Advanced Internet Research Techniques: The Best Searchers Don't Search

Garrett Wasny, MA, CMC, CITP: Biography

Short Bio: Garrett Wasny

Garrett Wasny, MA, CMC (Certified Management Consultant), CITP (Certified International Trade Professional) is an award-winning speaker, professional development consultant, author, columnist, video producer and motion graphics artist in Vancouver, Canada (and former Price Waterhouse management consultant in Winnipeg). He’s authored three books, five e-books, 100+ published articles, and developed and delivered 600+ professional development events to hundreds of organizations in North America and Europe.

His clients include the Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Alberta, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Manitoba, Certified General Accountants of British Columbia, Certified General Accountants of Alberta, Association of Women in Finance, CPE Link, Arizona Society of Certified Public Accountants, Florida Institute of CPAs, Indiana CPA Society, Public Accountants Association of Kansas, Utah Association of Certified Public Accountants, Accountants Society of Virginia, and Wisconsin Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Long Bio:

Garrett Wasny, MA, CMC (Certified Management Consultant), CITP (Certified International Trade Professional) is an award-winning speaker, professional development consultant, author, columnist, video producer and motion graphics artist in Vancouver, Canada (and former Price Waterhouse management consultant in Winnipeg). He’s authored three books, five e-books, 100+ published articles, and developed and delivered 600+ professional development events to hundreds of organizations in North America and Europe.

Garrett is the author of two books, World Business Resources.com (published by McGraw-Hill in New York) and How to Conquer the World (published by Government Institutes in Washington, D.C.), and co-author of Using the Web to Compete in a Global Marketplace (published by John Wiley and Sons in New York). He has written five ebooks including How 9/11 Changes Global Business, Cyber-Prospecting: Mining For Business Opportunities on the Internet, Key E-Trade Tools to Succeed in International Business, and Advanced Internet Research Techniques For Management Consultants.

Garrett has published more than 100 articles on Internet topics for scores of media outlets. These include NBC News Chicago, the Financial Post, Business in Vancouver, Backbone, World Trade, Trade and Commerce, Access Americas, Pacific Coast Trade, Global Production, Expansion Management, Knight Ridder Tribune Information, Business and the Law, Tom Peters On Achieving Excellence, San Francisco Examiner, Cincinnati Enquirer, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Oportunidad Canada-Mexico, Winnipeg Free Press, Manitoba Business, Canada West Foundation, Vancouver Province, Vancouver View, Long Beach Magazine, and Mashable.

Since 1995, Garrett has developed and delivered more than 600 multimedia seminars on the Internet to hundreds of private and public sector organizations across North America and Europe.

PAST CLIENTS

• Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia

• Institute of Chartered Accountants of Alberta

• Institute of Chartered Accountants of Manitoba

• Association of Women in Finance

• Certified General Accountants of British Columbia

• Certified General Accountants of Alberta

• CPELink

• Arizona Society of Certified Public Accountants

• Florida Institute of CPAs

• Indiana CPA Society

• Public Accountants Association of Kansas

• Utah Association of Certified Public Accountants

• Accountants Society of Virginia

• Wisconsin Institute of Certified Public Accountants

• Canadian Association of Management Consultants

• British Columbia Human Resources Management Association

• Association of UBC Administration and Professional Staff

• Invest Kelowna Economic Development Commission

• Enterprise Fredericton

• Davis LLP

• Canadian Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship

• Canadian Association of Independent Schools

• Hawaii Tropical Flower Council

• North American Farmers Direct Marketing Association (NAFDMA)

• North American Small Business International Trade Educators (NASBITE)

• American Electronics Association

• Center for International Trade

• California-Mexico Trade Association Center

• Los Angeles Trade Tech

• Milwaukee World Trade Association

• Trade Compass

• Internet World New York

• Internet World Chicago

• Internet World Oslo

• Sauder School of Business

• New Brunswick Wood Products Group

• Forum For International Trade Training (FITT)

• Women’s Enterprise Society

• British Columbia Institute of Technology

• Farm Credit Corporation

• Vancouver Board of Trade

• Vancouver Economic Development Commission

• e-Business Commerce Centre

(and hundreds more …)

Garrett’s other interests include real estate development, motion graphics (he develops visuals for Simon Winthrop, a Las Vegas magician), running, cycling and magic.

