AEmeritus Relevant Training

Learning Times

I first joined Learning TimesLearning Times in May 2005 while still working on certification course in Australia. The site was listed as background reading. Although I was attracted to the idea of delivering training online, -- and I was in an online course! -- the readings were a little wide afield from the direction of the Cert IV course on Training and Assessment which was geared to train for classroom or face-to-face delivery.

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Learning Times has established itself as the leading producer of online educational conferences. Whether you conduct a completely online conference, expand the reach of a face-to-face event with online participation, or provide year-round community interaction in connection with an annual event -- LearningTimes is the right partner.

I've found myself on the periphery of this network many times in my research on eLearning. Like KnowPlace, LearningTimes has become a leading portal for developing new ideas on how to train and deliver knowledge online.

You have a good idea for a business?

Getting Started
You have a good idea for a business - Great!!

Having a good idea is the first step to starting a business. This is the easy part. But if you want to have a successful business, there are many other things to consider and plan.

Are you financially ready? Is your business idea suitable for a home base? Why do you want to go into business and are your reasons sound?

Manuals for MSProject

Thumbing through the Project 98 manual, I found a page illustrating PERT charts, and had to laugh. How many times in my professional journey had I come across that diagram or some permutation?

I'd been called upon a few times to lead teams and plan projects, I first discovered PERT charts in some background reading on Project Management. I was fascinated with the idea for a while. Then one manager at Xerox tried to plan out a network problem with Post-It notes and string. -- That's got to be the best definiition of spaghetti every stuck to a wall!
Xerox headquarters in Dallas was an old warehouse that had been converted into offices. The people were great: intense and talented, but everywhere you turned led to some dark corner. Finally wandering out into the bright Texas sun could leave you gasping and staring for 10 minutes!

Using PERT diagrams by themselves to plan a project is just like that. They're useful as an interim step in the beginning, or to explain dependencies in a snapshot for someone, but without a timeline (-- which means spreading out across a couple of walls with miles of string for a realistic project) PERT charts lose their appeal quickly.
Ergo, the GANTT charts are what Project depends on in later versions.

I thought about taking the training to become a Project Manager a couple of times. Usually the demands of work or budget prevented me. Besides, I was already doing the work.

April 25, 2003 at HP, Cupertino

Future Trends in Corporate eLearning - A Leap Ahead

Join us for a panel discussion by corporate elearning professionals on trends in technology, learning, corporate culture and business environment and related global and government policies.
The panel discussion--with participation by Peg Maddocks of Cisco, Tom Hill of HP, Jerry Neece (formerly with Sun) and perhaps with brief "remote appearance" by one or two futurists/analysts--will be followed by breaking the group in workgroups and looking at the panelist visions, plus the groups own perspective, and presenting those trend perspectives to the group as a whole.

Post-meeting Summary

Please bear with us as we prepare the summaries. This session was light on slides and heavy on talk, and we each have many pages of notes.       

10 Things that Sound Dirty at Thanksgiving

10. "Talk about a huge breast!" 9. "It's a little dry, do you still want to eat it?" 8. "Don't play with your meat." 7. "Just spread the legs open & stuff it in." 6. "I didn't expect everyone to come at once!" 5. "You still have a little bit on your chin." 4. "How long will it take after you stick it in?" 3. "You'll know it's ready when it pops up." 2. "That's the biggest one I've ever seen!"   1. "How long do I beat it before it's ready?"

A Busy Few Weeks

It's been a busy few weeks, and not just in my life. I've done an emergency website that went predictably: from a quick can-you-just-get-me-something-up to a touchy when-or-will-we-be-paid-for-this because the clients kept adding content as they saw and thought about what they wanted (read: needed). -- Can we say "scope creep" three times?
Then when the website was looking about finished, the friend bribed me with food to come help him move his furniture. It felt pretty good to get all sweaty and stuff.

