highlight any row where we have a break or lunch. This will save us a lot of time later when we’re drafting the schedule so that if we decide to move the breaks or lunch in the schedule, we won’t have to worry about removing the shading.

8/31/12 Blog Update: Thanks to Seth Hart at the Texas Workforce Commission who submitted a more efficient method for setting up conditional formatting for breaks. See below step #4 for details.

1. Create a yellow highlight for the rows if the Session Name = “AM Break”

1. Select cells B5 throughF15.
2. On the Home tab, in the Styles group, click Conditional Formatting and select New Rule…
3. From the Select a Rule Type section, select Use a formula
4. to determine which cells to format.
5. Under Format values where this formula is true, type =$F5=”AM Break” (with the quotes)
6. Click the Format button to launch the Format Cells dialog box.
7. Click the Fill tab and choose the bright yellow color from the color palette.
8. Click Ok to close the Format Cells dialog box.
9. Click Ok to close Conditional Formatting. Row 3 should now be highlighted yellow like this:

10. To test the conditional formatting, change a couple of the Session Names to AM Breakand the other rows should highlight as seen in the screenshot below.IMPORTANT: Be sure to change them back to their original Session Names and proceed to the next steps to create the remaining conditional formats for PM Break, Lunch and one for Break, just in case you use just the word “Break”.

2. Create a yellow highlight for the rows if the Session Name = “PM Break”

1. Select cells B5 throughF15.
2. On the Home tab, in the Styles group, click Conditional Formatting and select New Rule…
3. From the Select a Rule Type section, select Use a formula to determine which cells to format.
4. Under Format values where this formula is true, type =$F5=”PM Break” (with the quotes)
5. Click the Format button to launch the Format Cells dialog box.
6. Click the Fill tab and choose the bright yellow color from the color palette.
7. Click Ok to close the Format Cells dialog box.
8. Click Ok to close Conditional Formatting. Row 8 should now be highlighted yellow like this:

3. Create a yellow highlight for the rows if the Session Name = “Lunch”

1. Select cells B5 throughF15.
2. On the Home tab, in the Styles group, click Conditional Formatting and select New Rule…
3. From the Select a Rule Type section, select Use a formula to determine which cells to format.
4. Under Format values where this formula is true, type =$F5=”Lunch” (with the quotes)
5. Click the Format button to launch the Format Cells dialog box.
6. Click the Fill tab and choose the bright yellow color from the color palette.
7. Click Ok to close the Format Cells dialog box.
8. Click Ok to close Conditional Formatting. Row 8 should now be highlighted yellow like this:

4. (Optional) Create a yellow highlight for the rows if the Session Name = “Break”
The conditional formatting will only work if you use the exact terms AM Break, PM Break or Lunch. What if you type “Break” as the session name? Try this on your own! Create a new conditional format so that the row gets highlighted yellow if the Session Name is “Break”.

8/31/12 Blog Update – Here are the instructions on how to find any instance of the word “Break” in the Session Name and apply conditional formatting. This will eliminate the need to create three individual rules for AM Break, PM Break, and Break. Anytime the word “break” is in the name, let’s apply conditional formatting.

The rule is: =IsNumber(Search(“break”,$F5))

The Search() function returns a number value representing the character position of the word “break”. If it doesn’t find it, then it returns #Value, which is NOT a number. The IsNumber() function then returns the true or false value that we need to apply the conditional format. Brilliant!

We had lots of submissions during our webinar. Thank you to Seth Hart at the Texas Workforce Commission for submitting this one. Readers: if you have another suggestion, please leave a comment below. I’d love to see what else is out there.

Optional Step – Remove Gridlines

Whenever I create calculated tools like this, I like to remove the gridlines in the background. To do this, on the View tab, in the Show group, click Gridlines to deselect it.

This is what my final schedule looks like and here is the link to my final version: http://sdrv.ms/OEutz7. You are more than welcome to use it for your next meeting.

Submit your comments

Have a question or an idea on how to make the steps above even easier? Submit your feedback below.

Also, if you have a Microsoft Office tool or template that you would like us to feature in our How’d They Do That series, send your request to me at vsevans at redcapeco dot com.

Thanks for reading!! Until next time…

How to create name badges using mail merge in Word 2010

Question from one of our superhero customers: How do you handle your name badges for larger group events?  I’ve learned we use Excel and mail merge into Word, but it takes me 2 hours to format and adjust, then re-adjust, then I have to manually copy and paste the logo onto the label, which takes more time to format because it then messes up the formatting I’ve just done.    There has to be a smarter way.  Any ideas?

RedCape Answer: If your list of attendees is stored in Excel, you can use the mail merge feature in Word 2010 to quickly and easily create name tags. The trick is to set up one name tag the way you want it and use the “Update Labels” command to create the remaining labels.

