At the time, it likely felt like the right thing to do.  The makers of the most popular software programs on the market for so many years have told us it's so for many years.  But, have you every really wondered if what you've "taught" yourself or figured out on your own, has you really ready for a new job opportunity, especially one with a potential for a bigger, and longer term, future?

If you're not sure, even just a little bit, here are a few things to consider.  In Word, do you regularly use Show Codes to edit your work?  When you make a Table of Contents, are you using Styles?  In Excel, do you know how to enter a Cell Address that makes it an absolute reference in a formula?  Do you know how to name a Cell or a Cell Range and use it in a formula?  In PowerPoint, can you make your own graphic image using multiple Shapes?  Do you know how to draw a perfect circle or square using the keyboard and the mouse?

It's so true that the set of three Microsoft Office most-used programs are pretty darn intuitive.  They can help you carry on successfully for quite some time, they can.  But, if you are looking to really soar and be the very best you can be by understanding, using and applying these very powerful software tools as they are designed, it might be time to re-consider.

Yes, I'm over the top when it comes to maximizing Office Software but there is a reason.  These tools have so much built into them to make your use of them easier, faster and in the end, even more productive and more importantly, make you more valuable to your employer.  Check out my Fast-tracked All-in-One GS Courses for Excel, PowerPoint and Word by visiting www.gssoftwareconsulting.ca or drop me an email - and take the next step in your next career journey.

It's true.  Gaining strong skills in the most popular software used worldwide today can generally help you with your current job, getting a new job or jumping into another career all together.  But what does that really mean?

First, let's look at why it's worth learning Excel, PowerPoint and Word.  In general, not having digital skills effectively eliminates the possibility of working in entire segments of the job market.  This may not matter if you are already employed in a job where these skills are not needed right now but what if that changes?  And, we all now know this can literally change overnight.

More specifically, how can each of these software programs benefit you in the working world?  With Excel skills you can organize data in easy-to-navigate ways, do both basic and complex math functions, can translate lots of data into visuals like graphs (charts) and use data to make educated forecasts.  With Word skills you can enhance communication between your co-workers and external resources, you can create productive promotional material, and you can organize data collection much better with the use of tables functioning as forms.  Then, with PowerPoint you have a tool that can be used to engage and wow an audience, can add a creative flare to your work allowing you and your company to stand out in a crowd.

Of note, a lot of folks jump in and use these amazing products by choosing to "wing it."  And there's nothing wrong with that but it raises the question of why?  If you skip learning some Excel basics like Absolute References, you risk creating files with inaccurate answers.  In Word, when you skip learning about Tab Settings,  you are literally setting yourself up for more work, or keystrokes, that when trying to undo, makes even more work.  And with PowerPoint, when you skip understanding how master slide layouts work, you may find yourself in the middle of a presentation where  you see for the first time that your Font Sizes have all gone whacky!

So maybe your future deserves more than "winging it" when there are affordable options available? The GS fast-tracked online Courses in MS Office can turn your skills in these most popular programs into your ticket for a more productive work experience, a chance at that much wanted promotion or make it possible for you to re-invent yourself in a whole new career!  So why not invest in yourself today?  Visit www.gssoftwareconsulting.ca to learn more or email me, [email protected] any time.

Ideal for upskilling, re-skilling or for starting your plan to learn new MS Office Skills?

Many companies run their businesses using the traditional fiscal year from January to December.  Plans for hiring increase with HR Managers posting new jobs while searching for the best candidates.  For Job Searchers this can be a good time to consider re-skilling or up-skilling to improve your chances of landing the job you want.

With GS All-in-One Courses you can quickly and affordably gain the knowledge you need.  The set of three for Excel, PowerPoint and Word are a combo of introductory and intermediate traditional courses having been carefully curated to provide you with the most used and most needed tools for work.

Download the GS 3-Month Course Calendar and visit GS Software Consulting.ca to find our more.  You are also welcome to email me personally any time with questions.  Best of luck in your new job!

Thinking about learning new software skills in Word, Excel or PowerPoint?  Or maybe wondering if your current skillset could be better?  Then, check out my Instructor-led, online via Zoom (you won't need your own account), Courses for 2025.  Designed to make sure you experience gaining the most used and most needed skills and discover the best techniques possible for being as productive as possible.  Visit www.gssoftwareconsulting.ca to learn more.  Click here to download the GS 3 Month Calendar.

