Consoltis Blog

IOD Meet up Mondays 8th November City Inn Leeds 5 - 7pm

Venue:	Sky Lounge, City Inn, 2 Wharf Approach, Leeds, LS1 4BR
Time:	17:00 - 19:00
Cost:	FREE

This is a great networking and social event set at one of the best locations in Leeds to see the skyline in the Sky Lounge at the City Inn.

Informal, vibrant and relaxed, the IOD Young Directors Forum (YDF) invites all members to join us for our ever popular 'Meet up Mondays'. The event is FREE.

This is a great opportunity for all members who enjoy a more informal approach to networking or to catch up with some friends.

All members are warmly welcome and can bring up to two guests to each event.

No booking necessary, so just come along!

Getting the HTC Wildfire Mobile to work with Exchange and the car

Some tips for getting your HTC Wildfire to work

I upgraded my phone to a HTC Wildfire having previously owned 2 windows mobile phones. A HTC Touch and T-Mobile MDA Vario III.

I have waited patiently for many years now for the mobile to work as a phone and for all those gadgets on the phone like web browsing and calender to work effectively. Reading the various reviews I got the feeling that the HTC Desire was the one for me.

The thing is that I waited for over a month for a HTC Desire with T-Mobile and there was no guarantee about getting one .. something to do with a problem manufacturing the screen I was told, so in the end, I was offered a HTC Wildfire so went for that one at a reduced rate. Its nearly the same as the Desire, but smaller and the processor is not quite as faster.

My key requirement beside the functionality of the phone is to synchronise with Exchange for contacts, diary and tasks

What I think of the HTC Wildfire

I spent the first week getting used to Android and downloading loads of new apps. Everything started well. Liked the inteface compared with the windows mobile. Right smaller size compared with Touch. Responsive. So got exchange email working, synchronised all the contacts and the diary ... It worked in the car (Audi A6 with MMI interface). Was feeling pretty pleased. Downloaded more apps via market place ... Started to realise that the exchange tasks couldn't be sychronised on the phone ... so looked for a solution. Found Touchdown by Nitro. Brilliant another download and one that looked great ..

Very happy at this point with the HTC Wildfire.

Interesting though that the phone seemed to be grinding to a halt. Very hard to find people and contacts were taking ages to come up on the screen. Synchronisation with the car stopped. Wasn't easy to text .. and then the bluetooth started to stop and then start again.

Now really not happy at all with the HTC Wildfire ... another one that just doesn't work.

What I did next

After loads of tinkering with the settings and searching the internet for ideas, the only thing I could think of was to go back to basics. The factory reset and start again.

So, HTC Wildfire Back to Basics

I needed to think about what I really needed. So, here is my list.

Important to me	Nice to have
the phone has to work as a phone need the exchange address book sync with the car (Audi A6) with bluetooth including the address book want the phone to be responsive for calls, text and mail need the calender to sync (exchange)	task list sync (exchange) social media integration responsive web browser (when required) a battery that lasts a least one day of normal use

I went about setting up the phone trying to make sure that everything important to me is set up and working.

HTC Wildfire Top Tips (at least what I found useful so far)

Aftering installing K-9 mail and Touchdown I felt that it was using too much processing power and memory so only use one email client. I used the standard one with the phone. I means I won't get all the benefits that the others apps could bring, but at least I can the phone is responsive
Turn off any synchronsation if you don't need it. So, in my case
- Sync ON
  - Exchange ActiveSync (mail, contacts, calendar)
  - Google (mail only)
- Sync OFF
  - News
  - Stocks
Only install applications that you really need on the phone. So all the nice to have apps that I found on market place didn't get installed a second time around
People App - Only view exchange contacts
Turn off the phone based widgets that encourage synchronisation
Use Shortcuts to create a series of direct dials to save you looking for people you ring regularly

A working HTC Wildfire phone

I can report that synchronisation between phone and exchange is now working correctly, although I would still really like to see exchange tasks working on the phone. If anyone has an idea on that please do let me know? The phone is working in the car the too without the bluetooth starting and stopping. So that is a relief. It is also responsive compared with the old windows mobile - there was always a delay with taking a call for some reason. I can only conclude that there was too much going on in the phone with the original HTC Wildfire setup. Phone calls, texting and email working brilliantly at the moment. Providing the phone keeps working like it is then I think the temptation might be to add more apps, but there is a risk it will go back to the old ways of being non-responsive.

So in conclusion happy with the HTC Wildfire now ... at least for the next 12 months anyway

Looking for affordable Microsoft Exchange hosted services?

Be inspired - An evening with Clive Gott The Light Bradford

On the 7th Oct 2010 I went to ' an evening with Clive Gott ' at The Light in Bradford .. a fantastic and newly refurbished community facility very near Bradford Cathedral. The event was to support a project run by Inns Churches that helps the homeless get off the streets, provides shelter and opportunity. Its run by a lady called Juli Thompson and a team of volunteers. They need your support if you are able.

I didn't know really what to expect, but they showed this video and it tells the whole story and the importance of the work that Inns Churches does.. It has made me think quite a bit about how lucky I am to have a roof over my head and the fact that I have choices available me. I was impressed by the spirt and good will of others.

Clive Gott was on for about one and half hours and talked very enthusiastically about his challenges, choices and adventures. It was both an enjoyable and rewarding night and he made me think even harder .. particuarly on the importance of values and people that have a positive impact on me and my family. If you've not seen Clive in action then to find out more take a look at his website www.clivegott.com. It's also worth signing up to Clive's blog http://blog.clivegott.com/ and really enjoyed reading one of Clive's books How to Take life by the Throat.

Starling provided the music, a talented young band, that played a good few songs that I thought was just great - they did the music for the video 'How do you change'.

There was also something a bit spooky about being in Bradford. Its my hometown. I was already in a reflective mood that day so made it ven more a place to think about the past and reflect on what you've achieved so far.

The evening did inspire in lots of positive dimension. It made me think about my values and also to reassert that its ok to help someone else in what ever way you can.