I wrote a quick book taking Internet marketing from the grand old days when search engines were the rage to the new world of blogs, RSS, and beyond. Predictably, the reviews were great. However, it didn't accomplish its purpose of putting a whole project on the same page. I went mumbling off, frustrated.

RSS has come a long way since being the playtoy of financial institutions and other active traders trying to keep up with the latest in commodity, inventory and stock prices; and another of the obscure "MLs" -- SGML, OPML, XML and all its variants with the accompanying XLSTs, and HTML. How did CSS not end up being an "ML"? I suppose it's because of XLST's.

Powerpoint

One ugly night, a few of us from a course at Chisholm gathered for a brainstorming session that turned into just a good get together. The storm raged outside while we enjoyed kicking around a few ideas and just chatting.

One of the younger guys brought his new tech setup -- computer, multifunction mobile phone, and all the trappings -- to show it off despite the weather. I got onto the subject of how Flash could be used with Powerpoint in voiceover on a website or even a CD handout, and someone said they just couldn't figure out Powerpoint.
I don't blame them. Can you imagine the Gettysburg Address if Lincoln had to use Powerpoint? (If you can't, click on the link.)

--Paul

Gather ‘round for the best of the Weblogs, Inc. network

Originally posted Nov 12, 2005, 6:00 AM ET by Weblogs, Inc. Staff

The Weblogs, Inc. network features over 100 independent, unfiltered bloggers producing over 1,000 blog posts a week across over 75 industry-leading blogs. Each week we ask our bloggers to choose their top posts, which we bring to you in one easy-to-read weekly post. You’ll find links to the hottest posts from the past week after the jump including an Engadget Meetup on the west coast, a way to get a free plasma screen in politics, and even a full day in Prague. Enjoy!

A crazy idea? Read on...

   

exerpt from The Crazy Idea of Using Blogs for Business posted by Rok Hrastnik in           Various Marketing Ramblings

"Crazy idea, using blogs for marketing. In fact, how many of you were surprised when businesses went towards corporate blogs? Well, the simple logic of these investments is now getting clearer day by day.

Of course blogs are very much like the traditional "mouth to mouth marketing", but faster and easier to reach, available 24 hours per day, giving thought-leaders even more power to influence people around the world.

But there's more to it than this. As comScore Networks just reported this week, bloggers have a wonderful audience. There are about 50 million of them in America representing about 30 percent of the total U.S. Internet population. And they are, in comparison to the average Internet user, significantly more likely to live in wealthier households, be younger and connect to the Web on high-speed connections. Pretty impressive. Blog readers also visit nearly twice as many websites as the Internet average, and they are much more likely to shop online. So, do not wonder why any more, use them to your advantage."

When I decided to develop AEmeritus using a blog in July 2005, only an estimated 6-9% of the Internet population was blogging. There were no success stories about marketing using blogs; and many of the blogging applications available today didn't exist.
I made the decision because I knew that I was still learning about the online learning industry. Rather than make a grand pretense of knowing everything there was to know, I chose a means to document my journey. At this point, the choice seems to have been a good one.

It's not only my journey, of course, but the journey of this whole nascent industry. Who will emerge as the visionaries and leaders are still to be determined. Technology is still catching up with the vision. At the same time, the new technologies are startling.

Another great mind gone

(from Church of the Customer) Of all those who have waded into the waters of understanding, theorizing and explaining the nature of business, Peter Drucker was the greatest. The Mt. Rushmore of management theory.

My two favorite Drucker aphorisms:

* "The purpose of a business is to create a customer."
* "Business has only two basic functions: marketing and innovation."

Peter Drucker, a Pioneer in Social and Management Theory, is Dead at 95.

I've read a half dozen books by Drucker throughout my career. Usually fascinated by his assertive style of writing borne of a career as an executive in one difficult business after another. Drucker was an odd sort of humanist who believed that everyone needed a goal in life. His writings were maligned in the 70s, revered in the 80s, and forgotten in the 90s.
As so many of the great minds of the last century pass, you have to wonder who will take their places?

--Paul