"PA MATTERS TO U" NEWSLETTER - JUNE 2013 AN AMAZING TOOL THAT TAKES THE FEAR OUT OF MINUTING Minuting meetings is one of those tasks that consistently fills PAs with trepidation. The fear of missing something important when minuting a meeting is a genuine concern, particularly because when you produce minutes your skills are on display and your reputation is at stake. Today's PAs are not always called to minute meetings as part of their job role and consequently, their minuting skills can become rusty and outdated - minuting techniques and strategies for taking action points are evolving constantly. If you can relate to this issue, perhaps you should consider taking a refresher course in minuting. Alternatively, there is a tool out there that can take the fear out of minuting. USE A SMARTPEN TO RECORD MEETINGS What if you could record meetings as you write the minutes and know exactly what was being said while you were writing a particular word or sentence. This amazing technology exists; it's called The Livescribe Echo Smartpen. The Echo Smartpen uses an infrared camera located above the nib of the pen to visually and digitally capture pen strokes as you write on special digital paper so that it can link pen strokes to audio. The smartpen can be used as a simple, stand-a-lone recording device or in conjunction with special digital paper. The digital paper has illustrated buttons at the bottom of each page marked "record", "pause", "stop", "jump to", and "bookmark". You simply tap the "record" button to begin recording and the "stop" button to stop. The beauty of this technology is that it allows people who like to keep their written meeting notes, to clarify their notes by tapping on particular words in their notes to playback and hear what was said when that word was being written. This allows people to flesh out the details around a particular issue after the meeting has ended. You can connect the smartpen to your PC to upload your notes. Lifescribe software uses powerful optical recognition technology to digitise your notes. You can also sync with Evernote and view your meeting notes anywhere, including on your Android phone. The Lifescribe Echo smartpen offers many more features - for a demonstration visit: http://www.livescribe.com/uk/ MEETING PLANNING & MINUTING TRAINING Planning and managing meetings effectively is an important skills-set for PAs. As well as having a good understanding of how to take action notes, PAs should fully understand pre-meeting preparation techniques and strategies for deciding which meetings to decline, as well as alternatives to declining meetings. Personal Assistant Tips offers an excellent 1-day intermediate-level course called "PA Duties: Mastering the Essentials". This course teaches best practice strategies for meeting planning, preparation, and taking and wording action notes. If you need to brush up your skills this course offers an indepth look at the entire process. This course also addresses a number of other themes such as planning executive travel, the essentials of business English, email and diary management techniques, assertiveness, time management and prioritising, and strategies for managing your boss. For more information visit: https://www.personal-assistant-tips.com/PA_Duties_Training_Course.html ADVANCED EXECUTIVE PA MASTERCLASS Central London, 27 & 28 June 2013 Learn PA Best Practice Strategies that will Raise Your Game The next Executive PA Masterclass is fast approaching. Join us on Thursday 27th and Friday 28th June, 2013 and discover the latest PA best practice and strategies for adding value to your role. This is an excellent course for senior PAs and those wishing to raise their game significantly. What Others Have Said About the Masterclass “Anyone thinking of doing this course should definitely go ahead and book! Marguerita is the fountain of knowledge and really knows how to get the best out of you! Very useful course content that I will carry with me throughout my career." “An extremely good course for senior PAs, with good practical exercises, which were well delivered." “I am really enthusiastic of the opportunity to have followed this course which gave a lot of inspiration and good and very useful tips to help out in my daily activities." Visit: https://www.personal-assistant-tips.com/Executive_PA_Masterclass.html We welcome your comments and your suggestions for future PA Matters to U articles. Please send your comments to <>pamatters@personal-assistant-tips.com. Marguerita King, Managing Director, Personal Assistant Tips, Suite 16413, 145-157 St John Street, London, EC1V 4PW, England, Tel: +44 (0)845 862 2687, Mobile: +44 (0)7771 648521, Fax: +44 (0)207 183 9899, Email: PAMatters@personal-assistant-tips.com, Website: www.personal-assistant-tips.com