Social Media Business Tools for Accountants

SOCIAL MEDIA BUSINESS TOOLS

Social Networking Lessons and Strategies for Accountants

Level: Intermediate

Course duration: Half day

Overview:

Think Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and other social media websites are just a fad? Think again. At least 500 million people of all ages around the world (including at least 120 million in North America) routinely use social media. Millions more are signing up every week, and everyone from Coco-Cola to Nike, and the Royal Bank to the Department of Homeland Security are adopting social media in a big way. But what does it mean for accountants and the accounting profession? The session cuts through all the hype and delivers a concise and balanced introduction to the good, bad and ugly of social media. You’ll learn about blogs, micro-blogs, video channels, photo-streams, social networks, crowdsourcing, widgets, wikis, podcasts, virtual worlds, mashups and other social media applications and how they’re being used to engage accounting clients in new ways. The session also reveals how accounting firms and single practitioners can develop a social media strategy at virtually no cost and how it can be used to build your business, particularly during these tough economic times.

Topics include:

• The key characteristics, opportunities and drawbacks of social media.
• The different types of social media models and how they’re being used in organizations around the world.
• Social networks: the most popular social media.
• Niche social networks
• Case studies of how accounting organizations are using social media.
• 20+ social media strategies for accountants
• Facebook 101
• Lessons learned from two years Facebook experience.
• How to use Facebook in your personal life.
• How to use (and not use) Facebook in your organization.
• Three key Facebook strategies for every accounting business.

On completion of the course, participants will be able to:

• Better understand the popularity and benefits of social media and why a growing number of organizations, big and small, are embracing social media applications.
• Determine if social media is right for their organization.
• Recognize and use the 20+ types of social media models from blogs to micro-blogs to video sharing.
• Develop a low-budget but high impact social media strategy for their accounting practice.
• Track what is being said about themselves and their organizations in the social media space.
• Subscribe to key social media resources.
• Create an RSS feed for their website – a key social media promotion application.
• Share and search for professional documents online.
• Use social media marketplaces such as Craigslist to buy and sell online.
• Develop a Facebook profile for themselves and their organization.
• Create their own private-label social network from scratch at no charge.
• Develop their own branded blogs, micro-blogs, video channels, photo-streams, forums, widgets, wikis, podcasts, virtual worlds, mashups and other social applications for free or nearly free.
• All participants receive a free 60+ page Social Media manual which spotlights hundreds of proven social media resources, tips and strategies.

Who will benefit:

CAs, CPAs, CFOs, Controllers, CEOs, CIOs, senior managers, practitioners and other professionals who are curious about social media, and want to explore how such applications can be used to boost their accounting practice, and better engage and assist clients.

Prerequisite:

You should have a basic understanding of the Internet and know how to navigate and download online. The seminar is non-technical and jargon-free and has been especially designed for experienced accounting professionals (ages 35 years and up).

Comments from past participants:

• “Excellent, entertaining and informative session … really worthwhile attending.”
• “A fascinating and reassuring (for old guys like me who prefer books!) presentation that I thoroughly enjoyed!”
• “A wild cyber ride.”

Accreditations:

The following organizations have accredited the course as part of their professional development programs:

• Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia
• Institute of Chartered Accountants of Alberta

How to order:

Call 778.898.9059 or e-mail me to order the seminar today for your organization.