I was at another event on the 11th Oct in Leeds with the IOD and Young Directors. We host the Meet up Mondays event and afterwards there was an awards ceremony to highlight the achievement of the IOD Directtors Development Programme.

On my way home in the train station I was stopped by someone who said I had a kind face and wouldn't look down on him. He was homeless. I know your told not to talk with strangers, but it seemed like the right thing to do given being at The Light a few nights previously. I listened .. He talked about a new place and start he was getting tomorrow. He talked about what he was going to do. I guess an address combined with the right attitude and opportunity can make a difference. A new start. To repeat a phrase I learned from Clive 'its about you and your choice' .. I sincerely wish Terry well.

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Meet up Mondays 11th October City Inn Leeds 5 - 7pm

Venue:	Sky Lounge, City Inn, 2 Wharf Approach, Leeds, LS1 4BR
Time:	17:00 - 19:00
Cost:	FREE

This is a great networking and social event set at one of the best locations in Leeds to see the skyline in the Sky Lounge at the City Inn.

Informal, vibrant and relaxed, the IOD Young Directors Forum (YDF) invites all members to join us for our ever popular 'Meet up Mondays'. The event is FREE.

This is a great opportunity for all members who enjoy a more informal approach to networking or to catch up with some friends.

All members are warmly welcome and can bring up to two guests to each event.

No booking necessary, so just come along!

Following the event and inconjuction with Leeds Metropolian University the there will be:

IoD Young Directors Forum – Director Development Award Programme Ceremony

19:00 Evening Introduction
(Kenton Robbins to introduce evening and IoD programme followed by a brief introduction to DVC Prof. Andrew Slade)

19:15 Andrew Slade to start award ceremony and formally present IoD delegates with Certificate or Diploma awards (delegates names to be called out by Kenton Robbins)

19:30 ‘Formal’ proceedings close
Canapes and drinks

BASHgroup site update and new Facebook Fans

It's a good few months now since I've written anything on the blog. I've have been busy with a number of other projects and theres some great news on the way. If I am totally honest the gap between blogs is due to a lack of focus on keeping the Consoltis site up-to-date ... I think it's all too easy to take the foot off the communications pedal.

BASHgroup have seen some changes over the last month or so with the new owner Marcus Thomlinson now fully in charge. As a consequence of this time, the website has naturally taken a slight step back, but I am pleased to say that we are going forward again.

There's been a few changes to the website since the last report.

The site now displays the team biographies, has the capability for promoting local gigs in the local area ( Harrrogate, Leeds, Bradford, Ilkley to name but a few) and there are a few more pages available now that promoting the studios services such as Star for a Day and The rehearsal rooms.

There has been progress with social media links - the Facebook pages have with well over 1000 Fans in place and growing .. what is encouraging is that people are making bookings through finding out about promotions them either via Facebook or from the website directly . See www.bashgroup.co.uk/starforaday for more information

The homepage has alway had a bit of a tidy up too, largely as a result of number of You Tube videos that have been uploaded onto the site - Most of them have been directed and produced by the BASHgroup team.

Interesting videos include

- An interview with Simon Fowler of Ocean Colour Scene

- Ecurie 25 Super Car Bashvert

I know there is more exciting projects on the way - it's exciting times at BASH.

Uploading your video clip to You Tube is easy

I've been working on site with one of my clients discussing inbound marketing strategies.

On of the areas discussed was about using You Tube to promote www.onestopcctv.co.uk. It seems to be one of the best ways to show your customers what type of business you are and use to encourage them to engage with you and do better business.

So what do you need to produce a quick video clip?

We used a simple Flip Ulta HD to take the video clip.
In this case just we just took a quick recording there and then
We have downloaded the video clip onto the computer
After that, uploaded the clip onto You Tube - we chose not to edit the video and for better overall results this is recommended.

What next?

Then we utilised the YouTube video by embedding the code into this blog
Our intention is to use the clip and others as part of the marketing plan telling people about it via blogs, twitter, linked in etc ..

We've proved that anyone can take a video clip and upload onto YouTube.

OneStop CCTV are planning to take a series of clips about their business with the intention of increasing awareness of the business.

Yorkshire IOD - Meet up Mondays 10th May 2010

Venue: Sky Lounge, City Inn, 2 Wharf Approach, Leeds, LS1 4BR

Time: 5 - 7pm

Cost: FREE

This is a great network event set at one of the best locations in Leeds to see the skyline in the Sky Lounge at the City Inn.

Informal, vibrant and relaxed, the Young Directors Forum (YDF) invites all members to join us for our ever popular 'Meet up Mondays'. The event is FREE.

This is a great opportunity for all members who enjoy a more informal approach to networking or to catch up with some friends.

All members are warmly welcome and can bring up to two guests to each event. No booking necessary, so just come along!

Lulabelles goes live

We are delighted to announce that another Consoltis website has gone live - Lulabelle's homemade food is simply gorgeous .. why not give them a try?

Please visit this brand new website

http://www.lulabelleslunches.co.uk

" I approached Consoltis having been recommended by a friend. At first I was quite reticent as most of Consoltis websites are very technically led and not design led. However, after an initial consultation I was confident that Andrew had listened and understood not only to my brief but my business concept, which is quite niche! The end result is a fabulous new website that does everything I need it to but with huge potential for growth. I recognise that I need to keep adding content and look forward to working with Andrew to develop over the coming months. "

Cathy McConaghy, Proprietor

Marketing review - a gradual start

I recently went to Bash Studios for another review meeting with the team. We agreed a time and some 2 hrs later, with the backdrop of bands in rehearsal, we started and various people popped in to join us ... it's all quite chilled actually.

Marcus introduced me more of team including Matt Speddngs of www.deepfocus.co.uk, who is going to be doing some of the filming that is planned.

We talked about the next stages for the site and there is a promise of some great content.

The key focus of our discussions is to generate some exciting and unique content to include film, composing, graphics and animation. The team are working hard and having a few laughs at the same time.

