Home Archives for Blogging
December 22, 2010 Leave a Comment

I Picked Up a New Tip Today – Filtering Your Excel Data

Yesterday, I posted an Excel Video Lesson on how to Filter your data. I focused on taking advantage of the Date Filters, Text Filters, and Number Filters introduced in Excel 2007. Today, in my email inbox, I received a great tip from Chandoo – whose tag line is “Become Awesome in Excel.”

Chandoo’s Tip – which I did not know – is to Right Mouse Click on any cell in your Excel Data Set and choose Filter – Filter by Selected Cell’s Value. As Chandoo points out, this only works in Excel 2007 and higher versions. I already use this tip in Microsoft Acces. In fact it is one of the Video Tips that I share on my DVD-ROM, “The 50 Best Tips for Access 2007.” So why didn’t I know that this would work the same way in Excel 2007? Because, I needed someone to point this out to me. Thank you Chandoo!

For me, the take-away point is to continue to explore other resources to learn from other expert users. Each – e.g. Mr. Excel – Bill Jelen; Mr. Spreadsheet – John Walkenbach, etc.) – has their own perspective on Excel. Each presents a topic in a slightly different manner. Each day is an opportunity to expand my knowledge base.

I also picked up another tip from Chandoo’s post – use the Ctrl + Shift + L Keyboard Shortcut to automatically add the Filter Drop Down Buttons to your Field Header Labels. I will use this tip on a regular basis. Now, I do not have to pick up the mouse to go to the Data Tab on the Ribbon and select Filter.

If you are using Excel 2007 and higher, note that you can also use this tip (rightmouse click in a cell) to filter by the selected cell’s Icon, Font Color and Cell Background Color. Data Visualization is one of the really great improvements introduced in Excel 2007. Click here to go to my video lesson on Data Visualization.

Tip from Chandoo
Chandoo’s Tip

I recommend that you check out Chandoo’s Excel Blog by clicking on this link. You can click on the RSS Button – or go to http://feeds2.feedburner.com/PointyHairedDilbert directly to start receiving Chandoo’s Excel tips delivered automatically to your e-mail Inbox.

 
And, by the way, you can receive my new posts automatically by going to http://feeds.feedburner.com/DannyRocks which is my RSS feed on Feedburner.
 
I have now added Chandoo’s site to my Blogroll – so just click on the link whenever you visit The Company Rocks website.
 
Let me know if you have a special tip or a favorite website or blog that you want to share with our readers. Add your comment below.
Learn how to “Master Excel in Minutes – Not Months!”
Link to this post!
Filed Under: Data Filters and Queries, Excel Data Tables and Lists, Excel Training Tagged: , , , , , , ,
April 11, 2008 Leave a Comment

5 Great Tips to Improve Your Writing

Click hereto read a really useful article by Simon Payn, “Five Lessons From Newspapers to Boost Your Blog’s Circulation.”

Don’t be put off by the title. You don’t have to be a blogger to benefit from these 5 tips.

Do you write memos? Read the article.

Do you give presentations? Read the article.

If you want to improve your writing skills or presentation skills, you will get great tips on:

  1. Brevity – What if you had to cut your article or presentation by 50%?
  2. A Strong Opening – Capture your audience’s attention at the start.
  3. Use Headlines – Readers like to skim. Give them a road-map.
  4. Visuals. Get the most out of them.
  5. Accuracy. Check your facts, check your spelling, check your links.

Please share some of your favorite tips. What articles have helped to improve your communications?

Link to this post!
Filed Under: Business Communications, Business Practices, Communications, Speeches Tagged: , , ,
April 6, 2008 Leave a Comment

Put it in Writing

“Love. Fall in love and stay in love. Write only what you love, and love what you write. The key word is love. You have to get up in the morning and write something you love, something to live for.”

– Ray Bradbury

I am frequently asked, “Why do you blog? Isn’t that a lot of work. Who reads your blog?”

Seth Godin posed another question on his blog last year, “If no one reads your post, does it exist?”

Good questions. Here is how I respond:

  1. Why do you blog? For several reasons, but the primary one is that it helps me to reach clarity. Thinking about a topic is interesting. Writing out my thoughts is commitment. The writing process demands that I edit my thoughts. I am not just writing to amuse myself. I am writing to learn more about the topic – and also about myself in the process.  And I write to share my thoughts and insights with my readers.
  2. Isn’t that a lot of work? Yes.
  3. Who reads your blog? I can’t tell you by name. Some people write to tell me that they enjoy my blog. Others do so when we meet. Looking at my reports, I can at least see which articles are read the most and which search words people used to find my blog. And, obviously you – if you are reading this now. I’d like to know why you read this blog and what you like or don’t like.
  4. If no one reads your post, does it exist? Yes, of course. And it is never lost thanks to the indexing power of Google, etc. That is one of the benefits of blogging – accessible information. Found, when you need to or want to find it.
Link to this post!
Filed Under: Business Communications, Communications Tagged: , ,
April 1, 2008 Leave a Comment

Business Blogging 101

I found an interesting article on the Business Week website: “Social Media Will Change Your Business.” (click here to read the complete article)

This is why I found it interesting:

  1. The article was originally printed (yes, old media) in the May, 2005 version of Business Week Magazine.
  2. It was also published on-line. The editors say that they continue to see this article downloaded by thousands of visitors.
  3. The article is now fully “annotated” with updates, corrections and extensions to the original article.
  4. For me, this reveals the true promise of electronic publishing. No longer can we say, “It is set in type.” Dead media comes alive!

For anyone interested in a quick, informative introduction to the world of “Social Media” – and how it may impact your business, your products and your customers – this is your starting point.

If you enjoy the article, share it with your friends. And… tell our readers what you think. Add your comments below.

Link to this post!
Filed Under: Business Communications, Communications, Main Page, Marketing Tagged: , , , , , ,