The Virtual Meeting Coach

I don’t know about you, but when I tuned in to watch the ball drop at Times Square and I saw “2010″ show up and start flashing, I had a feeling I’ve never had before.

It was really something to see “2010″ because it’s a whole new kind of number than 1980 or 1999 or even 2000 or 2009. I don’t know how to describe the difference for me except to say that I hadn’t imagined living in a time when the date looked like that. Maybe you know what I mean…

So, we’re really not in Kansas anymore. We’ve actually entered the SECOND decade of the 21st Century. And, by the looks of things right now, it’s going to be a challenging time for all of us. We’re going to need new ideas, new strategies, new blood, and new tools to move ahead with grace in this undeniably “globalized” information economy.

As you contemplate the road ahead, it’s OK not to be a maestro of virtual meetings. It’s totally OK not to even feel very comfortable participating in them! It’s even OK not to put some attention on uncovering ways you could use virtual meetings to help your clients’, your customers’, and your suppliers’ lives easier using virtual meeting technologies.

Oh, what’s that? You’d like to? Well, go right ahead, that’s OK, too.

And, while you’re at it, if you’re local (meaning within a 50 mile radius of Ashland, Oregon), you might want to take advantage of a live, hands-on workshop I’m offering that will take you from zero to 100 using your netbook or laptop to work from anywhere with ease, confidence, and competence – even if you’ve never used a mobile computer. Yes, you, too, can be working from coffee shops (and using WIFI to meet with your clients around the globe in virtual meeting rooms) in just 4 weeks. Yes, you read that right – in 4 weeks.

In just 4 weeks, you can change your experience of computing from feeling isolated, frustrated, confused – and much more expen$ive than you would like – to using a cheap netbook or laptop to work quickly and easily, and have a lot more fun working MOBILY than you ever imagined. What’s more, making that 4 week investment, you will be equipping yourself to work independently and cheaply for many years to come.

I’ve got just 5 seats left in “Up, Up and Away,” and I would love to have you in one of them. You can read more about the workshop in the brochure below. The next session begins January 18th, here in Ashland, and runs 4 consecutive weeks from 3-5pm upstairs at the Rogue Metaphysical Library.

It’s OK not to enjoy computing and it’s also OK to take time this month to pick up the essential skills and attitudes you need to use an inexpensive netbook or laptop and FREE online software to make your way forward in this brave new world of 2010…and beyond.

If you want more information than the brochure provides – or you want to discuss a “partial cash” offer with me – feel free to phone me at 541-488-7942 this week. I mean it: there are only 5 seats left. Want me to put your name on one of them today?

Up Up and Away Trifold Brochure

A Report From the Field

This fall, I piloted a 4-week, face-to-face, hands-on Cloud Computing course for seniors and aging Baby Boomers who aren’t yet ready to call ourselves “Seniors”

I call the course, “Up, Up and Away,” and I promise to take people who are frustrated with their desktop computing experiences from hair-pulling to happy smiles and thicker wallets in just four weeks using a cheap mobile computer and Cloud apps. The first folks who signed up were my neighbors in the Mountain Meadows Community in Ashland, Oregon. In four weeks, participants made faster strides than even I had anticipated!

I took their performance as affirmation of three things:

1) The course design is sound and provides a useful scaffold for people who want to create a whole new relationship to computing to do so in just 4 weeks
2) Seniors can and do learn new tricks a whole lot faster than people might give them credit for
3) Mobile computers and Web 2.0 Cloud apps are going to change all of our lives – not just the lives of young people!

The photos above were made on Friday the 13th when a big crowd turned out for the Mountain Meadows‘ November “Friday Forum” to hear me talk about the way I look at new opportunities for seniors who willing to invest in cheap laptops or netbooks and learn to use free Cloud apps. New online ways to engage in lifetime learning, telehealth options, telemedicine options, meaningful online community participation, inexpensive (or free) connection to family members and other caregivers – wherever they are! And so much more… My deepest thanks to Cindy Earle and Hunter Hill for the photos!

I’m just crazy about my neighbors at Mountain Meadows! They’re all so smart! And they’ve moved into this community to manage their lives in new ways while they “Age in Place.” Coming to live among them has been a life-changing experience for me, personally. As a group, they’re deeply committed both to their own lifetime learning and to maintaining healthy, active relationships with the people they care about – here and across the globe! So, over the next 6 months or more, I’m going to be taking groups of 12 of them “up in the Cloud,” using “Up, Up and Away” as the vehicle. If the first group’s success was any indication of what’s to come for Mountain Meadows, this community will soon be setting a national standard for active, senior communities using the internet, social media, and virtual meeting technologies to optimize resources for “Aging in Place.”

I’m excited about “Up, Up and Away!”! And I’m looking for opportunities to offer it locally while I also finish a train-the-trainer program so that people who would like to can offer it in your areas.

I very much want to share my introductory talk, “Computer Frustrate Me – Why Should I Care About Them?” with churches, clubs, professional groups and at professional conferences several times a month during December, January and February and on into 2010. But I don’t know how to do this without investing lots of time or money on marketing.

Got any ideas?