Happy New Year and Best Wishes for much Success.

Looking to Upskill, Reskill or learn New Skills in Microsoft Office - Excel, PowerPoint or Word?  Sign-up for my All-in-One GS Courses.  These online, via Zoom sessions, will deliver to you all of the Most Needed and Most Used Skills for Success.  A combined, customized training experience where carefully selected topics have been gathered together ready to provide you with all of the tools you need.

Click here to Download the GS Course Calendar.  To sign-up or ask questions, email [email protected] and to learn more, visit GS Software Consulting.ca.

Remembrance Day has always been an important day for me to stop and reflect.  My Dad, Stan, volunteered to enlist in 1939 at the age of 18 and as luck would have it, he managed to be the only one from his regiment to return.  He was trained to be a tank gunner but instead a colonel took a liking to him and shifted him away from frontline duty making him his "batman."  This dramatically changed his future.  He escaped and was safely away from battle aiding his charge, driving and looking after him. 

He stayed in WWII up until 1945 when he successfully managed to safely return back home intact to London, Ontario.  He did take a risk trying bringing along German Luger guns, and while others panicked and threw then overboard, he held on and later sold them!  Yep, that was my Dad.

Another perspective, as I think about this day in 2024, is the story about my Husband Scott's Great Uncle Scott Tudhope Calder Thomson.  I have been fortunate to have been gifted with artifacts that tell his story so much better.  They are now in a book, just minutes or hours away from being officially published, on Amazon.ca (with Kindle to shortly follow).  It's a "tear-jerker" but also so full of emotions that unite all of us as a people who care for our families, our homes, and our country.  "Duty for Gum & Honey" is the name of the book.  It contains a text section and then a segment of scanned images that include photos, letters and cards.

I hope that you will check it out and continue to embrace how important Remembrance Day is for all of us.  Thank-you.

Have you ever found yourself fiddling with the Font Size in your slide Text Boxes?  Often right at pre-presentation crunch time?  Well, there's a reason for this experience, and it's not all bad, just some extra work and sometimes irritation when you last need it.

Slideshow software can seem like your using a tool that's very similar to a word processing package but there's a fundamental difference.  Although a new Word Document is based on an underlying Template (called normal.dot), when it comes to a slideshow file, there's more than just starting out with a copy of a Template.

In PowerPoint, each Slide Layout is also based on an underlying Master Template.  It's here where you can save the most valuable time and not have to bother with checking all of your slides, at the last moment, to fuss with making Text Sizes consistent from Slide to Slide.  And, once you've "mastered" master templates, you'll be flying through your presentation-making experience like the pro you are!    ​

For the many years I've been training software courses, going back a considerable way - lol, the amount of time spent is my biggest lesson learned.  Even if all students or attendees are really engaged, "time" for absorbing new information will kick-in, like it or not.

It's been interesting because it's the same whether it's a one-to-one session or a group session.  In a one-to-one session, right around the one-hour mark, students will start slowing down and when comfortable with their trainer, will ask to start closing out the training.  In larger, but small groups, it goes closer to the one and a half hour range or two when signs of absorption fatigue kicks in.

It's nice, in some way, to think if you commit to a longer training time that you will be getting more.  But, you won't especially with software.  You'll just get fatigued and all the "good stuff" you learned in the first part of the time together will start to get fuzzy.

And that's exactly why my online, instructor-led software training sessions are intentionally set to be 2 hours in length for the fundamentals and 1 hour for advanced topic level times.  I highly recommend not getting into whole day sessions - split your learning experience into smaller, easy to handle, and most effective learning journeys.  You'll then be refreshed soon after and ready for another!

After completing my All-in-One Courses for Excel, PowerPoint and Word, the next level for learning advanced skills are your next step.  Each course has been carefully designed to deliver the most used and most needed skills for the workplace, school or home.  Each course is delivered by providing concepts first, followed by a hands-on practical lesson, and interactive questions with answers as we go.
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You’ll get to experience first-hand, which menus, ribbons, buttons and keyboard shortcuts will soon become second nature to you as you build your Microsoft Office skill-set.  Best suggested path for each software program is:

After spending literally decades exploring, self-learning and using Excel, PowerPoint and Word at the advanced level, plus training it and writing courses, a question came to mind.  Was it possible to take a closer look at, all the possible topics, that can or better yet, should be taught?  And the answer was a definite "yes."

