What I Learned...
The past couple weeks I have been working on the Microsoft Access Database Project. After watching the lectures and working through the project, I learned a lot about databases and how capable they are of making many aspects of business easier. In completing this project, I learned how to import data into a database and make sure it's formatted correctly as it is imported. I also learned how to create tables and modify how and what data is displayed. In addition to the basic data aspects of Access/databases, I learned how to run queries on the data in the database, then sort and group that data, as well as how to create and edit forms and reports in the database. I really had no idea that Access was such a powerful tool and could be so useful in making businesses run more fluidly.
Improvements for the Gym Owner...
One improvement I can think of from the get go would be for the gym owner to add a "Submit" button to the new member form if he or she is going to have that form on the computer. If you work with Access, it's ok to not have that feature, but for customers or potential customers entering their data in to the database, it may be somewhat confusing to know that your data has been added without the option to "submit" the data. Another improvement, or in this case an addition, that I think should be made to the form is an "interests" section, or something along the same lines. This way you can learn more about your customers and what they want to get out of having a membership at your gym. Then, hopefully you can use this information to hire staff that can cater programs geared toward members' interests and goals and help maximize their membership value and experience...which, in the end, could make your gym more profitable. Finally, I'm sure there are many more ways to improve this database to help the gym owner, but when it comes down to it, what really matters is that it helps him or her, and the company as a whole, to conduct business and serve the members in the best way possible.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Tutorial Blog 3: The Web Log (aka The Blog)
Prior to this course, I've had very limited exposure to blogs. I usually only encountered them when reading about current events or looking up different topics of interest online in order to get opinions, reviews, and more information on products, etc. However, blogs can be written about a wide variety of topics.
According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a blog is "a website that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer."
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blog
That said, a blog can essentially be written about anything the writer/author wishes to share.
Once you've figured out your first idea or topic to write about, next comes putting your thoughts into text. There are many places online where you can write and blog for free. One of these sites happens to be the one I am using for my Blogs, www.Blogger.com. Signing up is free, easy, and once you have your account, you can dive right in and begin. Blogger.com makes sharing your thoughts and ideas as easy as possible by providing what they call the "Dashboard". Here is a screenshot of what my dashboard looks like:
As you can see, it's very clean and easy to navigate. Once you've created a profile, you can customize it and tell people about yourself, if you wish (these options are on the left, next to my picture).
Now on to the blog portion of the Dashboard...
In looking at the heading "Manage Blogs", to the right of that, you will see how many blogs you have hosted through Blogger.com, I currently have one. Below that, the title of your blog is displayed, i.e. "ISM3004 Blog", followed by the number of posts, the date of your last post, and a link you view your blog's page.
Next, you'll see the "New Post" button, and other options related to your blog, this is essentially your "blog control center". It seems pretty straight forward, but here you can create a new post, edit posts you've already published, as well as view comments, blog settings, etc.
To get posting...
We'll start by taking a look at creating a new post. By clicking the "New Post" button, you'll be brought to a page that looks just like this:
What's great about this page is that it looks very similar, and functions very similarly, to today's most common word processing programs, such as Microsoft Word. In creating a new blog post, all you have to do is add a title, type out your thoughts, and publish! If you wish to format, add links, pictures, videos, etc., the toolbar at the top provides you will all of these options and more. Here's an up-close look at the toolbar:
Like I said earlier, it's very similar to something you might find in programs such as Microsoft Word, and is very easy and straight-forward to use...and it even includes Spell Check!
If these options aren't quite what you wanted, or maybe you want more options, I was in the same situation when I first began posting. Not to worry though, in looking at Microsoft Word, you can actually open up a new template for a blog and publish your posts straight from Word! All you have to do is enter your log-in information when prompted by Word, type up your post, and publish...it's as easy as that.
A quick look into Editing Posts...
There's one last basic thing I wanted to touch on in this tutorial, and that's editing posts that are drafts, or posts that you have already published. To do this, you start by going to your Dashboard, and then selecting Edit Posts. In doing that, you'll be brought to a page that looks similar to this one:
Down the left-hand-side of the screen you have your labels, which you add to each post, and these are simply key words or phrases that will help people find your post.