Coming up soon will be the Bash Studios song played by the house band, various Bash video clips, team bios and pictures and a local gig guide for Harrogate and the surrounding area.

Whilst exciting for everyone involved, it's taking even longer than I expected to build the content. I don't know why I am surprised, because I know how hard it really is and also is a new process to learn. I was hoping we would be a little further on. Anyway, the important bit is that the Bash team have embraced the need to create and have put plans in place.

I will be checking the progress at the next update meeting later this week and there will hopefully be some exciting new content to upload.

It's a sort of a gradual start and we are making progress, but you just can't see it yet.

Its how you respond in life

“Life is 10% of what happens to you and 90% of how you respond “

Thanks to Andy McMenmey for telling me about this one.

Building Bash - Day 2

I went to Bash Studios this week to continue the journey.

The domain www.bashgroup.co.uk is fully in place now, plus we've amended the photos used in the backdrop. They were all taken at Bash Studios by Jamie Valentine.

A few people are getting to know about the site which is good and getting some thumbs up. Its all at the early stages, but there is definitely an upbeat buzz around the place. There is talk of an official launch at the end of March.

Marcus Thomlinson was saying that the the followers in Facebook have moved up to to over 300 in the last week. Just the one tweet at the moment.

Still quite a lot to do with the site and now the team are starting to focus on producing amazing content for everything Bash Group.

Kasiuss popped in and Jason Odle gave us some feedback on the bashgroup.co.uk website so we just made some amends to the placement of Twitter, Facebook and Youtube icons - There in a better place on the site now so you can see them on every page.

The band found out that they are playing a couple of live songs on BBC Radio Leeds on West Yorkshire Raw Talent Show 18th March 2010 (19:00 - 22:00). I am told that there will be on at 8.05pm.

They will be great and Bash Group are going along to film it for the blog - it's all very Rock and Roll.

Building Bash - First project meeting

I went to Bash studios for the first time to talk about building the site. I met up with Marcus, Jamie and Jason.

We talked about how we could use social media to promote the businesses within the group – the studios, the online shop and telecoms. We talked about how we could engage with the local community much more than we do now and how to make Bash an even more exciting and engaging place to be. There are over 70+ bands that uses the facilities here and there are some really creative and talented people.

We talked about content – one of the most important elements in social media. Without something interesting nobody is going to engage.

So to kick the process off we put in place the Consoltis framework site onto our managed server and started to put in place the Bashgroup branding and added some initial posts. We have also put in the direct links to the Bashgroup websites (studios, online shop, telecoms) and to twitter, youtube and facebook accounts.

Framework functionality includes design controls, user authentication, RSS feeds, blogging, CRM, subscription services, in-built SEO, database management, remote support, online content management system. The development platform is neatComponents.

The snapshot below was taken from the site as at 10^th March 2010

The site is currently available directly on bash2.consoltis.com

Building Bash Start of the journey

This is the start of a new journey with Bash Group. A media organisation based at Bash Studios in Harrogate. We are work together to build up the Bash Group brand and online presence using a variety of social media techniques. It's going to be fantastic - the people involved are just great and its going to be a success.

The normal business thing to do is write up a case study after the after event and say how great everything is and then get a great quote from the business owner. I thought we would do this one differently and if I am totally honest, I have no idea how this is going to work out in practice because we are going to share the journey with you including the ups and downs.

Besides an opportunity to actually show and evidence the journey, we want to get over the mixed messages and hype about social media. I think many people are not quite sure what to do right now. I believe there are three camps clearly cut into believers; non-believers; no-idea.

So for me, it’s about skipping over the buzz words, demonstrating what can be done and also putting everything into a practical perspective. It’s also about being totally honest with your customers and yourself about what is possible within your own budget and available time.

So this blog is going to show the journey of building the online presence for the Bash Group. The blogs will show the real word strategy discussions, ideas for marketing, social media techniques, discussions on site optimisation (SEO), successes and failures.

It should be fun and rewarding for everyone involved. We will see of course if you are in the non-believer or no-idea category my hope is there is something in these blogs that might inspire you.

The project started on the 1st March 2010.

www.bashgroup.co.uk

Tags added to every blog

We've added a Tags feature to the site so that our blogs are easier to navigate. I think once you have decided to increase the content on the site and make it more dynamic, the next probem is being able to find relevant information quickly and easily.

Please let is know if you think this is better.

ps. we've also changed the homepage so that our favourite and latest blogs can feature on the homepage.

Symphony of Science - The Poetry of Reality (An Anthem for Science)

Another great example of the viral video placed in You Tube. This is the fifth installment - great video, music and messages.

See the creators project's main website for more details http://www.symphonyofscience.com

Successful online social media top book list

These are some of my favourite books that helped me and could help you with online social media. I found these books useful in providing tips on better engagement with your customers/audience online and help you think about building a stronger online presence .. ultimately then leading to better opportunities and business.

The book list is made of up a blend of techniques and ideas for addressing social media plus the all important traditional management and personal skills.

Please let me know what you think.

Building a successful presence online webinar

Date:	2nd March 2010
Time:	10.00 – 10.45
Location:	Online, using online meeting software called DimDim
Presenters:	Charlotte Britton, Andrew Chapman
Cost:	FREE
Book here:	Book event

If you read any newspaper or blogs we are sure you have noticed that social media has hit the headlines. I am sure you have then has started asking yourself questions such as:

What is the difference between Facebook and Linkedin?
Where should I focus my efforts online for maximum return?
Should I be Twittering and what do I have to say?
What is a blog and should I have one?

It feels overwhelming but important. So how do you wade through all the information and start making decisions about how you get started?

In this online seminar we will show you how to take easy steps to building your presence online.

What will be covered in the seminar?
What the main social media sites and tools are for business leaders
How to set up an effective presence online
How to grow your credibility on these sites and become an expert
How to use these sites to drive additional visitors (and potential customers to your website)

Why an online seminar?

We are all busy people and travelling to event takes time out all of our diaries. Using DimDim you can

Participate in the online seminar
Listen to the speakers
Ask questions

Pretty much like you are actually there.....whilst still in the office.

