Peggy Duncan's Suite Minute blog. Computer tips and tricks that make work easy.

When I opened The Digital Breakthroughs Institute, a technology and productivity training center in Atlanta, Georgia, I decided that in addition to the Internet, TV would be one of the mediums I’d use to promote my classes throughout the metro area.

My first commercial will promote one of my workshops, Get Organized At Work. I’m advertising [...]

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My blog, Suite Minute, started out as a way to share my tips in the Microsoft Office suite. The name came from the notion that each post would take you a minute to read, a minute to try, but save you hours using. Its mission is to help you spend less time working but get [...]

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I saw a Feb 2007 article in CareerJournal (Wall Street Journal Website), and my mouth dropped open when I read the advice below. It is so wrong.
“Emails that don’t require an immediate reply can pile up as you respond to more urgent messages. To get them out of the way, send a quick reply to [...]

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Improve messages you send
and reduce email overload.

For years, I’ve been helping people improve how they manage email. Whether they’re in my class or if they’ve sent me a message that needs improving, I’m always willing to offer my advice…whether they asked for it or not. I even wrote a book about it.
Every day, I receive [...]

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Monday Breakthroughs
I recently recorded a coaching session/Webinar I had with two clients who wanted to get organized at work (that’s the number one way of creating more time). One is a small business owner (events planner) and the other in hotel sales. Clutter was taking over their lives and blocking them from reaching their full [...]

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I was recently interviewed by Geetesh Bajaj, a Microsoft PowerPoint MVP and administrator of the popular Website, Indezine. We reconnected at a recent PowerPoint conference and he was there during my keynote, Shameless Self Promotion. This interview is a result of that and I thought you might enjoy it.
The Interview
In this discussion, Peggy discusses her [...]

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I recently moved into an office building and opened a training center offering technology and productivity workshops for business professionals, The Digital Breakthroughs Institute (DBI). I have two perfectly-sized training rooms and a full kitchen. The decision to make this move was made easier when I figured out how I could use virtual technologies (that [...]

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Before uploading photos to sharing sites such as Flickr, take a few minutes to change the filename and use some of your keywords. This is a largely untapped way to boost your search engine rankings.

I had some great photos from a recent event (the grand opening of my new training facility, The Digital Breakthroughs Institute). [...]

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A couple of nights ago, I had to switch to Plan B and conduct a Webinar using Slideshare.net. Fortunately, I wasn’t demonstrating computer tips and tricks, and all I needed to be able to do was show my slides. It worked great.
I uploaded my PowerPoint presentation, made them private, and sent an email to my [...]

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You’ve heard all the talk and raves about social media. But you’re not the only one who hasn’t figured out how to make it work in business. This training will help you pull it all together.
The Social Media Bootcamp of Atlanta is a series of four classes you can take at your convenience. Hands-on [...]

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I am excited to announce that I’ve been selected as a finalist for the 2009 Super Tuesday Awards scheduled for Tuesday, October 6, from 8:00AM – 4:00 PM at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis, 265 Peachtree Center Avenue. My category is Creative Style which recognizes the female entrepreneur who has used the most creative techniques in [...]

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The Digital Breakthroughs Institute
Opens in South Atlanta
to Provide Technology Training
for Small Business Owners
On September 1, 2009, I will announce the opening of my new training facility, The Digital Breakthroughs Institute (DBI). DBI’s mission is to provide hands-on, highly interactive workshops for small business owners who want to improve their technology skills and boost their productivity.
Located [...]

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I was standing in line the other day and struck up a conversation with a woman behind me. I lost interest in the conversation very quickly because she couldn’t keep her eyes off of her BlackBerry (another post for another day). I asked her which model she had and when she held it up, I [...]

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A colleague had the misfortune of a home break-in. The thieves made off with three of his prized possessions: a new, old, and somebody else’s laptop. That hurt.
I take extra precautions to protect my laptop because I run my entire business on it. I take care in backing up all my important data online, it’s [...]

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UPDATE: I’ll be back on CNN this Thursday, July 30th with Rick Sanchez around 3:30PM…related healthcare topic.
I don’t usually get into personal issues on my blog, but this topic on healthcare reform for people with pre-existing conditions hit home. I ended up on CNN talking about it, and since I have other articles here about [...]

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Boost your search engine
rankings with a blog.

With over 72 percent of people finding what they need online, you must get found. A blog offers the following benefits.
Share your expertise. A business blog gives you a platform to promote what you know and establish yourself as an expert in [...]

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In a recent post, I gave step-by-step instructions on how to create a customized Twitter background using PowerPoint and included some how to videos I made using Camtasia. If you have a YouTube channel, you can use the same methods explained in these videos to create a customized background (the skin) for it.
Resize PowerPoint Slide [...]

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In a previous post, I explained how I use PowerPoint for all of my graphics projects. A designer will laugh at this because they probably use software such as PhotoShop to handle complex projects. Well, I don’t know PhotoShop well enough to whip out something fast, but I know just about everything that PowerPoint can [...]

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When I got back to my office after a few conferences, I started reviewing some of the business cards I’d collected. I kept noticing the same, common missteps business owners continue to make. Here are a few:

No email address.
Email address is illogical, hard to spell, impossible to remember, hard to type, hard to read.
@yahoo.com, @aol.com, [...]

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I just switched to Comcast for high-speed Internet. I want all of my computers to have wireless access so instead of leasing a wireless router from Comcast, I stopped by Best Buy and picked up the Linksys® N Ultra Range Plus by Cisco. It’s a slick-looking unit that resembles something from outer space. I was [...]

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I’ve discovered that just about anything I dread doing, there is some type of technology that will do it for me. Doing something with the photos on my digital camera was one of those projects I needed to simplify.
I found some inexpensive software ($10.00) that makes resizing photos quick and easy. It’s called Digital Photo [...]

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If you want to tweet from your BlackBerry and you can do so without being disrespectful of the people you’re with or without becoming distracted from your family or something else more important, here’s how.
The following steps require you to download software from your BlackBerry.

Open the Browser on your BlackBerry’s homescreen.
Type the shortcut, G, for [...]

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Create a self-hosted WordPress blog, implement search engine optimization techniques, and start getting free publicity that attracts the media and new business to you like a magnet!
Description
This is a full-day workshop that’s hands-on with your laptop. Learn from experts how to build a professionally-designed, self-hosted WordPress blog from scratch and optimize it (and your Web [...]

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President Obama had a mountain of issues to deal with in his first 100 days, and not having his BlackBerry helped him stay focused. I’m hoping that he doesn’t get sucked back in to his BlackBerry addiction.
It’s old news that President Barack Obama was addicted to his BlackBerry. Now that he’s had to live without [...]

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I was recently interviewed by a national magazine and the reporter asked me about some of the must-have equipment I use to run my solo enterprise. Here is what I listed.
Feature-rich telephone. You might think that finding the perfect desk phone is easy, but it wasn’t for me. I finally found everything I needed in [...]

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