Open Source Business Tools for Accountants

OPEN SOURCE BUSINESS TOOLS FOR ACCOUNTANTS

700+ Free or Nearly Free Online Resources to Help Accounting Professionals Cut Costs and Boost Productivity

Level: Intermediate

Course duration: Half day

Overview:

What’s the money-saving secret weapon for more than one million North American companies from Intel to Procter & Gamble during these hard economic times? Answer: open source business tools — free or nearly free web-based applications that replace traditional (and much more expensive) desktop software. Based on industry awards, customer feedback, and interviews with hundreds of accounting and management professionals, the seminar spotlights 700+ “best of the best” open source tools worth more than $100,000. From web-based office suites to Ivy League e-learning to free online call centres, you’ll get a crash course on the most practical and proven cost-cutting e-tools on the Internet today.

Topics include:

• The seismic shift now underway away from desktop applications to open source business tools or “cloud computing.”
• Why more and more organizations are exploring alternatives to Windows and Microsoft Office.
• The “free-conomics” business model (which states free doesn’t mean no money; it just means you don’t charge the customer).
• The challenges and downsides of open source.
• How to boost your online presence using free or nearly free tools ranging from Internet access to web security to online note-taking.
• Blog, brochure and store builders
• Communication enablers from online phones to faxes.
• Productivity boosters from office suites to e-utilities.
• Management e-tools for personal, business and project planning.
• Collaboration software for virtual offices, group websites and social networking.
• Commerce e-applications for buying, selling and financing.
• Training and recruitment resources.
• Market intelligence tools from electronic books to satellite imagery.
• Multimedia tools for music, photos, video and print applications.
• Lifestyle applications that improve your home and personal life.

On completion of the course, participants will be able to:

• Access online e-tools for free or nearly free that would normally cost $100,000 or more as desktop applications.
• Use the open source applications to expand their online clout and presence, boost productivity, cut costs, increase revenues, better collaborate with customers and suppliers, test drive new online business models and transform how they work and play on the Internet.
• Access 50+ gigabytes of online storage for free.
• Obtain free technical support 24/7 for most computer and Internet questions.
• Build a blog or website from scratch for free.
• Create an online shopping cart and e-commerce site at no charge or nearly free.
• Use free search engine optimization (SEO) software to boost their search engine rankings.
• Install and use website traffic measurement and analysis software for their website.
• Create free favicons for their website.
• Use online ad networks to earn money from their website.
• Use web widget builders to create their own custom web applications at no charge and with no programming knowledge.
• Make free or nearly free telephone calls from their computer or cellphones.
• Use their mobile phone to create podcasts, send bulk text messages, schedule online reminders, turn cell-phone pictures into pdf’s, track someone’s location using their cell phone, and create their own mobile information service.
• Send free faxes to anywhere in North America.
• Host online conferences for fee or a modest fee.
• Translate text and entire websites in dozens of languages.
• Create their own instant messaging network and live streaming Internet broadcast for free.
• Use more than a dozen free alternatives to Windows Office.
• Create documents using nine online word processors at no charge.
• Develop presentations at no cost using more than a dozen e-presentation tools.
• Use five free or nearly free online spreadsheets that allow real-time collaboration.
• Develop online databases for free or nearly free from among six open source database creators.
• Create diagrams and mind-maps at no charge using free chart creators.
• Develop and email invoices at no cost.
• Add an online booking, appointment scheduling and reservation system to their website at no charge.
• Convert text, presentation, spreadsheet and photo files to pdf format for free.
• Use digital assistants to “outsource” their life at minimal expense.
• Use online calendars, task managers and auto-reminders at no charge.
• Access thousands of videos and tutorials on starting and growing a small business.
• Create legal documents, incorporate a new U.S. company, and manage business contracts online for free or huge discount.
• Use open source customer relationship relationship (CRM) software for sales pipeline management at no charge.
• Coordinate projects and teams online using free project management software.
• Create online timesheets using no-charge employee management e-tools.
• Develop a call centre or live chat support for their webpage at no charge.
• Conduct opinion polls, brand awareness, customer satisfaction and other market research on the web or using mobile phones for free or modest subscription.
• Create a virtual office that allows real-time document, video and image sharing for free or modest subscription.
• Develop a free wiki – a group editable website – at no charge.
• Create a profile on one or more of dozens of free online social networking services.
• Create their own customized social networking website from scratch at no charge.
• Promote their own products or services on an e-marketplace for free or modest fee.
• Post request-for-proposals or hire freelances on e-marketplaces around the world for free or nominal fee.
• Use Do-It-Yourself web services to create an online retail store or manufacture apparel and machinery for a modest fee.
• Use online financial solutions to pay bills and manage personal finances online.
• Lend to or borrow money from peers and family at discount rates.
• Participate in online funding pools to make purchases or raise money.
• Use free calculators to analyze exchange rates, shipping costs and their carbon footprint at no charge.
• Connect with leading online philanthropic organizations.
• Access thousands of course materials from Ivy League universities and hundreds of other educational institutions for free.
• Tap hundreds of leading online job search and employment services at no cost.
• Subscribe to scores of free business magazines that are available to qualified professionals at no charge.
• Download more than 50,000 e-books at no charge.
• Access the latest satellite, aerial and street imagery of the Earth for free.
• Use real estate directories that list leading properties around the world at no charge.
• Self-manage their real estate holdings, compare rental rates, and create property promotional videos online at no charge using web-based tools.
• Use free photo-sharing, desktop publishing, image editors, music sharing, music production, video sharing, video production, virtual broadcasting, graphic design and other resources to create and share creative works.
• Know and use the best travel sites which compare the latest rates and fares at no charge.
• Access the leading online health services including symptom checkers, medical manuals and fitness planners at no cost.
• Know and use the most popular online dating services at no charge.
• Play sponsor-supported online poker at no charge and with zero risk.
• All participants receive a free 80+ page Open Source Business Tools manual (a $200 value) that highlights the 700+ resources and strategies discussed in the seminar.