After the seminar all participators will be sent 2 white papers on building your credibility online and how to build your credibility on Linkedin

What equipment will I need?

As long as you have speakers you can participate in the seminar. You will ask questions by typing them real time, so the speaker can see them on screen.

Presenters

Charlotte and Andrew are collaborating together for this webinar bringing together many years of combined business, marketing and technology expertise of how to use the internet successfully.

Charlotte Britton

Charlotte has worked in the online marketing arena for over 10 years now. She started in the E-Commerce team at ASDA and subsequently moved over to an online marketing agency called Stickyeyes. Over the past 5 years she has been a Director at Pollenation, an open source software consultancy. Charlotte is the Chairman of the Yorkshire and Humber Institute of Directors Young Directors Forum. Linked in profile

Andrew Chapman

Andrew has worked in technology for over 15 years having worked in support services for Mowlem Plc, Marks and Spencer's and Enterprise. He ran a technology division Mowlem Acqumen for 5 years delivering a wide range of information systems using internet based technologies.

More recently he has been working on a wide range of business consultancy, e-learning and e-commerce projects for a range of customers. Linked in profile

Yorkshire IoD Just Do Lunch - 22nd Feb 2010

Time: 12 - 2pm

Venue: 3 Albion Place, Leeds, LS1 6JL

The YDF presents 'Just Lunch' - a monthly lunchtime event to meet and network with fellow members and guests over a two course lunch.

Martin Dean, Deputy Director of the Leeds Initiative will be joining us for lunch. The Leeds Initiative is the city’s local strategic partnership which encourages the public, private, community, voluntary and faith sectors to work together to overcome problems for the benefit for all citizens both now and in the future. Martin is keen to get IOD members’ input into the economic and skills development for the city

Cost: Members £23.40 and Non-Members £28.94

To Book: Either book online at IoD.com or call Suzanne Foxely on 0113 243 0152

Leeds-The Agenda for Improved Economic Performance

As part of my work with the IOD I was invited to a consultation meeting along with many other business representatives last week with Leeds City Council. My involvement was to represent the small business perspective.

The consultation process and report is being prepared to outline the City's Agenda for improved Economic Performance with the aim of being published shortly after the Election in May/June 2010. Further details are on the Leeds City Council website

It was a very interesting meeting to understand what the new strategy is for Leeds Economic development and the considerations and input that is being received across the Leeds community since it was last updated in 1999.

Key questions were considered with the main one being how does Leeds continue to become a destination of choice in the North over the next 10 years or so and what do people need to proposer.

The focus is to build on the strengths and opportunities whilst tackle areas of under-performance. There is a theme being developed of Great place, skilled people and competitive business.

A key statement is to continue to encourage Leeds as a city of enterprise developing skills, infrastructure and helping businesses to start up and grow

There are many factors that have already been discussed and considered during the consultation period and people gave their view at the meeting.

I did raise a specific issue about the changing landscape and future needs

" .. more and more people are stepping away from the corporate life and building businesses. Technology has changed and enabled many things including the ability to collaborate across boundaries and allow many people to do more for less due to skill set convergence. I think together with Leeds as a great place, entrepreneurs look for core like minded people to collaborate with directly and networks to develop work opportunities. Besides this people also collaborate beyond 'the place' to where it makes economic sense and this can be overseas. The place therefore has to be appealing and flexible enough for both the work/life balance to keep people here and keep the positive spirit that Leeds has definitely generated over the last 15 years "

I think it has been interesting process to reflect on the place where I live and the benefits that Leeds brings to work and life. Most important of all its the people that you interactive with that make you realise that Leeds is a place where you can prosper.

If you do have any views I would would be very pleased to hear about them and help do my bit for Leeds development.

Online success with Simons Cat

I am not sure if you have come across Simons Cat. It is a brilliant example of viral marketing and a very good example of a successful online presence.

Yes, I guess you need to appreciate cats but the concept and animation is simply superb.

Its also absolutely great fun even if you don't like cats - the website gets 60,000 hits a day too.

See www.simonscat.com for everything about cats.

More films - http://www.simonscat.com/films.html

And you can buy the book too. It is 191st most popular book and most Popular humerous comic strip book on Amazon.

Taste of The Alternative Board

I was at a TAB Board taster meeting this last week (The Alternative Board) and was asked to present a management challenge. Mine was about how to try and win new customers.

I got some very helpful advice from others on the board and thought I would share them because the points made would be relevant to any business.

- do I understand my customer's needs?

- are my product a good fit?

- ensure you communicate in plain English and get straight to the point quickly to make the right impression

- properly show the full benefits of my product and services

- engage with customers and talk about how you can help them

- don't be afraid to ask for referrals from existing customers

For the rest of the day I was in some what of a reflective mood. Watching Murray play Cilic in the semi-final made me realise the importance of a positive mental attitude. I think his play and focus is now starting to show through. Together with his personal fitness level he certainly has positioned and improved his conditions to win. It has motivated me even further for sure.

TAB I believe is all about providing a framework that helps you stay focused and work with some like minded people to keep you motivated. I like the idea of developing ideas in a safe environment and being able to leverage expertise that is just like having your own non-exec board. Ultimately this should lead to doing better more profitable business.

I have felt some of the benefits already so I've decided to sign up to a TAB Board.

The Coca Cola Happiness Machine

I just thought this was great ..

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/definition-6-launches-coca-cola-happiness-machine-video-81706642.html

Survive and Thrive Headingly Campus Nov 2009

Left to Right; Keith Arkle Sage UK, Simon Riley Yorkshire Forward, Johnny Abraham Barclays, Iain Brown Busines Link, Andrew Chapman Consoltis, Andy McMenemy 2Inspire, John Holroyd Mazars

Andrew Chapman hosting the event alongside Business Link.

The Yorkshire IoD YDF Committee collaborated with the team at Business Link to put on an informative event held on the 24th November at the Ghandi Hall at the Headingly Campus.

