
Geraldine, tell our readers a little about yourself and what you do?
Has technology changed your life in any way?
Unbelievably, I rely heavily on technology as most of my work is interacting in some way daily. Use skype a lot, can share my screen to assist and resolve clients questions and problems.
Take us through a typical day in your life.
- Check emails and respond. Emails can consist of all or either of the following:
- Support e-learning site, student documents/learning material up/download (Moodle software which is shareware)
- Client support with software issues relating to word, excel, powerpoint, outlook etc. Technical support with camera downloads, vcards, explorer filing, change passwords, a variety.
- Business related responses for training, consulting etc
- Training (if booked) is either a full day (09h00 – 16h00) or workshop (3 hrs)
If I’m not training, focus on my blog. Goal is to get at least one blog post of my own written and posted per week, check the social media; facebook, linkedIn, twitter, read and respond if necessary.
- Sell office software tracking program that runs offsite, servers maintained by international company, support and train staff.
- Weekends 6 hours plus: write training manuals which will shortly be sold off my website, Aligned to the ISETT SETA/ICDL standards. Generally attend to anything that’s outstanding.
What are your current projects?
Putting together a training course with Karen Lotter on social media which we’d like to present in all the provinces. I’m the techo, karen’s the journalist. Teach the tools and writing techniques.
Why do you Blog?
- Such a “lekker” way to interact and share knowledge.
- Entice the public to notice my expertise (in my field) and gain business.
- Share general techno information that continually causes problems through lack of understanding. Posts that help people over those little bumps
- Business related articles where the general public seem to lack understanding ie writing a CV. Articles are researched and presented acknowledging the original content/writer.
What is the best gadget you ever played with?
My CoolPix (Nikon) camera, now outdated.
What social media tools do you use?
Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google Buzz, foursquare, Stumble, Flickr, Picasso
How many hours do you spend on the Internet?
At a guess depending on whether I train or not, approx 3 – 5 hrs.
What advice would you give to a newbie starting out ?
Read/research to get ahead of the pack, fast forward the process rather than working blind and bumbling along
What are your top 5 favourite websites?
Blogressive.com Mashable.com, About.com, Make use of.com, Mike Saunders.co.za
Where do you look when you need a little inspiration?
Work – the above websites, personal – Osho, Depak Chopra
So what can we expect from you in 2010 and beyond?
- Encourage businesses to use social media as an additional tool for advertising and gain more interest from the public.
- Strive to improve computer training to be a more value driven process. Businesses don’t encourage their staff to get certified/qualified. (I’m a qualified moderator – End User Pc training, A+)
Twitter: @geesomerset
Blog: Techno View
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