Who will benefit:

CAs, CPAs, CFOs, Controllers, CEOs, CIOs, senior managers, practitioners and other professionals who advise and assist their clients in improving business operations. The session will be especially beneficial if you’re shopping around for less expensive online alternatives to traditional desktop software, and seeking fresh ideas and examples of how to use the web in your business operations and professional and personal life.

Prerequisite:

You should have a basic understanding of the Internet and know how to use productivity software such as Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint and similar desktop applications. The seminar is non-technical and jargon-free and has been especially designed for experienced accounting professionals (ages 35 years and up).

Comments from past participants:

• “Outstanding in content and delivery and a great value for anyone working with the Internet.”
• “Saved my firm thousands of dollars.”
• “After seeing your presentation, my mind is spinning with business possibilities.”

Accreditations:

The following organizations have accredited the course as part of their professional development programs:

• Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia
• Institute of Chartered Accountants of Alberta

How to order:

Call 778.898.9059 or e-mail me today to order the seminar for your organization.

Advanced Internet Research Techniques for Accountants

ADVANCED INTERNET RESEARCH TECHNIQUES FOR ACCOUNTANTS
How to Increase Your Online Firepower as a Financial Detective

Level: Intermediate

Course duration: Half day

Overview

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

You don’t know what you’re missing!

Actually, you’re missing 99% of online information since Google.com indexes barely 1% of the web.

Practical and concise, Advanced Internet Research Techniques shows CPAs, CAs, CGAs and other accounting professionals how to dramatically improve their online search skills, instantly increase their web productivity and seriously boost their Internet firepower as financial detectives.

Agenda






6 pages, 695 KB, PDF

Why Attend?

Even if you consider yourself web savvy (and especially if you're not), you are guaranteed to learn new search tips, techniques and tools that will take you to the next level of online intelligence gathering. Considerations:

Searching is harder than it looks. Most believe Internet searching is dead simple ("a chimp in a diaper can do it, right?"). Unfortunately, no it's not! Perhaps more than we care to admit, searching is often difficult, highly frustrating and a huge time suck. According to recent surveys:

• 90% of users experience some degree of “search rage” -- acute feelings of anxiety because they can’t find what they want on the web.
• 66% of web users get distracted or sidetracked online,
• 62% don't know the difference between sponsored and unsponsored results,
• 40% of searches fail,
• 33% of users believe too many results are returned,
• 31% say too many ads are included in search results,
• 25% of the workforce are "Internet dropouts": they've given up completely on search engines because the Internet is not worth the effort in their experience,
• 18% of users leave a search engine without finding the information they wanted,

The seminar reveals how to search more of the web with greater accuracy and focus, and minimize wasted time and online frustrations.