The aim was to give practical tips for business owners in Leeds about how they can manage their businesses in tough times.

Topics covered at the event included:

Funding: Banking and Finance
- What the banks are doing for business in the current climate - Johnny Abraham Barclays
- How to raise finance - Simon Riley, Yorkshire Forward
- Practical support and guidance available - Business Link
Managing Cash
- John Holroyd - Mazars
- Using Sage Accounts to effectively manage cash - Keith Arkle Sage
Sales: Turning it around
- How to win business with Leeds City Council - Gary Bristol and Maurice Sibar
- How to sell yourself in tough times - Andy McMenemy
Question Time

Please find more details about the event on Charlotte's blog http://www.charlottebritton.co.uk/2009/11/thoughts-on-survive-and-thrive-how-to.html

Yorkshire IOD - Meet up Mondays 8th Feb 2010

Time: 5 - 7pm

Venue: Sky Lounge, City Inn, 2 Wharf Approach, Leeds, LS1 4BR

Cost: FREE

Informal, vibrant and relaxed, the YDF invites all members to join us for our ever popular 'Meet up Mondays'. This is a great opportunity for all members who enjoy a more informal approach to networking or to catch up with some friends.

All members are warmly welcome and can bring up to two guests to each event. No booking necessary, so just come along!

Is charisma important in leading and delivering projects

I was discussing project work over lunch with a colleague. It triggered some thinking about aspects of a project that are important in leading and delivering them. I’ve always been pretty passionate about delivering a project for my clients and to quote Prince2 “ to time, cost and quality”. You are only as good as the work you can deliver and reference.

In every project I’ve worked on over the years there is a genuine need to work with a wide range of people, skills and attitudes. How you interact is very important and the pitch is essential if you want to achieve your objectives.

In terms of building your character you have to engage positively and understand how to get across all the issues and work through them – this particularly true in challenging circumstances.

In every situation you have to show the way forward and I think it helps to have something about you if you want people to listen and work with you. Without that genuine interest in other people I don’t think you can make your mark and have a chance in delivering high quality projects. I remember reading “How to win friends and influence people” by Dale Carnegie a while back http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Win_Friends_and_Influence_People. It’s an old text, but well worth a read to get some essential tips on how to work with people.

In terms of reading people I look for reciprocation from others. If they are a “can do” person they can help you and you’ll probably earn some brownie points for “doing what you say you will”. For those not so willing, you need to find out how to handle them.

Being able to lead and deliver is important and to do it with effective communication, persuasion and maybe some magnetism you will get you noticed and earn some respect. If you want to build long term relationships with customers, friends and family alike I think it’s important to have charisma.

Do you agree? I would be interested in your views.

Sending marketing emails avoiding SPAM

At a recent meeting a question was raised about creating marketing emails that avoid your important communication being either labelled as SPAM or landing in the Junk folder of the recepient.

It's a hard one because receiving unwanted emails can be annoying and there are so many tools available that put the user in control of what they receive.

So, can you improve your chances or sending emails to your customer and get your message or promotion in front of them.

email creation tips

ISP's filter emails and look at the subject headers to see what words are being used and this is one of the ways your communication can get blocked. Further to this a company's system may filter and then finally the individual's email system may filter. Consequently your email might not get through as you intended.
Ensure that everything is spelt correctly and the title of the email is completed. Try and avoid certain words - see references sites below for ideas on the words to avoid.
Plain text emails are actually less likely to get posted to the junk folder or get through the corporate firewall, but clearly HTML based emails will look better
If you are creating an HTML based email try and ensure that all the coding is correct - it will need to be thoroughly tested
Create a friends list and test out your prospective marketing emails and get feedback on both the content to see if it working as intended and to also see if it landed into their email box

Some useful reference sites

Yorkshire IOD - Just Do Lunch 25th Jan

Time: 12 - 2pm

Venue: 3 Albion Place, Leeds, LS1 6JL

The YDF presents 'Just Lunch' - a monthly lunchtime event to meet and network with fellow members and guests over a two course lunch.

Cost: Members and Guests £27.50

To Book: Either book online at IoD.com or call Suzanne Foxely on 0113 243 0152

UnModerated Blog Comments

From 2010 onwards we are trying to encourage social discussion on the site so when you make a comment on the Consoltis blog it is currently set so that you’re comment will go live on the website straight away to encourage open dialog.

Note that all content from the site including the blog posts and comments are being indexed by search engines including Google.

We reserve the right to switch off any comments that may be unsuitable and do monitor the content.

Save time by using a RSS Reader

If you access lots of websites and look at people's blogs on a regular basis, then you should look at using a RSS reader and make life a bit more simple.

What is a RSS Reader?

In simple terms it will help bring changing information that you are interested to you. The RSS reader helps you manage this from a single place and saves you a job of having to look at lots of different sites to keep up to date.

It stands for Really Simple Syndication and the technology has been around for many years. Most people don't seem to know what it is or how it can be of benefit. You'll find the best definition of RSS on Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS

Simple steps to get going with RSS

Whenever you see the orange symbol it means that there is a RSS newsfeed link available to you to stay up-to-date when the latest news. There are many feeds available particularly from bloggers and content management systems. Organisations that care about broadcasting changes will use RSS. So, click on the orange symbol and it will give you XML link similar to the one below.

The Consoltis Blog RSS feed

http://www.consoltis.com/rss/25/50/41/8b44c538d569216e2b520038555e9964.xml

To use the feed, you need a Reader. I use Google's RSS Reader (http://www.google.com/reader). It's free and have subscribed to many sites that interest me both from a business and personal perspective ie. changes to google, marketing sites, Search Engine Optimisation, Andy's Murray's tennis blog etc ..

All you do is take a copy of the XML feed (like the Consoltis Blog ) and then add a subscription for each link. You'll soon build up a very powerful list of information you can use everyday.

