MicroAssist

First Impressions: Books Are Judged by the Cover

lwarren — Thu, 16 May 2013 14:48:33 +0000

Why do people say, “You can’t judge a book by its cover?” We make snap decisions all the time and those decisions are based on the first impression, which metaphorically speaking, is the book cover. Books by Chip Heath and Dan Heath got me thinking about their high impact book covers and how important first impressions are to online training.

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

For the uninitiated, Chip Heath and Dan Heath are the authors of Made to Stick, Switch, and Decisive. I was fortunate enough to attend a talk by Dan Heath last week and, of course, that got me thinking about his books. The intriguing covers set the expectation that what is inside will be interesting, high quality, and valuable. Take a look at the covers.

MicroAssist receives Small Employer of the Year Award

nstallings — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 15:02:47 +0000

MicroAssist is proud to share the news of receiving the Small Employer of the Year award at the Austin Mayor’s Committee for People with Disabilities 33rd Employment Awards.

MicroAssist has been a long time participant in the Application Required Work Readiness Program, hosted by Education Service Center Region XIII and DARS/Division for Blind Services. What started as a two week mentoring program three years ago has progressed into an avenue whereby MicroAssist is able to employ tech savvy, visually impaired youth to test new E-Learning template designs and perform administrative support tasks, such as data entry.

We are excited to continue that relationship into the future. We at Microassist are extremely honored to be recognized amongst an inspiring collective of Austinites, all of whom are doing great work to make Austin's workforce stronger, and more inclusive.

MicroAssist is your Ticket to the Cloud

karenwade — Wed, 30 May 2012 13:28:46 +0000

When discussing the growing popularity of cloud computing, one must also consider the extreme shortage of cloud computing skills that has forced CIOs to train their own staff. When Majestic Realty Co., a Los Angeles-based commercial real estate developer, moved to Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) for cloud-based email in early 2011, CIO Jon Grunzweig was shocked by the lack of technical support he found for BPOS in the marketplace.

“A year ago, no one knew anything about BPOS,” he says. “We couldn’t get good advice ahead of time on what to look out for, what to think about. That knowledge wasn’t there. Microsoft didn’t have it. Neither did third-parties.”

Across the IT industry, CIOs, technology vendors, and consultants agree that there is a serious shortage of cloud computing skills that threatens to hamper adoption.

5 Ways to Make Your PowerPoint Presentations Fascinating

karenwade — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 21:57:14 +0000

We've all sat through a mind numbingly-boring PowerPoint presentation and left unsure of what point the speaker was trying to convey, or unclear what action was called for, or were simply so bored that everything was forgotten the second we left the room.

PowerPoint still can't be beat for efficient communication of dense, verbal ideas - who reads memos anymore? - but that doesn't mean that it's easy to use effectively.

A good PowerPoint presentation should convince your audience to align themselves with your point of view. If you're looking to share data or a list of facts and figures, you don't need PowerPoint: you need Excel.

Here's five tips to keep your audience engaged and effectively convey your message. To learn more about these techniques, attend one of our Advanced PowerPoint classes.

Become an Excel Superhero: Macros Save the Day!

karenwade — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 17:04:40 +0000

Have you ever spent too much time on a repetitive task in Microsoft Excel and known there has to be a better way? There is! Macros can be used in Excel for everything from automating common tasks to creating custom functions.

Excel has many features that can be created with a macro that aren't included in the program itself. Simply put, macros in Excel save you time, money, and effort. Let's look at some ways macros can make your life easier - then register for Excel Advanced to learn how to use macros.

Scenario: You regularly import sales data to maintain inventory levels. The data comes to you as a .csv or formatted text file with thousands of transactions, which you have to then import by hand, check the data's veracity and consolidate, and then update your inventory spreadsheet.

Build Your Own Web with SharePoint 2010

karenwade — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 22:26:49 +0000

SharePoint 2010 is a tool we're really excited about because of all the ways it makes it easier for people to work together, enabling your staff to set up websites to share information with others, manage documents from start to finish, and publish reports.

What is SharePoint? There's a lot in the name: SharePoint is a tool for sharing information and providing a specific place for you to find and collaborate on information. No matter your position in your organization, SharePoint 2010 has something great to offer you.

Announcing Virtual Instructor-Led Training: Learning in Context

karenwade — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 21:59:38 +0000

Virtual Instructor-Led Training: New from MicroAssist!

MicroAssist is now offering Virtual Instructor-Led Training in many of the same skills, tools, and technologies we've staked our reputation on over the last 24 years. Many of our clients have a dispersed workforce but have had travel budgets cut over the last few years, while the need for technical training never diminishes. Interactive virtual training makes it possible for individuals to get the training they need from their office, home, or anywhere with an internet connection.

With this easy to use virtual training platform, individuals around the world can now receive the quality training they need for the same cost as our local clients. Likewise, the interactivity of the virtual training environment allows our expert instructors to relate to students much in the same ways as in-person classes to ensure a positive learning experience. Unlike e-learning, the virtual training environment allows students to interact directly with the instructor during the course to ask questions, solve problems, and ensure they truly understand the material.

Team MicroAssist Takes Home First Prize in Knowbility's AIR Interactive!

karenwade — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 21:52:00 +0000

Congratulations to Unchain My Art (AKA Team MicroAssist) for taking first place in the annual Accessiblitity Internet Rally! AIR-Interactive matches teams of web designers/developers with non-profit organizations to build new websites or enhance existing ones to make them more accessible for people with disabilities: the competition does an amazing job of increasing awareness of the tools and techniques that make the Internet accessible to everyone.

Pavel Karoukin, Hiram, Jillian, and Ella Jane worked with Fito Kahn of the Austin Jazz Alliance to create a new website. The Austin Jazz Alliance began as a grass-roots organization started in an effort to help jazz musicians in Austin and Central Texas promote their music. It has since become an umbrella organization that brings together jazz musicians, jazz fans, and jazz related businesses. Check out the Austin Jazz Alliance's new website!

HTML5 Classes: 6 Reasons You Need HTML5 Training Now

karenwade — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:10:32 +0000

Register for HTML5 Training Classes Today

MicroAssist has HTML5 classes scheduled on:

March 21st & 22nd
April 26th & 27th
May 23rd & 24th

HTML5 is the next major milestone in HTML, not just another incremental enhancement. HTML5 is a game-changer, an enormous advance for not just websites but modern web applications. HTML5 is such a big step forward that it prompted Vic Gundotra, VP of Engineering at Google, to say "The web has not seen this level of transformation, this level of acceleration, in the past ten years... we're betting big on HTML5." Here are six reasons why you should get trained in HTML5 and make the switch.

1. Save Money and Time with One Step Multi-Media Content

Save money and time with HTML5's new syntactical features, including the <video>, <audio>, and <canvas> elements. Before HTML5, developers needed to use tools like Flash, Silverlight, Flex or JavaScript to create interactive websites. Not only do these methods increase the complexity of the web application, they also require significant developer time and cost to create. These new elements make it very easy to integrate multimedia and graphical content to the web without using third party plugins.

New Crystal Reports Tips

karenwade — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 18:32:11 +0000

Our instructors have sent over some new Crystal Reports tips. Check them out in our Resource Center!