In the main viewing pane on the screen though, you'll find the list of all your posts, both published and drafts. To the left of the title, you are given the options of editing all the posts, and for those you have published, you are given the additional option of viewing the post. To the right of the title, your labels for that post are displayed in green, along with the word "draft" if it is unpublished, followed the date you began work or published the post, your name as the author, and the option to delete the post.
Clicking on the "Edit" option will open the post and look similar to this:
Here you can edit the post just as you would if you were typing a new post. Once you are finished editing, you can preview the post if you wish, or publish it right away!
Just a few notes...
The items I discussed above are really only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to posting blogs on Blogger.com. This web log platform gives you a number of customization options to make your blog, truly yours. Some options to choose from are layouts and designs they provide, or you can customize your layout or design and even edit the html to make your blog look the way you want it to.
In writing various blogs for this course, I've learned way more than I ever thought I would about blogs. Hopefully this informational tutorial helps you better understand the basics of this platform should you decide to publish your thoughts and ideas online.
According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a blog is "a website that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer."
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blog
That said, a blog can essentially be written about anything the writer/author wishes to share.
Once you've figured out your first idea or topic to write about, next comes putting your thoughts into text. There are many places online where you can write and blog for free. One of these sites happens to be the one I am using for my Blogs, www.Blogger.com. Signing up is free, easy, and once you have your account, you can dive right in and begin. Blogger.com makes sharing your thoughts and ideas as easy as possible by providing what they call the "Dashboard". Here is a screenshot of what my dashboard looks like:
Now on to the blog portion of the Dashboard...
In looking at the heading "Manage Blogs", to the right of that, you will see how many blogs you have hosted through Blogger.com, I currently have one. Below that, the title of your blog is displayed, i.e. "ISM3004 Blog", followed by the number of posts, the date of your last post, and a link you view your blog's page.
Next, you'll see the "New Post" button, and other options related to your blog, this is essentially your "blog control center". It seems pretty straight forward, but here you can create a new post, edit posts you've already published, as well as view comments, blog settings, etc.
To get posting...
We'll start by taking a look at creating a new post. By clicking the "New Post" button, you'll be brought to a page that looks just like this:
What's great about this page is that it looks very similar, and functions very similarly, to today's most common word processing programs, such as Microsoft Word. In creating a new blog post, all you have to do is add a title, type out your thoughts, and publish! If you wish to format, add links, pictures, videos, etc., the toolbar at the top provides you will all of these options and more. Here's an up-close look at the toolbar:
Like I said earlier, it's very similar to something you might find in programs such as Microsoft Word, and is very easy and straight-forward to use...and it even includes Spell Check!
If these options aren't quite what you wanted, or maybe you want more options, I was in the same situation when I first began posting. Not to worry though, in looking at Microsoft Word, you can actually open up a new template for a blog and publish your posts straight from Word! All you have to do is enter your log-in information when prompted by Word, type up your post, and publish...it's as easy as that.
A quick look into Editing Posts...
There's one last basic thing I wanted to touch on in this tutorial, and that's editing posts that are drafts, or posts that you have already published. To do this, you start by going to your Dashboard, and then selecting Edit Posts. In doing that, you'll be brought to a page that looks similar to this one:
Down the left-hand-side of the screen you have your labels, which you add to each post, and these are simply key words or phrases that will help people find your post.
In the main viewing pane on the screen though, you'll find the list of all your posts, both published and drafts. To the left of the title, you are given the options of editing all the posts, and for those you have published, you are given the additional option of viewing the post. To the right of the title, your labels for that post are displayed in green, along with the word "draft" if it is unpublished, followed the date you began work or published the post, your name as the author, and the option to delete the post.
Clicking on the "Edit" option will open the post and look similar to this:
Here you can edit the post just as you would if you were typing a new post. Once you are finished editing, you can preview the post if you wish, or publish it right away!
Just a few notes...
