Get Organized!: School Leadership Briefing Follow-Up

Friday, February 01, 2013

School Leadership Briefing Follow-Up

Welcome to those who are subscribers to the School Leadership Briefing. This post is especially for you. If you are not a subscriber, that's OK; the segment I recorded is being made available to all readers of this blog. Listen to my talk on "Five Free Tech Tools to Help You Get Organized."

Toodledo
Toodledo is a powerful web-based to-do list. It works with PC or Mac. Apps are available allowing you to sync any of your mobile devices to Toodledo. I recently composed a 6-part series on Toodledo. You can read Part 1 here.

igHome

igHome is a personalized homepage. It is the perfect tool for those who use iGoogle and are looking for a replace when iGoogle ceases to exist on November 1. On February 11, my post will explain igHome. By that time, you may already have your igHome page established.

Dropbox
Put anything in Dropbox and retrieve it on any of your computers, mobile devices, or any computer in the world with Internet access. I composed an e-book to guide you through a strategy for using Dropbox.Click on the cover to download.

Click on the cover to download the free Dropbox E-Book

Evernote

Evernote is a great place to store and organize commonly-accessed information. The information is then available on any of your computers, mobile devices, or any computer in the world with Internet access. On February 4, my post will talk about the notebooks I suggest you create when you get started with Evernote.

Voice Input
This area is becoming a major player in the world of smartphones. Everyone has seen the commercials advertising Siri. In the audio segment, we examine using voice input to get "to-dos" into your system, specifically getting them into your email so that when you handle your email, you are handling the voice notes (now transcribed to text) as well. To set up a reQall account, go to reQall.com/app.

For Vlingo, go to the site where you download apps for your smartphone and search for Vlingo. Recently, Vlingo for Android has been replaced with a program called "Dragon Mobile Assistant." Currently, Dragon will not allow you to email by voice, functionality that is necessary to get those random thoughts into your system. The app promises this functionality will be there soon.

Each of these 5 tools represents a major player in my productivity arsenal. They help me quickly access the information I need when I need it. Thanks for listening to the School Leadership Briefing segment. Feel free to leave a comment or ask a question.

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Comments from Workshops

This morning when I returned to the office I did my first ever drag and drop to my calendar on Outlook - wahoo! The tickler file will come next week!

One of the most informative sessions I have been to in 5 years.

I saw your presentation at the ASCD conference in New Orleans and was blown away. Please send me your monthly email essays

Practical down to earth user-friendly content. Excellent!

One of my professional goals is to be more organized and to manage time more effectively. This hit the target.

Thank you. These are tools I can and will use! WHEW!

Practical, down-to-earth user-friendly content. Excellent!

Dr. Buck did a great job. I learned LOTS of things about Outlook that I did not know.

Where have you been all my life? This is a great idea! Thank you so very much.

FANTASTIC! One of the best I’ve been to! I could have stayed longer.

I was in your organization session yesterday. It was excellent. Came back to work today and set up my tickler file! I also moved all my messy (and vague) to-do lists into my iCal program and synced it to my Blackberry. Progress!!! Thanks for a very clear and applicable session. I'm excited to keep making the ideas come to life for me!!

Awesome ideas to get my life on track. Thank you so much!

You changed my life!

Great workshop. Fabulously well informed and entertaining presenter who shared his knowledge in a readily understandable format. Helpful handout. Thank you – well worth the trip from Ottawa.

I really loved the presentation!! Dr. Buck very thorough and entertaining. Great, practical ideas and the Faculty Club was a great setting! Well done!!

Great presenter. Was very informative, practical info to apply right away.

I loved this seminar!! Very, very well presented. Clear, logical, Dr. Buck was enthusiastic and witty. Very practical information that I will put to use immediately.

As a new administrator, I found this workshop to be extremely helpful. I got affirmation on some of the things I was already doing and many great new ideas! Thank you. Would definitely recommend to others. Frank Buck provided many ideas that will make my job as an administrator 10 times easier.

This might very well be some of the most useful, timely and necessary professional learning I've done in years. Thank you!

Excellent presentation.
Dr. Frank Buck is friendly, interesting, and knowledgeable. Well done! This seminar was amazing.

I will put it unequivocally: yours is the first workshop for professional development I have been to that has had a daily effect on lowering my stress levels and being more aware of the things I need to do on a daily basis. I cannot thank you enough. Everyday is now easier knowing I know where my day is going and not worrying over where everything is. The simplicity is almost embarrassing – how come I never thought to do this 10 years ago? My answer to that is that we sometimes don’t realize that a slightly more open mind can reap benefits we didn’t imagine possible. Thank you again. I waited about 6 months to let you know, but this only proves that I’m walking proof your techniques work long term.