10 Reasons Why an iPad is Good for Your Business
by Dmitri Tcherevik, CEO MightyMeeting
We all know that iPad is an amazing media and entertainment device. Turns out, it is also an excellent business tool. I got mine when it first came out and have been using it daily ever since. Here are a few reasons why I like it.
It is always on
My email, documents, contacts, web, and maps are always just a few touches away. There is no boot time, wake up time, connect to the network time, check for an update time, or any other nonsense that stands between me and action.
It is always connected
This is huge. With the 3G model, which is the only model that makes sense for a pro, the web is always there. If you want Wi-Fi, you can get it for free at places like Starbucks, hotels, and major airports. 3G is also good for most business uses. I was able to do VOIP calls with slide sharing over 3G from my iPad while sitting at a gas station in the middle of nowhere.
It is location aware.
“Starbucks” is my favorite search in Maps when I travel. It is the best place to get fully awake and online, and with the GPS and Maps on my iPad I can always find one. In San Francisco or New York I use it all the time to plan a route to a meeting.
It is compact.
The seats and trays on airplanes are not getting any bigger. Using a laptop to type anything when flying was always a struggle. I even had one of them broken when the passenger in front of me reclined without warning. Now I do all my typing on the iPad: emails, blog entries, even spreadsheets.
It is lightweight.
4 pounds does not sound like much to carry around, but you can really feel that laptop at the end of a long day on the road, with the back or neck pain that follows. iPad, on the other hand, is not much heavier than an average book. Get yourself iBooks, leave the book at home, and take the iPad.
It is secure.
My emails are safe even if my iPad is lost or stolen. The device can only be unlocked with a passcode, and since the device is always connected, there is no need to store any truly sensitive stuff on the iPad. Google Docs for the iPad are excellent.
It is an excellent sales tool.
Being an entrepreneur, I am always pitching. I am pitching in meeting rooms, coffee shops, lecture halls, airports, other peoples’ homes, restaurants, and places not typically used for pitching. My lips are always moving, and I can always show folks a slide deck on my iPad, which is better than a 1000 words.
It is a powerful computer.
OK, pitching is only part of what I do. I also manage a farm of servers. When a server slows down, my phone beeps. I turn on my iPad, launch an app, and can immediately troubleshoot a problem. With remote desktop I can access any of my Linux, Windows, or Mac servers.
It speaks many languages.
My company is a micro-multinational. Our employees and partners speak many languages. The lack of a physical keyboard on my iPad is a blessing. I can easily display any number of national keyboards on the screen and reply to an email in English, or Russian, or any other language in my New Year’s resolution list. Goodbye keyboard stickers.
It's awesome.
After all is said and done, the true reason why I really like my iPad are the summer nights when my son and I can take a walk outside, point it at the sky, and have it speak the names of the far away stars and galaxies. Try that with your father’s laptop.
Apps That Make Business Travel Easy
By Amanda Haddaway
Pack your bags because your boss is sending you on a trip! Don’t panic – we’re here to help you get ready with our top five travel app suggestions.
#1 TripIt
The first step to a successful business trip is getting organized. TripIt can help.
This free iPhone app is part personal assistant and part travel organizer. For type A travelers, this is the app you’ve been waiting for to keep you on schedule while on the road. Once you download the app and set up an account, you’re ready to email travel itineraries to plans@tripit.com. The emailed information is then attached to your account. The app is able to “read” and “understand” itineraries from airlines, rental car companies, hotels and restaurants.
In fact, TripIt works with more than 3,000 travel-related sites. A complete list is available on their website. The app is able to distinguish between multiple trips based on the dates provided in the travel documents. This app is an indispensable resource for the busy traveler.
If you find that your business travel takes you abroad, don’t be left out of the conversation!
Google Translate is a valuable tool to help you understand the locals. As a self-professed Google Girl, I have come to love all things Google. Their Google Translate app doesn’t disappoint with its ability to translate text between 57 languages.
In addition to text translation, the app also accepts voice commands for 15 of the languages, so that users don’t have to type the words and phrases they wish to translate into another language. Verbal pronunciation of the words and phrases are available for 23 languages. Phonetic translations are available for languages that use characters rather than letters (Chinese and Japanese, for example).
If using this app abroad, users should be advised that they will need network or Wi-Fi access in order for Google Translate to work.
#3 Jot!Free
In the age of mobile offices and professionals on the go, Jot! Free may just be the app that you’ve been longing for. Its clean design is easy to navigate and allows users to save and e-mail their images for later reference.
The iPad app by Tabula Rasa opens with a blank canvas, or electronic whiteboard, that allows the user to select four different colored “markers” to sketch out the same ideas that would go on a traditional whiteboard in an office or conference room.
Users also have the ability to tap with two fingers and create a text box. By pressing down on the screen, the user is able to move text and graphics around on the whiteboard.This feature alone makes the app far superior to the messy erasing and recreating required with a traditional whiteboard. An electronic eraser allows users to remove part or all of their sketch.
Once a sketch is complete, it can be saved to the Photos app on the iPad or e-mailed as a JPG image. JPG files are very versatile and can be imported into most programs for future usage.
#4 SnapDat
If you find that your business trip will include some networking events, SnapDat will make connecting a breeze.