The items I discussed above are really only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to posting blogs on Blogger.com. This web log platform gives you a number of customization options to make your blog, truly yours. Some options to choose from are layouts and designs they provide, or you can customize your layout or design and even edit the html to make your blog look the way you want it to.
In writing various blogs for this course, I've learned way more than I ever thought I would about blogs. Hopefully this informational tutorial helps you better understand the basics of this platform should you decide to publish your thoughts and ideas online.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Web2.0 Presentation and Blog
Before reading my Blog/Self-Critique, please watch my Web2.0 Presentation using the following link: Andrew's Web2.0 Presentation on WarringtonINsiders.com
Self-Critique of My Web2.0 Presentation:
While this critique is bound to be subjective since I'm reviewing my own presentation, I'm going to try my best be as neutral as I can in my review. ;)
All-in-all, I think I did a pretty good job of putting together a very informative presentation about WarringtonINsiders.com. Part of the reason why I chose this particular topic for my presentation was in the hope that it could be used beyond the class project context to help in the expansion of the website. When putting the presentation together, I could not decide on the best logical order in which to present the content. However, I think the approach of giving background information, followed by soliciting sponsorship was the logical approach to presenting this topic. The only thing I think I would consider changing about this is the very end. I debated which order I should present the sponsorship opportunities and the example of our stock market challenge sponsors, but I think the order I chose to present makes the most sense. I'm sure there are plenty of questions I did not anticipate in my presentation, though I did my best to be as detailed as possible given the raw stage of development the website is currently in.
As for whether or not I feel I grabbed the audience's attention, I'm a bit biased here due to my involvement with the website, but I feel that it's a very interesting idea and I would definitely listen to a presentation about it as a UF business student, especially had this been around when I was a freshman. One tool I used to emphasize the particular parts of the presentation that I felt were the most important toward conveying my message was the use of questions. Upon watching my presentation, you will see that I did not use them often, but when I did, they prefaced important parts of the presentation. As you might be able to tell through my sparing use of questions in my presentation, I tend to keep my points concise and focused solely on delivering the key points and answering questions before they are asked. However, with a new website and the content we plan on it containing, there are bound to be questions that others will pose that we may not foresee.That said, I feel like I was clear in my presentation of WarringtonINsiders.com and conveyed as much information as necessary for a general presentation of this nature.
I do not think I made very many, if any claims in the course of my presentation. However, if I did make any claims, I made sure to validate them, rather than leaving them as a potential unknown posing a point for questioning. Also, I checked and re-checked my presentation multiple times, in addition to having peers, such as my roommates, look over the presentation to make sure I avoided any inconsistencies, errors, or unbelievable claims.
One thing I cannot stand in presentations is clutter. I believe I did an excellent job of avoiding this by "utilizing the white space" as often as I could in my slides. At times when I thought my text and verbal presentation said enough about topics, I left space so the audience was able to focus on the points and information presented. There were a few times I did add some pictures to display what some aspects of the website look like, though I was sure to keep them to a minimum and use them as visuals aids to my points. By avoiding clutter, I was able to ensure readability for the audience as there was plenty of space available on my slides to allow me to increase font size when necessary. To assist with readability for my audience, I added animations to my slide so I was able to control in what order and at which time text was to appear on the slides. In adding animation, I was able to "say it and show it" simultaneously, so my audience could see the point and listen to the explanation. This was effective in my presentation because I made sure to put just enough text on the slides to convey my point, while allowing myself to further explain each point to avoid clutter and reading off of the slide.
Overall, I would say I learned a good deal about presentations and presenting from taking part in this project. There were some points I had learned over the years that were further emphasized in the material, as well as plenty of new points that I hadn't really paid attention to before. For instance, when presenting graphs of information, I never really though about monitoring how much content you displayed on the graphs and in which way you displayed it. Though, after watching some of the videos, I learned that graphs are very similar to text in that you have to avoid clutter to ensure readability. Another lesson I learned was the importances of having just enough text on your slides to convey your point. Otherwise, your audience is left trying to read the slides instead of paying attention to you. The points I just mentioned also happen to be what I feel will be the most useful to me in business in the not-so-distant future. Graduation is right around the corner and with that comes jobs and presentations in some manner or another. Utilizing the lessons learned in this segment of the course will be of great help, not only in finishing out my college career, but also as I begin my professional career.