I've read for many years that the percentage of tools actually used in these Office products is very low.  Giving that some serious thought, was next.  And, yes.  I then literally measured exactly which Menus (Ribbons) and Buttons were used most often.  The result was both interesting and inspiring.  Keeping in mind, too that there are a lot of folks who need these skills for work-related reasons, what if GS Courses could be re-worked to make sure that they focused on the most needed for the workplace topics.

And voila!  The three All-in-One GS Courses were born.  These two-hour courses are a selection of carefully curated topic with each being aligned to a practical, hands-on practice lesson.  I hope that readers of this post will agree.  

Time to celebrate!

Then, you can use the Search box at the top to find emojis by topic, like "fun"!

Be sure to give it a try today for a nice, well-deserved, break.

Yes, it is definitely do-able to gain the most popular software skills needed today in a lot less time than some folks think.  Although software programs come loaded with a ton of features, the actual tools that are really used, boils down to a much smaller sub-set.  All those extra features are great, and I love exploring them, but in the many, many jobs I've worked in, the ones used most often can be measured.

And that's exactly what GS has done.  I've literally taken an inventory of what software tools were applied in my jobs as a secretary, research assistant, project manager and more.  Then, with this valuable information, I created a set of courses that provide new users, or users who might wonder if they really are using the most needed features, exactly what they need to both succeed and be highly productive.

The first foundational layer are called my "All-in-One" Courses for Excel, PowerPoint and Word.  Each course is 2 hours in length.  Then, depending upon your type of work you do now or aspire to do, you can jump in on the advanced level "Targeted-Skills" Courses which are 1 hour in length.  GS Courses also include a 1-pager "GS Skills Guide" to serve as a handy, quick-reference resource.

To learn more, check out the www.gssoftwareconsulting.ca website today.  Questions are always welcome and can be sent to me directly via [email protected].   

An added benefit of using the online version of Office 365 is that more than one person can add or edit files at the same time when in Excel, PowerPoint or Word.  There are a few things to consider before starting and include:

First establish with your co-collaborator which part or section of the file each will be working on when more than one user is online.  Then, go ahead and work together knowing that only one person can edit a Cell in Excel at the same time, or in PowerPoint, one Slide at a time and when in Word, one Paragraph or Line at a time.

TIP:  for Word to to know what a paragraph is, you need to be sure and let multiple lines auto-wrap when the text reaches the right margin.  Word checks out the show code for a line vs. a paragraph like this: 

This is an absolute favourite in our house.  Plus, it's super easy to make, doesn't need a lot of ingredients and comes together quickly.  I've even made it for Christmas Dinner Dessert and it was a very big hit especially with my father-in-law Bob!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a 8" x 8" pan (I like to use glass but it doesn't matter).

Add butter into the pan.  If using a glass pan, microwave to melt the butter.  If using a metal pan, microwave to melt in a small bowl.  Then, add the remaining ingredients.   Using a fork, mix together making sure that all is blended well and is evenly distributed.

Then, in small bowl, combine together well, 1/2 cup White Sugar, 1/2 cup Brown Sugar and 1/4 cup Cocoa.  Sprinkle this sugar mixture evenly over the cake batter.

Pour over the top 1  and 1/4 cups of Hot Water.  I know it sounds odd, but as it bakes the sugar and water will move to the bottom to become chocolate pudding.

Bake for 30 minutes until the top cake layer looks like cake when slightly lifted with a knife.  Let cool and enjoy on it's own, or add whipped cream or ice cream.

Amounts for Loaf Pan version (4" x 8") - rrecipe halved:

For the topping, use 1/4 cup White Sugar, 1/4 cup Brown Sugar and 2 tablespoons Cocoa.  For the water, use 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons.

Upcoming January & February 2024 GS All-in-One Courses - on Saturdays and Thursdays from 10 am to noon in Excel, PowerPoint & Word.  Book your Seat Today by emailing [email protected] and to learn more or download the course outlines, visit www.gssoftwareconsulting.ca.  Questions can also be sent any time.  Thanks.