Garrett Wasny, MA, CMC, CITP

When you think Google, you think search.  But did you know Google has a whole other side – an applications side – that's often overlooked and underrated?  This half-day session looks under the Google hood and reveals that it's much more than an Internet search engine.  Google is also a huge (and mostly free) suite of online productivity tools that can be used in your accounting practice every single day. 

Click the image to the left to read the Google Productivity Tools Agenda and Table of Contents. (pdf; 207KB, 3 pages).

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

Practitioners at all levels who use the Internet (and who doesn’t?).  The seminar is especially relevant for practitioners who use e-mail, calendars, to do lists, spreadsheets, forms, word processing, presentation tools, web publishing software, instant messaging, videos, maps, photos and mobile devices (and who isn’t?).  Google offers its own versions of this software that are not only free but also superior to Microsoft Office in many respects.  Google delivers more and better:

• online accessibility,
• file backup,
• spam filters,
• data synchronization across devices,
• product upgrades and
• online collaboration (did you know up to 50 people can edit a Google spreadsheet simultaneously in real time?).   

BENEFITS OF ATTENDING

This seminar will provide participants with the knowledge and skills they need to use a wide range of Google productivity applications and be more efficient online. 

At the end of the seminar, participants will know how to:

• Set up a Google account and access dozens of Google productivity applications.
• Manage your Google presence and set up a free Google profile, dashboard and business listing.
• Use Gmail and its key folder, label, task, filter, archive, chat and mobile phone sync features.
• Create, edit, share and embed Google calendars and use its daily notification, event reminder and mobile calendar sync features.
• Create, edit, share, embed, publish, import and export spreadsheets, forms, documents and presentations.
• Create and publish customized websites, intranets, blogs, groups, photo galleries and online workspaces with no programming knowledge.
• Adjust permission settings that let you designate owners, viewers and collaborators (meaning they can edit pages) for online documents and work spaces you create.
• Create, edit, share, publish and embed custom online maps.
• Use Google location awareness tools to keep track of your physical location, visualize your location history, and alert you when friends are nearby.
• Create and publish a targeted text ad that appears in Google search engine results.
• Get expert help on using Google products from Google engineers. 
• Improve your online workflow, communications and productivity.

CONTENT

• Why use Google apps?
• Google Apps pros and cons.
• Setting up a Google account.
• Google office suite (Gmail, Google Buzz, Google Calendar, Documents, Spreadsheets, Forms and Presentations).
• Google web publishing and work spaces (Google Sites, Groups, Blogger, Picasa Web Albums).
• Google presence (Google Profile, Dashboard, Local Business Centre, Adwords).
• Google location awareness (Google Maps, Earth, Latitude, Mobile).
• Google communications (Google Voice, Wave) and
• Google assistance (Google Help, Blog Directory)

PREREQUISITE 

You should know how to access the Internet.  That’s it.  The seminar is easy-to-understand, jargon-free and designed especially for “non-techie” accounting professionals.

SEMINAR LEADER

Garrett Wasny, MA, CMC, CITP



You’ve seen Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and other social media in the headlines.  But what’s in it for accountants?  Does social media really offer anything of value to CPAs, CAs and other financial professionals in their day-to-day operations?  Absolutely!  Practical and illuminating, this half-day session cuts through all the hype and explains the basics of social media and how it can be used to boost your accounting career and practice. 

Click the image to the left to read the Social Media for Accountants Agenda and Table of Contents (pdf; 237KB, 6 pages).

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

Practitioners at all levels who use the Internet (and who doesn’t?).  The seminar is especially relevant for practitioners who are involved in client service, business development, recruitment or training (and who isn’t?).  Social media is an exploding new channel for business and knowing how to tap and leverage this space is absolutely essential in today’s digital age, especially for knowledge leaders like CPAs and CAs.  If you’re not familiar with at least the basics of social media, you’re missing a goldmine of vital and timely information and putting yourself and your organization at a serious competitive disadvantage.

