Happy Holidays from all of us at Computer Magic Training!
We wish you all a joyous celebration and precious time with family and friends in this magical holiday season. Thank you for your business and support this year – we value and appreciate your partnership and the opportunity to be of service to you.

Open House – Friday, January 16th, 11:30 am – 6:00 pm … You’re Invited!
We’ll be celebrating our 11th year in business, and the launch of our new Professional Development classes! Please join us for our Open House with free training seminars, exciting speakers, great food and beverages, and interesting networking opportunities with other training professionals.

Join in our free Microsoft Office Tips & Tricks (2003 and 2007) seminars, interspersed with Professional Development seminars, which will be running all afternoon in our classrooms starting at 12:00 noon until 5:30 pm.

Don’t miss our Special Guest Speakers:

1:30 pm – Rita Duncan, Director of Human Resources, Tyco Thermal Controls – giving you great advice on successfully applying for and winning State of California Employment Training Panel (ETP) grants to reimburse your employee training costs.

3:30 pm – Ed Correia, President & CEO, Sagacent Technologies, Inc. – sharing his tech-guru knowledge on how to prevent technology nightmares in your corporate training rooms.

Improve Business Productivity
“…Here's a sure-fire way to improve business productivity and cut IT support costs: make sure you and your staff know how to use office software and operating systems properly…”

In an on-line article by Vikki Bland, “Why IT Training and Support Makes Business Sense”, the author states “…One of the biggest needs is for better training in the use of Microsoft Outlook -- if people don't know how to properly manage their inboxes, how to set up rules, how to use tasks and other features, time-management benefits are lost…” For more business improvement suggestions, view the complete article at http://www.nzbusiness.co.nz/afa.asp?idWebPage=13579&idAdrenalin_Articles=800&SID=76506384

Our I.T. Support Team - Sagacent Technologies
With the help of Sagacent Technologies, Computer Magic has been able to focus more time on our clients, instead of trying to resolve IT issues or worrying about network downtime. Thank you, Ed Correia and your team of technical gurus! Sagacent Technologies mentioned Computer Magic Training in their November newsletter. Sagacent’s newsletter also highlighted the Youth Science Institute, a non-profit organization that provides science education to 30,000 children in our area. YSI is a great organization that seriously needs some financial assistance right now; if you are interested, go to http://www.ysi-ca.org/.

Computer Tips & Tricks
Our instructor Maria offers a great follow up to last month’s Office 2007 Tips & Tricks. Here are two additional tips for customizing the Office 2007 Quick Access Toolbar:

1. Once you find a command that you frequently use on one of the various Ribbons, just right-click on that icon button and select “Add to Quick Access Toolbar”. Voila! Quick and Easy!!! You now have a shortcut to that command on the Quick Access Toolbar.



2. And, if you use this tip a lot, the Quick Access Toolbar will quickly fill up with shortcut icons. So you may wish to have the Quick Access Toolbar display below the Ribbon where there is more room to display these shortcut buttons. To do this, simply click on the last button on the Quick Access Toolbar which is the “Customize Quick Access Toolbar” button and select “Show Below the Ribbon”.

MURPHY’S MANNERS
POLISHING YOUR PROFESSIONAL IMAGE

Dear Murphy,
What should I wear to the company holiday party? It’s an evening event at a posh hotel. I know there was some gossip last year about one employee whose neckline really plunged. On the other hand, I don’t want to look prudish.

Dear Anti-Plunge, Anti-Prude,
Plunging necklines look great in Hollywood, but not at the company party. Sexy is not for the office and it’s not for the office party. Dress to look pretty and seasonally appropriate. The little black dress always works, or if you prefer, a pants suit with a silk or metallic top is festive. If you don’t want to spend a lot of money, you can dress up an outfit with a pretty evening purse or colorful beads and earrings. And by the way, leave the four-inch red stilettos at home. Again, too sexy for office events, not to mention how your poor tootsies will feel after a couple of hours of mingling on foot.

Dear Murphy,
I do a lot of air travel in my business. It makes the time go by faster if you can chat with your neighbor. Why are some people so grumpy when you try to have a conversation?

Dear Chatty,
Many business travelers use airplane time to get some work done, decompress, or catch up on sleep. A little small talk is always appropriate, but watch carefully for the response you get. If the person doesn’t appear eager to talk, give your fellow traveler some private time.

Find out in January who “Murphy” is … Stay tuned!

Give the Gift of Learning
Do you know someone who would enjoy Murphy’s Manners or Computer Tips & Tricks? Give them a gift. Let us know and we will sign them up to receive our free monthly newsletter. Also let us know if you’re interested in giving a Holiday Gift Certificate for training classes to your colleagues or loved ones.

Why Use Computer Magic Training?

Our students say it best …

“Outstanding instructor and an excellent communicator.” — Jesus M. in MS Project 2007 Level 2

Course content “was very thorough and informative. Better than expected.” — Dave I. in Excel 2003 Level 2

“Excellent reference material. … The instructor was very patient and easy going. Makes everyone feel comfortable.” — Ed O. in MS Project 2003 Level

“Amazing! Gave us an opportunity to address topics as our questions allowed. Great Class.” — Rochelle A. in Excel 2003 Level 1

Please Note: We will be out of the office for the holidays starting December 24th and returning on January 2nd.

Happy Holidays from Computer Magic Training!

Let us empower you and your employees to achieve success in your professional goals and increase your productivity with individual or group classes of the highest quality! Please call us at (408) 261-2600 or email us at sharon@computermagictraining.com. Or visit us at www.computermagictraining.com for more information & on-line registration!