The makers of SnapDat, a mobile contact sharing application, think that traditional, paper business cards are a thing of the past because they’ve created an iPhone application that allows users to design and send digital business cards directly from their phones. The app is very simple to use.
Download the free app, enter your contact information, select a business card design or upload your own and you’re all set. Users can also create multiple cards for various business and personal endeavors. You can even add a profile picture and your social media contact information if you’re so inclined.
Select the SnapPort to receive business cards from other users. Their data is stored in the internal SnapDirectory and also synced with your iPhone contacts. Once you receive another user’s card, you can “SnapBack” and select a card to send back to the person.
#5 GasBuddy
If the boss asks you to do some business travel in a car, make sure you’re able to save the company a buck or two on fuel by using GasBuddy. After launching the app, allow access to your current location.
By doing this, the app is able to pull gas price data from nearby stations. The data is reported by other users in your area, but appears to be pretty up-to-date. GasBuddy asks if you have an account on their companion website GasBuddy.com, but this isn’t necessary to use the app.
Users can access the gas station data even if they are logged in as a guest. Addresses are provided for the gas stations, but maps and directions are also available for users who need some additional information. Prices are provided for regular, mid-grade, premium and diesel, where applicable. GasBuddy provides a list of the other services provided at the gas station. For example, if a gas station is open 24 hours per day or has an ATM it is noted in the station profile.
Bonus App MightyMeeting
It would be remiss to blog on the MightyMeeting website without a brief mention of this app! Take your presentations on the road with MightyMeeting and say goodbye to lugging along your heavy laptop. This app allows users to upload PowerPoint files and have access to them remotely. Simply set-up a free account, email the presentation (less than 25MB) and almost instantly your presentation will be available for access through the app. You can share the presentation through your own iPhone or iPad or invite users to participate from their own devices or computers. MightyMeeting is the answer to quick, easy and painless presentations on the fly. Happy travels and don’t forget to pack your iPhone and iPad!
Amanda Haddaway is a human resources and marketing professional by day and freelance writer by night. She writes a weekly app review column for Want2Dish.com. To learn more about Amanda or connect with her, please visit www.amandahaddaway.com or connect with her on Twitter.
How to create a complex graphic for your presentation
Guest post by: Gwen Ackley, Creative Director, CGI Interactive Communications
So you’re writing a presentation for an important meeting that is approaching much more quickly than you’d like. Your ideas are brilliant, the content is flowing and all is good. And then it happens.
You hit that slide that needs to clearly show your offering, how it works and the benefits it can provide. Suddenly a single slide looks much too small. Don’t panic. When you break down how to think about the concept, it is much easier to arrive at an impactful visual.
Step (1) Outline the core speaking points. To arrive at this list, I would recommend pitching the message to a co-worker and asking them to tell you what they understood. This allows you to refine your message and re-emphasize the points that were weak.
Once you’re confident you have the right balance of detail without getting to granular, you’re ready to sketch out some ideas. At this point you’re looking at a lot of words and wondering, how do I turn this into a visual? For this step, look at relationships between the message points. For example, is there a hierarchal relationship at play, or is there a flow of information that outlines a process. Start to draw lines connecting these relationships.
Step (2) For this example, we know our graphic needs to communicate a solution as the central engine for internal and external enterprise communications. This solution allows administrators to set up protocols for automatically handling certain types of communication without sacrificing speed and security.
As shown in this next graphic, we’ve taken the connections we aligned earlier in our notes and blocked in the components we need when we speak to this message. By distilling the message into key words, we now have the core elements needed for our graphic.
Step (3) When it comes to orienting your graphic, you have a few options, vertical, horizontal, diagonal, and perspective. We’re assuming this presentation will be given in North America where people read from left to right, so we’ll orient our graphic horizontally.
Our agency specializes in design, so it was easy for us to create this artwork. But if you don’t have design training, you can take advantage of the many affordable online stock resources. They often come with families of icons that fall into the same style. This will help you pull together a cohesive graphic and give it a professional appearance.
Step (4) Now that your graphic is taking shape; test it out with the co-worker who graciously listened to your preliminary pitch. Is the essence of the message on target? Do the text and icons reflect the right message? If not, what needs to be refined? How does the style look? Does it make your graphic too busy thereby confusing the message?
Now is the time to make these adjustments. In our example, we decided to make some small changes by condensing the message for the user activities, enhancing the color, and reorienting the icons and callout areas. This helped simplify the graphic while still promoting the solution benefits. We also added stronger lines to indicate flow through the engine.
Step (5) For the last step I recommend that you put the graphic away for a day, then look at it with a fresh perspective. In our example, what we noticed that the graphic was good, but it could be even stronger if we enhanced the interaction through the solution engine. To achieve this we applied a simple color change and applied arrow heads to the delivery end. This adjustment enhances the interaction through the solution engine as the uploaded files are quarantined, stored/archived, or sent.
So the next time you’re looking at a blank slide, take some deep breaths, then dig in. By taking it step by step, you’ll be able to pull together a pretty amazing graphic that will impress your audience.
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Gwen Ackley has 20 years of award winning experience in the field of visual design.Gwen’s professional history spans 13 years of international and national exhibit design, and 7 years theatrical and interactive design. CGI Interactive Communications serves as a business communications agency specializing in the design and development of online marketing tools which can include interactive Flash design and video solutions, PowerPoint presentation services, and Internet marketing tools & web services.