BENEFITS OF ATTENDING

This seminar will provide participants with the knowledge and skills they need to use a range of social media applications and be more comfortable, confident and productive online. 

At the end of the seminar, participants will know how to:

• Create your own blog with no programming knowledge, and post to your blog using email.
• Sign up for a Twitter account, “follow” someone, and make “tweets” and search for keywords on Twitter.
• Track the top accounting-related Twitter feeds.
• Search for and subscribe to RSS (real simple syndication) feeds using Google Reader, and create your own RSS feeds from scratch for any website.
• Sign up for a Facebook account, edit your profile, add friends and adjust your privacy settings.
• Create a LinkedIn account, edit your profile, add contacts, join groups, and search for jobs.
• Upload and share a photo online using Flickr.
• Display Flickr images on your website or blog using Pictobrowser.com.
• Sign up for a YouTube account, do advanced video searches, and subscribe to a video channel.
• Browse for and subscribe to podcasts using iTunes.
• Search Wikipedia, create an account and edit or add a Wikipedia article.
• Search for shared bookmarks on Delicious.com
• Add social media gadgets to your existing website or blog for free.
• Identify and mitigate leading social media risks,
• Leverage social media to boost your online productivity and collaboration, and
• Use social media appropriately and effectively in your professional and personal life. 

CONTENT

• Why social media is not just a technological phenomenon, but a whole new system of generating and perceiving value.
• Leading social media tools and how to use them.  These include blogs, micro-blogs (Twitter), real simple syndication (RSS), social networks (Facebook and LinkedIn), photo sharing (Flickr), video sharing (YouTube), podcasting, wikis, social bookmarking and other applications.
• Challenges and risks of social media and why they should not be underestimated.  These range from employee productivity concerns to confidentiality and security issues.
• How organizations the world over are using social media for recruiting, professional development, marketing, customer engagement and more.
• Social media strategies of Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, BDO and other accounting organizations, along with Best Buy, Starbucks, Ford, Intuit, Dell and other leading brands.
• Key business lessons learned to date from social media and what to expect in the near future.
• Social media best practices, leading governance models and key do’s and don’ts. 

PREREQUISITE

You should know how to access the Internet.  That’s it.  The seminar is easy-to-understand, jargon-free and designed especially for “non-techie” accounting professionals.

SEMINAR LEADER

Garrett Wasny, MA, CMC, CITP

Webcast: Social Media for Accountants

Webinar leader: Garrett Wasny, MA, CMC, CITP

Duration:  3.5 hours

Date:  February 10, 2010

Speaker Rating: 4.8/5

General Rating: 4.8/5

Comments: "This was a very informative course. I learned a lot and the course materials have many useful links."

"Thanks, I enjoyed the class. I learned a lot. Most of the information was new to me. I plan on using this information."

Client: CPE Link

Are you a Google zombie? 

When you search the Internet, do you type a word or two into Google.com, hit enter and hope for the best?  Then repeat. 

If so, you don't know what you're missing!  Actually, you're missing 99% -- yes 99% -- of online information and tapping only a tiny fraction of Google's search power. 

Practical, concise and fun, Advanced Internet Research Techniques reveals how CPAs, CAs and other financial professionals can instantly improve their online search skills, increase their web productivity and transform how they use the web in their business, career and life. 

Even if you think you're web savvy and proficient with Google, you are absolutely guaranteed to learn new search strategies, techniques and tools that will take you to the next level of online intelligence gathering.

Click the image to the left to read the Advanced Internet Research Techniques Agenda and Table of Contents.  (pdf; 612KB, 12 pages).

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

Practitioners at all levels who use the Internet (and who doesn’t?).  The seminar is especially relevant for practitioners who rely on the web to gather information on clients, industry developments and changing government regulations (and who isn't?).  

Knowing how to search for and retrieve online information – quickly, accurately, efficiently – is an absolute must in today’s digital age, especially for thought leaders like CPAs and CAs.  Web searching has become a critical skill and indispensable necessity of business, on par with knowing how to use a calculator or spreadsheet.