Information volume is exploding. The web already has more than half a billion websites and one trillion distinct URLs. Every 24 hours:

• 183 billion email messages are sent (about two million a second),
• 10 billion text messages are transmitted,
• 3 billion web pages are added to the Internet,
• 30 million new photos are added to Facebook,
• 8.1 million new listings are added to eBay,
• 1 million new blog postings are indexed on Technorati,
• 19,000 hours of new video are uploaded to YouTube.

Scanning this exploding digital universe is like trying to find a needle in a billion haystacks. The seminar shows you how to cut through the cyber-clutter and zero-in with laser precision on the information that's most important to you. You'll learn sure-fire info-tracking techniques that will work no matter how big the Internet gets or how fast it expands.

Your business, career and very life depends on it. In our hyper-connected world, the web has become our new eyes and ears and brain. Every day, decision-makers of all stripes turn to the Internet for guidance on critical professional and life decisions -- from investments to careers to health. This means your business, career and very life may depend on how well you search. The seminar shows you how to become a more serious Internet searcher. You'll learn how to get the most current, complete and correct online information for practically any accounting, business or life decision.

As an accountant, you have new Internet search responsibilities and risks. New e-discovery and “understanding the entity” regulations mean accountants and other professionals must search the web – thoroughly and continually. This is essential to meet new accounting standards and compliance mandates. You also face increased exposure to penalties and even litigation for failing to monitor relevant online data on a client. The seminar shows you how to meet the more rigorous demands of this new reporting era with the highest possible level of accuracy, speed, and competency.

The Internet skills race is heating up and you must "reboot" to keep pace. Now is time for a major overhaul and reboot of your Internet skills. In this new information eco-system, using only a Google.com “hope for the best” search strategy is not just unsustainable, it's unprofessional and risky. It's like peeking at the sky through a straw: you catch only fleeting glimpses of a tiny portion of the online universe. This puts you at a serious disadvantage because you're not seeing the big picture -- literally and figuratively. The seminar shows you how to continuously scan the entire web, not just microscopic fragments of it. You'll learn how to quickly and easily transform your skills at online information gathering -- skills that may now be modest or even a glaring weakness -- into perhaps your greatest strength.

The key to succeeding online is learning one simple yet powerful search secret: the best searchers don’t search, they get the information to come to them. Chasing information only leads to frustration and failure. The seminar shows you how to set up web alerts and feeds that flow the information to you. This puts you in complete control and allows you to tame information overload.

Sharing online information is just as important as finding online information. The seminar will not only improve how you find information online, but also how you share information on the web. Whether your accounting colleague or client is across the hall or around the world, the seminar will show you to collaborate and communicate real-time using shared spreadsheets, documents, presentations, notebooks, web alerts and other means. This will make it easier to share the most up-to-date information, turbo-charge your teamwork, and improve the accuracy and competency of your entire organization.

Improving your search skills is a stimulus package for your professional and personal life. How much time do you spend on the Internet every week at work and home? If you're like most information professionals, you're online dozens of hours at least. If you use a Blackberry or other portable web-connected device, you may be online literally every waking minute of the day. By improving your online research, you’ll learn how to make the most of this online time (which is a huge block of your week and maybe your life). The seminar will amplify and accelerate not only your accounting skills, but ALL your professional knowledge and personal interests. Learning how to search better is like hooking up to a new brain that will help you think, work and live better. No matter where you are on the Internet learning curve, the course will seriously raise your online comfort, confidence and “game.”