Check out the video here:

Microsoft Outlook: Manage another person’s mail and calendar items

When you have to manage or access your manager’s email or calendar or… if you are the manager and you need your assistant to access your mail and calendar, there is a two step process. First, the manager must add the assistant as a delegate. Second, the assistant must then open the manager’s mail box or calendar from within Outlook. The instructions for setting this up are a little bit different depending on what version of Outlook you’re using. Hopefully, pulling all the Office.com links here in one handy dandy list will benefit you.

Outlook 2010

• Manager’s Instructions (2010)
• Delegate’s Instructions (2010)

Outlook 2007

• Manager’s Instructions (2007)
• Delegate’s Instructions (2007)

Outlook 2003

• Manager’s Instructions (2003)
• Delegate’s Instructions (2003)

Question for the community

How to set the delegate option so that only the delegate receives meeting request “responses”, yet the manager can still receive meeting requests?

I’m currently researching whether or not the delegate setting can be configured for an executive who (a) wants to see meeting requests that come in but (b) he does NOT want to see responses for meetings that he or his executive assistant has set up. We only want the assistant to see the responses. There is an option in the Outlook Delegate window (seen below in Outlook 2010), that allows only the delegate to receive meeting responses, but notice that it says “Deliver meeting requests addressed to me and responses to meeting requests where I am the organizer to:”. If we set this option to My delegates only, then the executive won’t have the ability to respond to meeting requests addressed to him. Any thoughts or solutions?

Constant Contact’s “Get Down to Business” Event across Texas – celebrating Small Business Week

This is Small Business Week and I am honored to be a guest speaker during Constant Contact’s 2^nd Annual Get Down to Business event happening across Texas. We visited San Antonio yesterday, May 15^th and we’ll be in Dallas this Friday, May 18^th and in Austin next week on Wednesday, May 23^rd. Below are all of the links, resources and recommended events mentioned during my presentation which covered the essential technology features every small business and nonprofit should know.

Download a pdf copy of the slides I presented.

Download the handout with a summary of all 100 Tips if you did not get a copy at the event.

This relates to tip #13. When you need help finding old commands in the new ribbon interface, don’t waste another second. Access one of the cool interactive guides to tell you exactly where your favorite commands are in the new applications. But remember… don’t tell your enemies!

Office 2010 Interactive Guides

Office 2007 Interactive Guides

Want to see the tips demonstrated online? Go to our calendar page on our website http://www.redcapeco.com and click the link on the right hand side for the 45 Tips in 45 Minutes replay or launch it directly from here.

Get step by step instructions for all 100 tips to keep within reach. Go to www.redcapeco.com/tips.aspx to purchase 100 Tips in 100 Minutes.
The Student Guide includes support for Office 2003, Office 2007 and Office 2010.

Are you a Mac? Register for 45 Tips in 45 Minutes using Office 2011 for Mac FREE webinar on Thursday, Jun 28, 2012. Even if you can’t attend, register so that you will receive the webinar replay.

Have a Microsoft Office question for PC or Mac? Get free answers from certified trainers on our Facebook page. Like our page and simply post your question and one of our certified instructors will respond.

Want more training on Word Styles? Attend one of our upcoming PC webinars in June. Stay tuned! The Excel Tables deep dive is coming in July.

Join our list to receive updates on new classes and webinars! Be sure to add your city and state to receive information about live events in your area.

Contact Wilene Dunn at 877-814-6413 or wdunn@redcapeco.com to get information about bringing RedCape to your group or office. We’d love to see you in person and create a training event specifically for you.

Whew! I think I got everything. If not, I’ll update this post with any new stuff.

Thanks for attending Constant Contact’s 2^nd Annual Get Down to Business. See you soon!

Cheers,

Vickie

How to tell if a Word document is styled

When you need an easy way to tell if a document is styled, you can turn on the Styles Area Width in your document. There are two steps in viewing the Styles Area:

1. View your document in Draft view
2. Turn on the Styles Area

Step 1- View your document in Draft view

The default view in Word 2007 and 2010 is Print Layout view. You want to change your view to Draft view.

Go to the View tab, Document Views group and choose Draft.

Step 2 – Turn on the Styles Area

To turn on the Styles Area you need to update your Options.

In Word 2007, go to the Office Button and click Word Options. In Word 2010, go to the File tab and click Word Options. Once you in the Options dialog box, click the Advanced category on the left. Scroll halfway down to find the Display category. Then change the Styles Area Width from 0 to something like 1, as in 1″. You can always resize it later.

Once you have the Styles Area turned on, you can easily view what styles are currently applied to the document:

Free Microsoft Office Training – from Microsoft

Microsoft has some very useful training covering the most current versions of Office. Whether you want to brush up on your computer skills to learn the latest technology or need to prepare for a job interview & assessment, you’ll definitely want to check out these amazing resources for both PC and Mac.