BENEFITS OF ATTENDING

This seminar will provide participants with the knowledge and skills they need to more efficiently and confidently use a wide range of Google search applications and other web scanning tools.  The course reveals highly effective yet seldom-used search strategies you can put to use immediately and apply every time you’re online (which is all day, every day for many).  

You’ll see instant and measurable results and wonder why you didn’t learn this sooner (and why it’s not more widely known) because the techniques are so simple and literally right at your fingertips.

At the end of the seminar, participants will know how to:

• download free software that makes it easier, faster and safer to gather and manage online information.
• subscribe to 100+ industry magazines and newsletters for free that would normally cost you thousands of dollars.
• access the services of world-class web researchers at a huge discount.
• set up a Google account that opens the door to member-only Google apps and search tools.
• tap Google’s 200+ search applications, each of which scan the web from different angles, focus on different content and deliver different results.
• instantly access 10+ times more information in any Google search using one simple link that’s on every Google search results page but hardly anyone ever sees or uses.
• search the web in more than 40 languages (even languages you can’t speak) with one click.
• instantly translate any website or online communication with a single click.
• get the latest and best information to come to you using a variety of web alert services that continually search the Internet for you around the clock.
• automatically monitor your favourite websites and be instantly notified when they’re updated or changed.
• create an online research dashboard that aggregates information feeds from all over the web in one place.
• personalize your online experience by using a customized Google start page that offers hundreds of gadgets and themes (or create your own from scratch).
• search Google from your cell phone or mobile device.
• automatically search eBay for a new auction listing.
• tap scores of alternative search services – from vertical search engines to information-mosh pits to online classifieds – that deliver information you’ll never find on Google.
• view real estate information on homes around you — as you move through a neighbourhood.
• instantly do a background check on an individual and get their birth date and details on their property ownership, living situation, professional networks and criminal history.
• increase search accuracy using time, place and lingo “tags” in your search strings.
• uncover hard-to-find information using Google “yoga” techniques which scan for specific phrases, filetypes, domain names, links, titles and more.
• discover new content by creatively leveraging language and words.
• create Google “super alerts” that slice through the cyber-clutter and automatically generate and deliver the most relevant results on any topic -- direct to you – without lifting a finger.

CONTENT

• Why study web search?
• Google is great but it’s not perfect.
• Quick search boosters.
• Google search tools.
• Google is not enough:  other search applications.
• Search tags: adding time, place and lingo words to increase search accuracy.
• Google yoga:  how to zero-in and drill down using Google search commands.
• Language leveraging:  how to discover new content by tinkering with words.
• How to create Google “super alerts.”
• Google plug-ins

PREREQUISITE 

You should know how to conduct a basic Google search.  That’s it.  The seminar is easy-to-understand, jargon-free and designed especially for “non-techie” accounting professionals.

TESTIMONIALS FROM PAST PARTICIPANTS

"Wow! The course will change how I do everything at work."

“One of the best professional development courses I’ve taken.”

“One of the best workshops I’ve ever attended.”

“Pointed out many things about Google I was not aware of.”

"I had no idea Google can help me so much as an accountant."

The course consistently receives ratings of 4.5+ out of 5 from leading professional service organizations such as the Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Alberta, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Saskatchewan, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Manitoba and CPE Link.  Read recent and unedited evaluations of Garrett's seminars here.

SEMINAR LEADER

Garrett Wasny, MA, CMC, CITP

On February 10, I delivered my Social Media for Accountants webcast on CPE Link from 9:00 am PST to 12:30 pm PST.   The session was attended by CPAs from all across the United States including Virginia, Louisiana and California. 

The session highlighted leading social media tools and how to use them, key social media challenges and risks, how the Big 4 accounting firms and other top brands use social media, key business lessons learned to date and social media best practices for professional service providers. 

As always, thanks to the CPE Link webcast team -- Erhan Aksoy, Sue Anderson and Leeanna Hammer -- for their superb production support.