Last September
Jane (not her real name): Tom, Hi. This is Jane. Are you available to meet with the client on September 22nd at 2?
Me: Maybe. Did you check my schedule on Outlook?
Jane: Ooh. I didn’t think of that. Lemme check. <click>
Three months later
Jane: Hi, Tom. This is Jane. I noticed you’re free on the 3rd at 4PM for a meeting. Can I talk to you for about an hour?
Me: Sure. Can you send me a meeting request so I don’t forget?
Jane: Ooh. I didn’t think of that. I’ll send it to ya. <click>
Three months later
Jane: Hi, Tom. It’s Jane. The team needs to meet sometime next week to go over the schedule for <client>. I want to pull everyone together on Monday. Do you know when <Ms. X> and <Mr. Y> are free?
Me: Did you put together a meeting request?
Jane: Ummm, no. You can do that with multiple people?
Me: Yep. Just click “Invite Others.”
Jane: Oh, cooooooool. I didn’t know you could do that. <Pause> Oh, wow - I can see everyone’s schedule. Lemme get back to ya. <click>
Three months later
Jane: Tom, Hi. It’s Jane. I need to put together a meeting between you, me, <Ms. Y> and the team at <Company X> for next week.
Me: Did you put together a meeting request?
Jane: I would, but I can’t do that for <Company X> because they’re an external vendor.
Me: Did you call <Company X> and ask them for some dates and times they might be available for a meeting?
Jane: No, but that’s a great idea. I can do a meeting request for a time when <Company X> is available and then see if everyone else is free during those times.
Me: Yep.
Jane: Thanks. <Click>
Yesterday
Jane: Hi, Tom. This is Jane. You know that meeting I scheduled you for last week?
Me: Yep.
Jane: Well, I can’t make it.
Me: Okay.
Jane: Yeah, but now there’s this meeting on my calendar and it won’t go away.
Me: Double click on it. Then click “File.”
Jane: Okey-dokey. <Pause> Ooooh, I can just delete this, can’t I?
Me: Yep.
Jane: Oooh, you’re so good at this. How did you learn all this stuff?
Me: Years ago, I went to a company training seminar.
Jane: When was that?
Me: They have training seminars every couple months. Check your Outlook.
NARRATOR: In just 12 months, Jane went from “totally clueless” to “full-blown novice Outlook user.” And you can too. Just call for our unique training seminar, or just call Tom every couple months and act clueless. You too can learn about valuable Microsoft applications, just like Jane. And what has this done for Jane’s career? Now, she manages a $120 million piece of business. And pretty soon, she’ll learn exciting skills like “Sending e-mail to more than one person at a time” and “Scheduling recurring meetings.”