Benefits

Information comes to you
You can look at the changes other organisations and people have made any time you like
The RSS Reader works a bit like email and keeps track of the pages you've not seen
You can access the RSS reader from any device including you're mobile phone
Saves you time and keeps you in touch

Yorkshire IoD Meet up Mondays 8 Feb 2010

Location: SkyLounge, City Inn, Leeds, GB

http://events.linkedin.com/IoD-Meet-up-Mondays/pub/201228

It’s just a great opportunity to meet other IoD members and their guests.

There is no charge for this event and members do not need to pre-book. If you want to broaden your network or just want to catch up with some friends, this is a great opportunity for a more informal and social approach to networking

New comments feature added

A new comments feature has been added to the Consoltis blog.

You will however need to be registered on the site in order to make a comment to any of the blog entries.

If you are not already logged in, the first time you click on make a comment the site will prompt you to either sign in with an existing account or register a new one.

We are really looking forward to reviewing your comments and getting some feedback.

Harrogate and the Stray in the snow

How can you resist not taking a few clips of the snow this christmas period.

Part 2

Watch out for the missing RSS Feed links

Just something to watch out for. I wanted to link to Charlotte Britton's blog via the RSS Feed and put it into the Google reader, but I couldn't find the icon. It turns out I was using Chrome and the RSS Icon wasn't in the usual place.

Charlotte is an expert in Social Media trends and Marketing based in Yorkshire. Take a look at her website: www.charlottebritton.co.uk

Mozilla Firefox

Same view in Chrome (without the RSS Feed icon)

Social Media focus for 2010

Over the Christmas break I have been doing a bit of research on what impact the social media movement will have in 2010. It is pretty clear that more and more people are getting switched on to how social media is changing how we look at things and make purchases.

The consumer voice is getting stronger through the availability of information to make decisions via the internet and then the ability to easily broadcasting their views. The recent run up to Xmas with the Rage Against The Machine votes to upset the traditional X-Factor number one has really shown us all that nothing is safe or certain in this new period.

What I find interesting is a sea change taking place that gives small business a chance to compete head on with the larger more mainstream businesses. Small businesses can be equally and often more effective particularly when you collaborate with like minded experts. In this new era I think you need a combination of traditional business skill sets and an appetite for modern working in order to stay competitive. I don't think big brand company images are enough and the key is being agile to meet customer requirements.

I never thought that I would find myself broadcasting views or sharing information about how to do something. I know this is the only way to show capability, credibility and develop my own personal brand.

If I am honest I don't find blogging at all easy, but I know that in 2010 it is something I must do more of and worst of all I have to be different or at least different enough to be interesting.

What I really want is people to do is look at my website and my blog and then pick up the phone to talk to me about how I can help them in their business.

So if you need some assistance with the new wave of social media or if you just need some help with a website, e-commerce, SEO or PPC please give Consoltis a call.

Search engine PageRank

Did you ever want to know how Google ranks pages. Here's the link to everything you needed to know.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PageRank

YouTube API Changes

You Tube have updated the HTML embedded codes that you use to include videos into your own websites.

See link for more information http://apiblog.youtube.com/2009/10/cleaning-up-our-embeds.html

Consoltis RSS Feed

I have added an RSS feed for the Consoltis blogs. Just click on the RSS Icon shown on the blog tab from within the site to get the following XML link.

http://www.consoltis.com/rss/25/50/38/0440b348c7468e46248b247046030acc.xml

The link shown above can be copied and then added into any RSS Reader such as the one provided by Google.

As we add new blogs they will be automatically posted to your reader and appear as new posts for you to read at your leisure.

Dealing with missing pages in google

It's quite often the case that you need to be able to handle the situation where pages are indexed in google, but don't appear on your website.

This might be because your migrating a website across to a new one or where maybe some products on your e-commerce site are no longer valid.

In both of these circumstances you need to be able to re-direct links found in google to somewhere else.

In neatcomponents this pretty straight forward.

Page or Product doesn't exist

e.g. lets say that http://www.onestopcctv.co.uk/product/9CPPLUS is available as a valid link in google, but the page doesn't actually exist in your website. This means that google has indexed the page.

Go to your layout manager
So, first you need to create a section called 'redirects' in your website and make it a hidden page, but visible to all visitors.
Then you need to create the direct URL called ../product/9CPPLUS
Then you need a redirect to tell google where the link should go. The redirect also has a type 301 and this tells Google that the page has actually moved so eventually the page will be removed from the search index.

Best Practice Title Tags

Ensuring that your title tags used on each page of the website is a key requirement for organic Google search.

Google pays more importance on the wording and placement of words at the beginning of the sentence than anywhere else.

A top tip is to describe the relevant page title and then put the company name in afterwards.

In neatcomponents, there is a simple configuration setting to make these changes for each page.

The example given here is the default home page settings for Consoltis.com. The HTML title entry can be enterered manually or take the parameters of the page (P%) or site name (%S). The example here would be HOME - Consoltis, but it isn't very meaningful so it was changed to 'Grow your business with an effective online solution for promotion and salers - Consoltis'. This is the title tag that gets displayed in Google and why it is so important to present your site in the best way you can.

Most pages are set using the %P and %S settings so that do not need to be configured manually, but everyone can be easily tailored.

'Is mainstream programming becoming redundant?'

I was 12 when dad bought me my first computer – a Commodore 64. It wasn’t long before I wrote some lines of basic, even if it was my 10 Print “My name” and 20 Goto line 10.

Then I progressed to coding a basic sprite jumping around the screen, another one out of the example book, and then eventually turned out some of my own code into a something of program and caught the bug for computing.

Living in the hobbist era in the 70’s and 80’s I remember the excitement of the latest computer and constant upgrading of specification – jumps from memory from 64K to 512k and then 1024k seemed huge at the time. Improvement to the range of colours from 16 to 1024 and then screen resolution increases beyond the capability of the TV to use a dedicated monitor. I went through some computers including an Atari ST and BBC Archimedes before I got to the PC.

