The Invisible Mentor

Posts Tagged ‘Google’

I frequently talk about mentoring occurring in moments, and this was evident at mediabistro’s Socialize Toronto conference last Friday. Profound conversations can take place over seconds and minutes. By watching conference attendees you could tell by the look on their faces that it was worth their time to attend the conference. People were not shy about asking questions, and they were interacting with each other during the breaks. You could feel the upbeat energy in the room. People who had only known each other online, now had the opportunity to talk offline.

Jim Hedger shared some great Search Engine Optimization tips with me during a two-minute conversation. Though it was a short time, I felt that I was mentored during that time. It was great to discover that conferences are great places to not only meet people and learn, but are also great for people to be mentored in sound bites.

In the EdgeRank (Facebook) vs. PageRank (Google) session, a tidbit that stuck with me is that when you think of Facebook, it’s the place to ask questions, and for Google, the place you find answers – that’s how you build engagement. That short answer by one of the panellists opened up a whole new world for me.

A Few Mentoring Moments at Socialize Toronto

1. When writing, think AIDA: Attention-Interest-Desire-Action (attract Attention, arouse Interest, stimulate Desire and present a call to Action).
2. Videos that go viral appeal to body, mind and spirit.
3. There is a button on your Google+ page that allows you to pull in YouTube videos into your updates.
4. Anayltics for Twitter – Edelman TweetLevel, and Twitalyzer
5. To find a schedule of Twitter Chats https://bitly.com/bundles/kmullett/4
6. For more engaging stories, move from one-way storytelling to dynamic storytelling.

There were lots of tips at Socialize Toronto, but the biggest highlight of the conference for me was learning about 40 Inventive Principles. The reason I found 40 Inventive Principles to be so fascinating is it’s another tool to help us to be more creative, and to solve problems more creatively. Just reading through some of the examples given for each principle will give you ideas on ways to change the way you do work. For me, that was another mentoring in moments.

Examples of 40 Inventive Principles

“Principle 1. Segmentation

• Divide an object into independent parts.

• Replace mainframe computer by personal computers.
• Replace a large truck by a truck and trailer.
• Use a work breakdown structure for a large project.

Principle 4. Asymmetry

• Change the shape of an object from symmetrical to asymmetrical.

• Asymmetrical mixing vessels or asymmetrical vanes in symmetrical vessels improve mixing (cement trucks, cake mixers, blenders).
• Put a flat spot on a cylindrical shaft to attach a knob securely.

Principle 6. Universality

• Make a part or object perform multiple functions; eliminate the need for other parts.

• Handle of a toothbrush contains toothpaste
• Child’s car safety seat converts to a stroller

Principle 17. Another dimension

1. To move an object in two- or three-dimensional space.
• Infrared computer mouse moves in space, instead of on a surface, for presentations.
• Five-axis cutting tool can be positioned where needed.

Principle 22. “Blessing in disguise” or “Turn Lemons into Lemonade”

• Use harmful factors (particularly, harmful effects of the environment or surroundings) to achieve a positive effect.

• Use waste heat to generate electric power.
• Recycle waste (scrap) material from one process as raw materials for another.”

I am sure that if you looked at the complete list of principles, you will find a few that resonate with you. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

Recently I attended a workshop titled Going Beyond Google offered by SCIP (Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals) led by Sean Campbell of Cascade Insights. We have become so dependent on Google that we seldom look elsewhere to find information. This webinar was a great reminder to me about the hidden web, and I picked up some great tips that I’d like to share.

SlideShare

Have you ever thought of Slideshare as a research tool? I must admit I never did until Campbell mentioned it in his presentation. And it makes perfect sense because there are so many companies that have uploaded presentations to slideshare.net about virtually any topic you can think of. Imagine all the company data that you could mine from companies that you are interested in. This could also be a great job search to discover if you really want to work for a particular company based on the information you pick up from their presentations. Slideshare is a great place to start a search.

Archive.org

This site allows you to view the past history of a company’s web presence. I typed in my company’s URL and discovered that it had been crawled over 100 times since 2000, and I saw some of the designs that I had forgotten about. Imagine all the company data you can mine from a company you are interested in, information they have taken down but you can still access. Companies had information that they longer make public on their websites today.

If you conduct a lot of research and are looking for resources other than Google that are free or inexpensive, Sean Campbell and Scott Swigart have a book, Going Beyond Google: Gathering Internet Intelligence that may be of use to you.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

When you think of ING DIRECT, you think of that bank without branches and tellers. But did you know that in Toronto ING DIRECT offers a collaborative workspace at the corner of Shuter and Yonge Street in downtown Toronto? The ING Direct Downtown Cafe is very open, orange in colour with free wireless internet service. The space offers high tech facilities for entrepreneurs to come together and share ideas.