Topics

Seminar topics include:

• Why Internet searching is underrated in its importance, not as easy as it appears, and getting even tougher with exploding information volume and multiplying web devices.
• What Google doesn’t want you to know.
• The best Google search tools you’ve never heard of.
• Google is not enough: other search tools from vertical search engines to Q&A forums to information moshpits.
• Search commands that dramatically improve the relevancy of search results.
• Search tagging techniques that cut through the cyber-clutter.
• How to search in your sleep (no joke!).
• How to tame information overload with one simple search tool.
  

On completion of the course, participants will be able to:

• Improve their online productivity.
• Work smarter and faster online.
• Gather a greater volume of more relevant information in less time and with minimal effort.
• Better understand the strengths, limitations and costs of Google (which is not as unbiased, accurate or free as many believe).
• Transform their desktop or mobile device into a global surveillance system that automatically tracks any imaginable topic.
• Boost search performance with special browsers, keyword brainstorming tools and free offline magazine subscriptions.
• Open a Google Account using multiple e-mail addresses.
• Tap 100% of Google’s search power (most users barely scratch its surface).
• Set up an online intelligence “dashboard” that automatically delivers the latest and best news alerts and information feeds on any topic(s) they choose.
• Organize their online research and notes more efficiently.
• Deploy a variety of e-tools from online spreadsheets to calendars that allow them to collaborate more effectively online.
• Search the web on their cell phones and other portable devices using a variety of mobile search applications.
• Search the “invisible web” — the 99% of the Internet that Google can’t “see.”
• Improve the relevancy of their search results using phrase, file type, domain, link, cache, view and mashup searching techniques.
• Search for specific file types such as PDFs, Excel spreadsheets, Powerpoint presentations and Word documents.
• Boost the accuracy of their search results using geography, time and intention tagging strategies.
• Use “keyboard karate” techniques – such as word order, doubling up, singular and plural, UK and North American spellings, and deliberate misspellings – to uncover online information.
• Research and communicate online in 30+ languages.
• Forecast and spot trends online using search behaviour data.
• Look at the Internet with a fresh perspective and renewed enthusiasm.
• Use the web as “productivity stimulus” in their professional and personal life.
• All participants receive a free 150+ page Advanced Internet Research Techniques manual (a $200 value) that highlights all the search strategies and tools discussed in the seminar.

Who will Benefit

CAs, CPAs, CGAs, CMAs, CFAs, CMCs, CFOs, Controllers, CEOs, CIOs, other senior managers, accounting practitioners and business professionals who use Google and the Internet in their work and home life (and who doesn’t?).

Prerequisite

You should know how to conduct a basic Google search. That's it. The seminar is non-technical and jargon-free and has been especially designed for experienced accounting professionals (ages 35 years and up).

Feedback 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."

In course evaluations, the presentation consistently receives ratings of 4+ out of 5 from professional accountants.

... more testimonials | 9 pages, 316 KB, PDF

Accreditations

The following organizations have accredited the course as part of their professional development programs:

• Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia
• Institute of Chartered Accountants of Alberta
• Institute of Chartered Accountants of Manitoba
• Certified General Accountants of British Columbia
• Certified General Accountants of Alberta
• CPE Link
• Arizona Society of Certified Public Accountants
• Florida Institute of CPAs
• Indiana CPA Society
• Public Accountants Association of Kansas
• Utah Association of Certified Public Accountants
• Accountants Society of Virginia
• Wisconsin Institute of Certified Public Accountants

Bonus Section: CPA Film Festival

As a session warm-up, the presentation includes THE CPA FILM FESTIVAL -- a brief showcase of YouTube videos from around the world that spotlight accountants. The videos include student recruitment ads, brand awareness commercials, accountant profiles, comedy sketches, music videos and even cartoons. From a pistol-packing CPA in California to a CPA rap group in Hong Kong to a cartoon CPA in Ireland, the videos range from hilarious to heart-warming. A guaranteed ice-breaker at any accounting event, the CPA Film Festival proves professional accountants are not just precision number-crunchers, they're also highly creative producers and artists.

How to Order

Call 778.898.9059 or e-mail me today to order the seminar for your organization.