On-Demand Training for PC and Mac

Download and learn on your own schedule!

All Microsoft Office Training for PC
	Access, Excel, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, Project, SharePoint, SharePoint Workspace, Visio, word and more
	Access, Communicator, Excel, Live Meeting, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, Project, SharePoint, Visio, and Word
	Access, Excel, FrontPage, Outlook, and PowerPoint

All Microsoft Office for Mac Training
	Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Word
	Making the switch from PC to Mac

Microsoft Webcasts for Office (PC)

Microsoft has a website dedicated to webcasts, podcasts and virtual labs. I applied the filters for Office and sessions that are suitable for business users.

Note: If you see the word “More”, be sure to click that link (as seen in the screenshot below) to view all the upcoming and available events (live and recorded).

Microsoft Office YouTube Channel

Another source for free training is Microsoft’s YouTube channel. They have over 500 videos and counting!

If you have a favorite resource for free training, I’d love to hear about it. I’m always on the lookout for great training!

And don’t forget to visit RedCape’s event page for our popular Tips in Minutes free webinar and other live, instructor-led training specifically for Executive and Personal Assistants.

“To the cloud!”

Have you seen this commercial?

As a small business owner managing a virtual team, I love this concept.

But how does it work? What exactly are they using to go to the cloud? Check out this recorded webinar I presented in May 2011, where we analyzed the commercial and navigated Microsoft’s cloud offering, Office 365, using real-world scenarios that demonstrate the ability of cloud computing and how it interacts with familiar tools like Microsoft Office.

Let me know what you think of the session. If you are an Office 365 subscriber, I’d love to hear about your experience moving “to the cloud.”

Oh, and of course, stay tuned for more Office 365 webinars and classes. Join our mailing list for our event schedule and Office 365 offers.

Train the Trainer: Mistakes are gifts

Earlier this year I graduated from ColdTowne Theater’s Improv Conservatory in Austin, Texas. I’m definitely a fan of improv comedy but most importantly, I’m an advocate of improv training for professionals and teams – and especially trainers.

Improv Fantasy League Competition Aug 2010

Of all the professional development training and train the trainer classes I’ve taken as a Microsoft Certified Trainer, my improv training has by far been the most valuable by:

• becoming a better listener – instead of just hearing what students tell me, I’m more focused and engaged;
• improving my memory – I use student experiences that have been shared with the class to reinforce learning and make it applicable to the group as a whole;
• seeing patterns – I can combine what seems like unrelated items into logical patterns to help illustrate certain ideas;
• being highly adaptable and flexible – projector doesn’t work? No problem. Everyone remain calm. Open your books to page 5 and begin reading the lesson while I go find another one;
• creating a supportive environment – whether students are shy or domineering, the goal is for everyone to succeed and my improv background allows me to use each unique group dynamic to create a supportive environment where students feel confident while learning;
• feeling comfortable in any setting – presentation-style vs. classroom style vs webinar style vs hey-let’s-have-a-class-right-here-right-now style; and
• being more confident & engaging – I’ve become more fearless as a presenter, which in turn gives students confidence in the class and what they are learning.

BUT the most important lesson…

…I’ve learned from improv is that mistakes are gifts. It’s what makes life interesting. Think about the mistakes you’ve made in the past – big or small – that put you where you are today. What about the mistakes that happen every day, like that left turn you missed or the file you spent hours on that you forgot to save and now have to retype? During the time you took to fix the mistake you may have discovered new shortcuts in the process…in both scenarios.

We learn more when we make mistakes and what better time to make mistakes than in the classroom. Additionally, when things go wrong in class it makes for a more  interesting session for both the students and you – as long as it doesn’t make you flustered. But that’s where your improv training comes in. You’re ready for anything.

Training Tip

As part of your intro and after you’ve outlined the objectives, tell students that you encourage them to make mistakes in class. Even go as far as telling them to break the software – if you’re teaching technology, that is. Then when someone encounters something that goes wrong use that as a teaching moment. Whenever possible, have the entire class troubleshoot the issue rather than you tell them the solution.

My goal in class: Never strive for everything to be perfect because that certainly isn’t real life – at least mine anyway.

-Vickie

Interested in improv?

Many improv theaters across the country offer free Improv 101 workshops once a month. I encourage you to try one out. Read this recent blog post where a colleague of mine took a class despite almost chickening out. Can you relate to her experience? Be sure to leave a comment on her blog if you do.

If you need help finding an improv workshop near you, let me know. I’m happy to assist you.

Do you live Austin?

Check out the free Improv 101 workshop the first Monday of the month. Tell them I sent you. Oh, and let me know when you’re going. I’ll join you!!

PS. I want to give a shout out to the other schools where I studied improv: UCB New York and Four Day Weekend in Ft. Worth, TX.

View sample Excel tips from “45 Tips in 45 Minutes” webinar

Click image to view sample tips