There was an emergence of programming languages such as Pascal and C and a growing number of libraries to cope with improvements in an increasing number of input and output devices. There was a healthy appreciation for low level assemblers such as Motorola 68000 and the emergence of RISC32. The hobbist era as a teenager was a very exciting time. So, a career in computing seemed like the way to go. After leaving school I to college to pick up some skills in programming techniques and to also learn about general business. Whilst we did learn more, I remember college days involving learning Cobol ( which seemed a backward step to me), but it did teach me some basic principles of computing design, databases, multi-user concepts and limitations within systems. With the emergence of the graphic user interface (GUI) pioneered by Xerox Park, and then then Apple Mac and Microsoft Windows we started to see computing become even more exciting and interesting.

So why ramble on about this period? We can see the history and for those of us who have lived it we can understand the differences between then and now. 25 years on and since the excitement of the hobbist era we see a completely different landscape. With the Internet and shift from individual computer to multi-user and then latterly to collaboration and social networking we are starting some huge changes and leaps. People in the mainstream just don’t need to program any more as it’s more than likely to have been done before and better by someone else. The science has in my opinion almost gone for most people and it is quite hard to find “true” technical people understand the underlying principles and systems architecture. Wizards and years of clever evolution allow us to hide the need to think really hard or need to be technical. Maybe 15-20 years ago or so being a programmer was most definitely a real skill. Given the current economic climate and a general shift in businesses wanting solutions to be even more efficient there is a now a visible slowdown in demand for these skills. Apart from the “true” technical wizards, then traditional programming into the mainstream is becoming redundant.

I am pleased now that I was never technical enough to be a real programmer. I’ve spent many years of my career to date sandwiched between business operations and the technology teams - a middleman that can talk both languages. I’ve always focused on the needs of the business and how to get the best out of technology. It does however always amaze me how challenging dealing with people happens to be. So much of projects I work on now involves managing the stakeholders applying the logic you learnt in program design to how humans need to think about defining what they actually want. But in terms of the technology piece today you really can buy the application, configure, outsource or do-it-yourself for most things you need.

Ten years ago you needed a team to deliver what you might consider to be a relatively trivial application. Technology has no mystery anymore. And programming is no longer a mainstream specialism. The Facebook generation has changed the way we accept the digital world as part of our lives and embraced the use of technology for all and not the few. For many situations now almost everyone can do something pretty interesting without needing to understand programming techniques, database design or think about an underlying technology. You could easily argue this is progress.

Fairly recently I experienced two projects both involving developing and delivering an online solutions. One involved working to develop and build an online learning diary using traditional programming techniques and a team, the other involved using an application and configuration to deliver an on-line solution. The first had a development team of three and took about 4 months initial development time and about a further 4 months to refine the application with several iterations and consultations with stakeholders. All project managed to Prince2. The second, an online e-commerce retail shop, took 3 months from start to finish and was designed and configured by one individual. Complexity wise the projects were comparable, but what is interesting is that the traditional development cost was 25 times more expensive to implement and will be its very nature cost less to maintain over the long term. In the second project, skills in database design, e-commerce, layout design and HTML were all managed in the neatComponents application. Only configuration of the components was needed. The development was able to focus 85% on the business requirements with high interaction directly with the client.

Evolution of configuration-based development tools are getting stronger all the time. It is only a matter of time before the traditional programmer role becomes less needed and important in the mainstream. There will always be a place for the science and specialist programmer, but the roles will become increasingly niche. History is repeating itself in the sense that programming made many simple tasks redundant, programming itself its making programming redundant. We have probably now reached that point where power of the application is turning increasingly to the empowered user and enthusiast to deliver the end-user application.

Site updates

I have made a few updates to the website to improve the look and feel.

Changes include some new pictures for the homepage, services and the renamed solutions page (previously the products page).

Virtual telephony

We have been looking for an inexpensive virtual telephony service for a while. Yes, there are a few services around, but we've never found a perfect fit. What we didn't want was a virtual receptionist service although we may want this at some point in the future.

Our requirement was for a virtual service where can choose your telephone number and then control where and how you receive or make the call.

I have previously raved about Skype and still do, but it didn't work as we wanted for external calls. First, we got a restricted selection of telephone numbers. We wanted a Harrogate telephone number (01423), but was only offered Leeds (0113) as our nearest location .. it doesn't really fit a business operating in Harrogate. Second, we have not managed to get the voicemail to work off the external telephone number. This may be possible and it has been fine for direct Skype calls, but that wasn't a solution we were totally happy with nor do I think it works in practice. People just know when your on or off-line Skype so don't tend to use the voicemail service all that much.

So, we looked at some options on the web and found a service offered by Soho66 http://www.soho66.co.uk. They offered the all important 01423 number and a few more bells and whistles. We can route the call to either another landline or to an IP based phone plugged into your broadband. You can also configure the workflow so that the call is directed to multiple numbers simultaneously ie. your mobile phone at the same time. You choose how many seconds delay before you can send to voicemail. The system then sends you message via email and you can play back the message. We use Outlook push email, so the message is automatically relayed to the mobile phone. The service does more than this and we felt the customer experience was good, so we have a cost effective solution that we are happy with now -- a fully functional virtual business line that works where ever we happen to be working.

Tips on working with images for your website

Working with images

Here are some basics you need to know about working with images and for them to look right on your website pages.

This is the Consolits Logo. It has been trimmed to 200px wide.

This is the same logo that has been reduced in size and stretched on the horizontal to make it 100px wide. It doesn't look right does it? The same would apply if you stretched the logo vertical - it would look squashed.

If you want a logo that is 100px wide the best way to achieve this is by using a program to adjust the size. Something like Corel Paint Shop Pro.

Images should be adjusted in the Paint program first and then uploaded into your site.

Simple steps

Start with the source image and load into your favourite paint program
Select the image or cut out a section into a new window
Select the 'resize' option for the entire object
In this case we are going to resize it by number of pixels - 100 px wide
Corel automatically works out the proportional height to keep the image balanced
Select OK and the image will shrink to the selected size

This is the logo at 100px

Embedding Flash into your webpage

Requirement

Produce a 'Flash' presentation and embed the object into neatComponents or HTML page.