I got a tour of the facilities at 221 Yonge Street and I was very impressed. As someone who works from a home office I could see myself having a client meeting there. You can rent a workspace for $20 a day or $100 a month and there are two small offices where you can have meetings with about five people to each room. There is also an open area which sits about 40 people. The place is fully equipped with the latest technology and you can have presentations there.

There is also a cafe that serves fairly traded coffee and organic food. Every day, whatever food is left over, the ING Direct staff delivers it to shelters so that the food is not wasted. And they also swing by the offices of Google, not too far away, and other places nearby to collect their perishable food as well.

ING DIRECT is also working with local businesses helping to promote them. For instance, while I was on the tour, they had some bicycles on display from a neighbourhood cycle shop. ING DIRECT purchased the bikes for over $600 and are selling them to customers for $200 less. The money will be donated to help underprivileged children.

So whenever you feel like you need a change from you home office, or are feeling stuck and would benefit from meeting other people, drop by the ING DIRECT Downtown Café at 221 Yonge Street, and experience the new wave in collaboration. And it’s a great way t expand your networks.

Is this collaborative workspace a wave of the future? If it’s as affordable as The ING Direct Downtown Cafe, it may very well be at that price!

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

In case you missed it, here is what we talked about this week on The invisible Mentor Blog.

Mondays at the Salon

Google is an innovative company which has invested a lot of time and money to improve the search experience. Here are some tips and resources to make you search more efficient and effective.

How to Effectively Use Google.

Booked on Tuesdays

We reviewed American Sketches: Great Leaders, Creative Thinkers, and Heroes of a Hurricane, Walter Isaacson which is a collection of previously written essays.

Review: American Sketches: Great Leaders, Creative Thinkers, and Heroes of a Hurricane, Walter Isaacson.

Wisdom Wednesdays

We profiled Simone de Beauvoir a woman who was ahead of her time. She was a pioneer of modern feminism.

Wisdom Wednesdays: Simone de Beauvoir, Highly Opinionated and Pioneer of Modern Feminism

Perspective Thursdays and Workshop Fridays

From conducting interviews over the years, one of the things I have learned is that we can learn from the experiences of others. We featured Part One and Part Two of The Invisible Mentor interview with Carol Roberts a marketing and communications consultant who also has a lot of experience in international development.

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

At a recent Google for Journalists workshop, Andrew Swartz who holds the position of Global Communications and Public Affairs shared tips and resources to use Google more effectively when searching.

Limiting Your Search Results

Let’s say you are thinking of going on vacation to Turkey and want to learn more about the country, to eliminate turkey recipes from showing up in your search results, in the Google search box, type in Turkey –recipe*. The minus sign lets Google know that you are not interested in recipes and asterisk (*) is a command which covers recipe and recipes, which further limits your search.

If you would like the definition of a word, say for instance infographics, in the search box you’d type in define: infographics (That is, define colon space infographics).

You are writing a speech and know that there is a Margaret Mead quote that would add impact but you cannot remember it. In the search box, type in quotation: Margaret Mead and you will find several websites with Margaret Mead quotes. And if you know some of the words in the quote, for instance, “A small group of thoughtful people could change,” in the search box type in quotation: A small group of thoughtful people could change, and you get the full Margaret Mead quote.

If you want to search a specific website, for instance The Invisible Mentor, in the Google search box, type in site: theinvisiblementor.com. (For this one, if you already know the domain name, why not go there directly, but I thought I should tell you anyway).

Add a WOW to Your Communications Online

There is a YouTube video that would strengthen your blog post, but you’d like the video to start at a specific point such as 8 minutes and 29 seconds in the video. At the end of the link to the video add #t8m29s when you insert it in the post.

You can also add maps (http://maps.google.com), street views (http://www.google.com/streetview), historical geographic imagery, (http://earth.google.com) and public data in tables (http://www.google.com/fusiontables)

Trends and Research

If you are looking for topics to write about, Google’s trends and research tools may provide ideas.

Based on searches Google identifies trends as they occur http://www.google.com/trends. This is for the US only.

Google Insights for Search gives you the opportunity to look at search patterns and filter the results by region http://www.google.com/insights/search.

Other Quick Tips

• If you need a calculator and have access to Google, use it as you would any calculator and you’ll see the results below the search box.
• Google as currency converter: For example if you would like to know how $50 Canadian is in Euro, type in 50 CAD in Euro.
• If you would like to know what the local weather is, type in weather in Toronto or whichever city you are interested in.
• Google as unit converter: 50 liters in gallons or 100 kilometers in mile, whatever you’d like to convert.

At http://www.google.com, if you look at the top left hand side you’ll see a menu of options such as Images, Video and so on. If you click on more you will see recipes. If you were looking for a recipe you could search for it using Google and can restrict the results based on ingredients, calories and cooking time. Isn’t that nifty?

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.