Upcoming Technology Training

Next month I will be presenting Playing it Safe in the Digital Age. We will explore strategies to protect your program and discuss policies to help make your digital world more secure. I'm pleased we were able to partner with the YWCA of Rockford and Illinois Department of Human Services. This hands on training only costs $45 and you get lunch! How great is that.
Click Here to find out more and register.

After your final status update

The possibilities and implications for the future are mind blowing. Watch this short TED video:

One Stop Social

If you are anything like me you belong to lots of different social media sites. Facebook, Twitter, Quora, Vimeo, Youtube, Ustream, LinkedIn just to name a few. Ever wonder how you can share all of these sites with friends, co-workers and people who might be interested in your media? A personal social media landing page is the way to do it. Below I will show you three examples that I use.

Presenting One Stop Social

First up is Flavors.me:

Easy to set up and use, Flavors has nice options and if you want to pay you can have a custom URL. You can view mine at http://flavors.me/gioarroyo.

Second is About.me

I like a lot of the layout options on About.me, it is actually where I set up my first social media landing page. I also like the url, it makes "sense". My page http://about.me/giovanni.arroyo

Last up is a new one, Infostripe.com

You can tell by the format that Infostripe is a little different. It is actually a mobile friendly landing page. It has a lot of options and is a little more difficult to set up, but still very easy and they provide you with a QR code to use on the bottom of your page. With smartphones becoming the norm, I'll spend the few minutes setting up a landing page for one. Check out my page http://infostripe.com/garroyo.

As you can see these are just a few of the options. My suggestion is to set up one of the first two, either Flavors.me or About.me first to see how you like their format. Then move on to Infostripe.com. Ideally you will have at least two of the three (Flavors or About + Infostripe) then share them as you find the need.

Links:
Flavors.me
About.me
Infostripe.com

Xoom Backpack

After carrying my Xoom around the mall following my wife shopping today I decided I needed a carrying device for it. We stopped at Walmart at one point and I found this mini backpack. It fits the xoom in its sleeve perfectly. I now got a way to haul this thing around. Oh and it only cost $9.

Week one with the Xoom

Last week I purchased my first tablet. No it wasn't an Ipad, but I did consider one. Last Friday I walked into my local Costco and a few minutes later walked out with a WiFi Motorola Xoom. This isn't my first attempt at having a portable computer that was not a laptop. I've also owned two different Sony ultra portables. While good the battery life and working with a mouse or stylus never went well. Anyway on to the xoom.
Things I like:
Battery Life
SwiftKey Beta
Pulse Newsreader
Flash
Instant on computing

Things I don't like.:
Not a lot of apps
Force closes
My daughter wanting to play Angry Birds

I overall satisfied with the entire tablet experience. Android Honeycomb is a great Os. I think it will really grow to be the best operating system for this type of device. I really see a lot of potential for learning and teaching on this platform. As I explore the uses more I will definitely keep you updated.

It is nice being able to post right from the web without using an app.

Webinar 6/3

I love trying new things especially when its related to technology. Luckily my job affords me the opportunity, and on June 3rd I will presenting my first webinar with Kara. The topic is "Facebook as a Marketing Tool for Early Childhood Programs".

Click the link to find out more: Facebook as a Marketing Tool for Early Childhood Programs

Playing it Safe in the Digital Age Prezi

Training 3/18

Had fun presenting Playing it Safe in the Digital Age!

Participants were lively and engaged. Everything went better than expected.

Gonna be doing it again on 3/24 at Parkland College in Champaign and 4/1 in the Dekalb Area.

I'll post up my Prezi after the last date. It should be finished by then. :)

Streamlining your Social Networks

Below is a short screencast I created for our staff. It provides an overview of Tweetdeck and how I use it to make my social media work easier. I used Camtasia Studio 7 to create and edit the video.

Don't dump your old computer! Make it run like new for Free

I get frustrated when people complain about the speed of their home computer. Especially when I find out that most are using them primary for web browsing, picture viewing and sharing. This post is about a simple way you can "upgrade" that old computer and put it to good use without spending any money. I'm not going to cover all the reasons why your computer is running poorly in the first place. Thats for a different post.





Dump Windows! I know it may sound scary to get rid of Microsoft and all the programs you have grown used to. There are some great alternatives that are Free.


The main thing slowing your old computer down is the operating system.
Try out Ubuntu, it is easy to install and is mostly plug and play for common laptops and desktops. It also runs extremely well on older hardware.

Check out the "Why Use Ubuntu" site

A few of cool things about Ubuntu.
-No virus
-Special lightweight version specifically designed for netbooks and older laptops
-Did I mention its free?
-You can install it on a CD/DVD or jump drive and give it a trial before you install


I use Ubuntu as my operating system of choice. It is really well written so older computers and laptops tend to run better than they did when new years ago.

So what about the other stuff on my computer?
Well you can run Google's Chrome browser to get rid of Internet Explorer, GIMP to replace Photoshop, and Open Office to replace Microsoft Office. All of the alternatives are free as well and can be installed from inside Ubuntu easily.

So there you have it. Save that old computer. You will be surprised how a little investment in time will open your eyes to a new computing experience.

Head over to Ubuntu.com to find out more!

5 Powerpoint Presentation Tips

Below are some thoughts I have about using PowerPoint. As most of you know I am not shy about sharing my dislike of PowerPoint. It is the most widely used presentation tool, and that may be part of the reason why I find more people misusing and otherwise abusing it.

5. It's the content that matters! Never forget the reason you are presenting. Its to provide information, sell, or convince. The content of your presentation is the most important part. PowerPoint can only help or hinder that content delivery.

4. Don't stress colors and font choices. A lot of people way to much time concerned with the colors and fonts of their slides. Make a choice and stick with it. Spend more time practicing your presentation so you are not worrying about your speech.

3. Use the least amount of text possible. Let's face it, we have all seen presenters who read their slides to you. No one wants to read 30 slides filled with only bullet points. First off most of your audience cannot focus on what your saying and read text at the same time. Secondly all text slides are boring to view, if your going to do that it would be best to give our handouts spare yourself the time. There is a need for text, just

2. Mix things up. On the same theme as not using text. Try using different types of media. PowerPoint lets you embed video, sound, photos and graphics. Use that ability to break up your presentation. Using video and images will help bring your audiences focus back to you. Try not to overdue it, 15 minutes of video during a 20 minute presentation is probably too much.

1. Don't use PowerPoint. There are many alternatives to PowerPoint. Why don't you try something different so your presentation doesn't look like everyone else's. Prezi is my favorite right now, but just the fact your not using PowerPoint may be enough to differentiate yourself from other presenters. Below is a little example of a Prezi that I put together for a little short discussion at our staff meeting.

Camtasia Relay

Got a chance to be part of our Camtasia relay trial here at the university. Made a little video for our upcoming e-news late last night.
Camtasia Relay Trial Video

I'm not sure if I like it much more than the free version of jing and posting on Screencast.com. I think for the short videos I'm gonna stick with Jing. I am planning on doing a trail of Camtasia at some point because I would like to have more editing ability especially with longer videos.

Example of Jing w/ Screencast

Prezi Cheat Sheet

Prezi Cheat Sheet

Quick Tip

Talking to some of our staff I realized that they didn't know an easy browser shortcut.
If you would like to quickly zoom in on a web page press the "ctrl" key and the "=" key at the same time. If you would like to zoom out "ctrl" and "-".
This helps a lot when text or an item is difficult to see when browsing. Easy right.bv