Thanks for checking out my presentation and blog! I hope I provided some useful information.
Self-Critique of My Web2.0 Presentation:
While this critique is bound to be subjective since I'm reviewing my own presentation, I'm going to try my best be as neutral as I can in my review. ;)
All-in-all, I think I did a pretty good job of putting together a very informative presentation about WarringtonINsiders.com. Part of the reason why I chose this particular topic for my presentation was in the hope that it could be used beyond the class project context to help in the expansion of the website. When putting the presentation together, I could not decide on the best logical order in which to present the content. However, I think the approach of giving background information, followed by soliciting sponsorship was the logical approach to presenting this topic. The only thing I think I would consider changing about this is the very end. I debated which order I should present the sponsorship opportunities and the example of our stock market challenge sponsors, but I think the order I chose to present makes the most sense. I'm sure there are plenty of questions I did not anticipate in my presentation, though I did my best to be as detailed as possible given the raw stage of development the website is currently in.
As for whether or not I feel I grabbed the audience's attention, I'm a bit biased here due to my involvement with the website, but I feel that it's a very interesting idea and I would definitely listen to a presentation about it as a UF business student, especially had this been around when I was a freshman. One tool I used to emphasize the particular parts of the presentation that I felt were the most important toward conveying my message was the use of questions. Upon watching my presentation, you will see that I did not use them often, but when I did, they prefaced important parts of the presentation. As you might be able to tell through my sparing use of questions in my presentation, I tend to keep my points concise and focused solely on delivering the key points and answering questions before they are asked. However, with a new website and the content we plan on it containing, there are bound to be questions that others will pose that we may not foresee.That said, I feel like I was clear in my presentation of WarringtonINsiders.com and conveyed as much information as necessary for a general presentation of this nature.
I do not think I made very many, if any claims in the course of my presentation. However, if I did make any claims, I made sure to validate them, rather than leaving them as a potential unknown posing a point for questioning. Also, I checked and re-checked my presentation multiple times, in addition to having peers, such as my roommates, look over the presentation to make sure I avoided any inconsistencies, errors, or unbelievable claims.
One thing I cannot stand in presentations is clutter. I believe I did an excellent job of avoiding this by "utilizing the white space" as often as I could in my slides. At times when I thought my text and verbal presentation said enough about topics, I left space so the audience was able to focus on the points and information presented. There were a few times I did add some pictures to display what some aspects of the website look like, though I was sure to keep them to a minimum and use them as visuals aids to my points. By avoiding clutter, I was able to ensure readability for the audience as there was plenty of space available on my slides to allow me to increase font size when necessary. To assist with readability for my audience, I added animations to my slide so I was able to control in what order and at which time text was to appear on the slides. In adding animation, I was able to "say it and show it" simultaneously, so my audience could see the point and listen to the explanation. This was effective in my presentation because I made sure to put just enough text on the slides to convey my point, while allowing myself to further explain each point to avoid clutter and reading off of the slide.
Overall, I would say I learned a good deal about presentations and presenting from taking part in this project. There were some points I had learned over the years that were further emphasized in the material, as well as plenty of new points that I hadn't really paid attention to before. For instance, when presenting graphs of information, I never really though about monitoring how much content you displayed on the graphs and in which way you displayed it. Though, after watching some of the videos, I learned that graphs are very similar to text in that you have to avoid clutter to ensure readability. Another lesson I learned was the importances of having just enough text on your slides to convey your point. Otherwise, your audience is left trying to read the slides instead of paying attention to you. The points I just mentioned also happen to be what I feel will be the most useful to me in business in the not-so-distant future. Graduation is right around the corner and with that comes jobs and presentations in some manner or another. Utilizing the lessons learned in this segment of the course will be of great help, not only in finishing out my college career, but also as I begin my professional career.
Thanks for checking out my presentation and blog! I hope I provided some useful information.
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