Phil Simon's Blog, page 35

Slack For Dummies: Virtual Book Tour

For all but one of my recent books, I got on a plane to promote it at different organizations. For example, here are some highlights from my dates supporting The Visual Organization in 2014. In 2015, Smartsheet and Atlassian even sponsored a leg of my tour for Message Not Received. (I didn’t tour behind Analytics: The Agile Way because of my summer teaching schedule.)

Now that I’m back to being independent, it’s time to rev things up, even in the face of a global pandemic.

Speaking at Edelman PR in Seattle on Message Not Received.

Requirements

You’ll need to purchase 50 or more copies of Slack For Dummies. How you do that is up to you, but here are some options:

If you want the print edition of the book, then I can work with Wiley to get you a discounted price. Shipping is up to you, though.
You can buy bulk Kindle editions.
If you have something else in mind, then you can mention that in the form below.

We’ll work out a mutually convenient time. I’ll host a Zoom webinar and talk for 30 minutes about the book. ‘ll then field questions in an interactive AMA format à la Reddit for about 30 minutes. Note that the organization hosting the virtual event needs to make a webinar co-host available. I’ve done enough webinars in my life to know that trying to manage everything yourself in real time is a recipe for disaster. We’ll also do a quick practice webinar.

Fill out the form below to get started. By the way, there can’t be any brown M&Ms. What’s more, under no circumstances will I open for puppet shows. They have go on before I do. It’s a dealbreaker.

Fill out my online form.

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Publication of Slack For Dummies

I’m pleased to announce the publication of my ninth book, Slack For Dummies. Apropos of nothing, its my second full-color text.1

In retrospect, Slack For Dummies took more work than any of my previous eight. I had to learn the Dummies‘ style guide—no small feat, believe me. What’s more, after I completed the manuscript, a little bird told me that Slack was redesigning its user interface (UI). Fortunately, the Slack team couldn’t have been more accommodating. Sam McEvans in particular was a godsend.

Brass tacks: I had to rewrite about 70 percent of the book in a two-week period.

All in all, I’m glad that I put the time in. The alternative involved releasing a book that was quickly obsolete—and no one wanted that.

I hope that you enjoy it. Click here to buy it on Amazon.

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Slack Tip #4: Making a Public Channel Private

Other than single-channel guests, all Slack members can join public channels.

Great, but what if you want to restrict channels to certain members? 

Tough noogies.

I’m kidding. 

As I show in the video below, it’s remarkably simple to convert public channels to private ones. 

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Slack Tip #3: Removing Apps

You installed an app but you don’t use it.

Maybe you don’t like its performance or are concerned about its privacy settings.

Does one app largely do what another one does à la SimplePoll and Polly?

Or perhaps your organization is testing Slack’s Free plan. As such, you’re quickly approaching the ten-app limit and want to remove lesser-used ones.

Watch the video below to learn how to remove an app from your workspace.

Note that your role must allow you to perform this action. 

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Slack Tip #2: How Many Channels Do We Need?

What’s the right answer to this question?

Or is there one?

Should you tread lightly when adopting Slack?

What happens if you go too fast?

And what does all of this have to do with Breaking Bad?

Watch the video below to find out the answers to these questions.

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Zoom Tip #2: Inviting Someone to a Zoom Meeting

If researching Zoom has taught me anything over the last few months, it’s that the tool offers a number of different ways to accomplish the same thing.

This is a bit of a mixed blessing: There’s no one “right” way to use Zoom.

Here’s a simple way of inviting others to your meetings, whether you’ve add them to your Zoom directory or not. 

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Excerpt from Slack For Dummies

Wiley has let me post an excerpt of Slack For Dummies. Enjoy. 

Slack for Dummies Excerpt by Phil Simon on Scribd

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Win a Copy of Slack For Dummies

Slack For Dummies drops soon, and I’m giving away a few signed copies of the book. Here’s the catch:

You promise to give the book an honest review on your blog/site.
You copy and paste that review on Amazon and GoodReads.
You promise to do so in a relatively timely manner.
You give it a little love on social media.
You live in the United States.1

OK…catches. Plural. You got me. 

If you’re interested, then fill out the form below and I’ll be in touch.

Fill out my online form.

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Zoom For Dummies: New Publication Date

Good news on the publishing front: Wiley will be releasing Zoom For Dummies one month earlier than anticipated. We’re now looking at a publication date of July 25, 2020—give or take.

Needless to say, I’ve been cranking out prose at a rate of which my friend Kevin J. Anderson would be proud. 

Speaking of movin’ on up…

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Slack Tip #1: Dealing with Workspace Trolls

Normally, people behave in a professional manner while using Slack and other collaboration tool.

The operative word in the last sentence is normally.

Sometimes individual behave like jackasses.

Fortunately, Slack provides a number of useful tools for handling idiots.

In this quick video I show you a few options for dealing with knuckleheads and blowhards: muting and exiling them from your workspace altogether.

Slack on.

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