Solution

For some of the project work we have undertaken, we decided to chose Selteco Aligator Flash Designer an a relatively inexpensive and effective method to produce Flash. What we liked were pretty much instant results after investing only a short period of time in using the system.

You can get more detailed information from their website for more information www.selteco.com

What you are able to do is use the design tool to create a movie or sequence. Whilst there is no real programming at all you do need to plan an appropriate sequence with the appropriate graphics and text.

When you have completed your Flash sequence the software package can produces a .SWF to subsequently upload onto your site.

Embedding the Code

In order for the Flash object to be appear on the HTML page both the SWF file must be loaded into a appropriate location and the Code must be inserted. The code fragment is produced automatically by Alligator Flash. An example is given below.

Be careful to make sure the correct path is given for the location of the .SWF file.

Adobe Flash Reader

For anyone wanting to view the Flash object the reader must be installed on the computer or portable device. See the following link for more information http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/

An example website using Flash

See www.acquisita.com

Updating the consoltis website

I thought it was about time to update the Consoltis website. It hasn't represented the business for some time and I felt it was losing its identity.

The site has been built using neatComponents. This time I wanted to add a blog and create some technical pages showing how we have solved business issues. I've added a search facility for the technical posts.

I intend to develop the site over a period to continue to demonstrate is capability and value.

Flexible working using Skype

The way we work today continues to change. Technology is getting smarter and empowering people to do more.

You can see further acceleration and behaviour change taking place. I think businesses are able to gain competitive advantage by embracing modern technology if they chose to work smart. We have noticed that many of the organisations we work with are embracing smarter ways of working. Maybe its to do with the down turn, but the bottom line is that we want our time to be effective and need to plan more carefully.

Whilst there are a many products around that help people work smarter, for me Skype is one of those products that really has changed the way we work. Most of our customers use it and work with us to solve issues on-line. We use all its features to fit in with how we work and our lifestyles. We love the video conferencing facilities and think the messaging service is very effective. Working on-line to review issues is both effective in terms of time management and helps to keep everyone focused without getting sidetracked. I think Skype has helped with our customer relationships too.

The extension of Skype to Pocket PC is also reaching further to change the way that we work still further ... perhaps a bit too bleeding edge for most.

Integrating news into your website

Requirements

Using neatComponents development platform to integrate news feeds working inconjunction with constantcontact.com emails.

What we did

Acquisita decided to subscribe to constantcontact.com to produce and maintain news with its customer base. After producing the mailshots we wanted to extend the use of the news feature and make the information available via the website.

We addded a new database and embedded the HTML produced within constantcontact.com

1. News Database

Field	Type	Public	System
RecordID	#Counter		x
Date	Date	x
Title	Text	x
Summary	Text	x
News	Rich Text	x
Public?	Yes/No	x

2. Creating a query to view the news on the homepage

We were able to add a simple query that produced a summary listing of the news item and we added it to the homepage based on a flag. If the Public? flag is set to TRUE the news item is displayed to any user browsing the page.

When the user clicks on the news link the news article that was originally created in constantcontact.com is viewable. The HTML however resides within the Acquisita website.

News

Alternative Strategy

What we could have done to solve this problem instead was to create the news and HTML within the neatcomponents platform. The additional task would of required us to create a CRM type database of client information. It was feasible to do this, but we decided on this occasion that is was better to use a combination of both technologies. One of the key advantages of using constantcontact.com was the application is tried and tested and we wanted to produce the solution quickly. By combining the output with the website we created additional value with little extra effort.

Creating a candidate database

Requirements

To build a candidate registration process for Acquisita LLP
Integrate process into www.acquisita.com

What we did

We used neatComponents development platform to build the process and focused on 5 key areas to build the feature. They are summarised below:

1. Security Permissions Model
2. Database Structure (Form)
3. Automated email - Event trigger
4. Candidate and team view
5. Search Mechanism (Query By Example - QBE)

1. Security Permissions Model

Within the site there is a security model used to control different roles as shown in the table below:

Role	Description
Site Administrator	Controls site and all administration
Candidate View	Candidates can login or edit their own Profiles
Team View	The Acquisita Team can log into the site and review candidate information

2. Database Structure (Form)

Using the 'Forms' feature we added the following database structure:

Field	Type	Candidate View	Internal View	System
UserID	#Counter			x
RecordID	#Counter			x
Created	Date		x	x
Updated	Date		x	x
Mobile Tel	Text	x
Photo	Image	x
Rate	Link to reference table	x
Region	Link to reference table	x
Sector	Link to reference table	x
Describe Key Skills	Large Text	x
CV	File	x
Available From	Date	x
Available To	Date	x
Available	Yes/No	x
Prof Indemnity Ref No	Text	x
Prof Indemnity Certificate	File	x
Status	List	x
Partner	List		x
Initial Contact Date	Date		x
Partner Comments	Large Text		x
Action Date	Date
Action Notes	Large Text
Action Date	Date

3. Automated email (Event trigger)

When a Candidate enters information into the system an automatic trigger is produced and sends an email to the Acquisita team highlighting when the candidate has registered their details.

4. Candidate and team view

When a team member logs into the system, features normally hidden to most users become available:

There is a menu tab called 'Team' and the candidates search can be selected. From here the user is able to enter various search criteria to find the candidate.

5. Search mechanism (Query)

The search is constructed through a query. The example shown below is an extract from a query that will show a list of candidates - it is the combination of account information and the candidate's informations entered on-line.

This query is used as a basis for the search. Within neatComponents there is an option to create a customised Search By Example (SBE) query.

The screen shown below is a customised view, highlighting all the customised fields, and what is actually shown in the text editor.

Consoltis Cup Challenge

Back in December we decided it was time for a challenge down at Pole Position in Leeds.

We went for a 50 lap endurance race. For some it was a first time event, but for the leaders of the pack a fast a furious race.

Phil Chapman, or the stig as he is known, retains the trophy for first place .. Again.