Author: Alan Shaw

Our planned presenter for our March meeting travelled all the way from Stoke on Trent to be with us in good time for our breakfast meeting at 7.15 am! Somehow there was a misunderstanding and she did not realise that our meeting was at 7.30 in the evening. Anyway, she left us some brochures, 2004 calendars and a selection of Director’s Briefings, which, if you haven’t seen them, are short, 4-page documents that sumarise a very wide range of business-related topics. These are available as PDF files for free as downloads or print-outs at their web-site www.businesslinkstaffordshire.co.uk. We have asked about a return in July.

August Social
In August we plan to hold a joint social evening with Burton Business Club and we shall be hosting the event. We have looked into the possibility of a crewed canal-boat trip - with various meal options - but the only one available locally is the Milford Star which operates out of Great Haywood. This may be asking people from Burton (and maybe Lichfield too) to travel too far. Sadly, the only option available at Strethay or Fradley is to hire a normal narrow boat. We’ll just have to think of something else!
Garrick in April
Sandra has kindly made the arrangements on behalf of your committee so that we can attend the new Garrick Theatre on Wednesday 7th April to watch the performance of “Rough Justice” by the Lichfield Players. She has secured a discount of one third on the tickets for members and 12 tickets are reserved for members at £8 each (pay at the theatre). The performance starts at 7.45pm and we plan to meet in the Viking room at 6.45pm for drinks and a short presentation by Paul Everett, the Artistic Director. Reserve your place by calling 01543 412110.
Chair & Membership Secretary - Debbie Baker- Thomas 01543 308621
Vice Chair and Treasurer –Chris Edwards - 01543 263915
Newsletter and Club Programme –Alan Shaw - 01889 584147
Social Secretary – Sandra Booth - 01785 353808
Member – Andy Laverick – 08707 456280
Secretary – Warren Bradley – 01543 472747

Staffordshire Business Link…

Other Information

Despatches

2004 Club Programme
7th April - Social - visit to Garrick Theatre to watch “Rough Justice” (see main body of text)
5th May - De-clutter your life, put a zing in your day! Liz Wilson, Columbus Coaching
2nd June - Computer Tips & Tricks Surgery, including file management, security, spam and searching the Internet
7th July - Developments in Staffs Business Link (TBC)
4th August - Social with Burton Business Club (see main body of text)
1st September - Personal Development
6th October - Business Topic
3rd November - AGM plus Lichfield Festival
1st December - Social - Xmas Party

Lichfield District Business Club Newsletter

March 2004

This story can fit 150-200 words.
One benefit of using your newsletter as a promotional tool is that you can reuse content from other marketing materials, such as press releases, market studies, and reports.
While your main goal of distributing a newsletter might be to sell your product or service, the key to a successful newsletter is making it useful to your readers.
A great way to add useful content to your newsletter is to develop and write your own articles, or include a calendar of upcoming events or a special offer that promotes a new product.
You can also research articles or find “filler” articles by accessing the World Wide Web. You can write about a variety of topics but try to keep your articles short.
Much of the content you put in your newsletter can also be used for your Web site. Microsoft Publisher offers a simple way to convert your newsletter to a Web publication. So, when you’re finished writing your newsletter, convert it to a Web site and post it.

This story can fit 75-125 words.
Selecting pictures or graphics is an important part of adding content to your newsletter.
Think about your article and ask yourself if the picture supports or enhances the message you’re trying to convey. Avoid selecting images that appear to be out of context.
Microsoft Publisher includes thousands of clip art images from which you can choose and import into your newsletter. There are also several tools you can use to draw shapes and symbols.
Once you have chosen an image, place it close to the article. Be sure to place the caption of the image near the image.

This story can fit 100-150 words.
The subject matter that appears in newsletters is virtually endless. You can include stories that focus on current technologies or innovations in your field.
You may also want to note business or economic trends, or make predictions for your customers or clients.
If the newsletter is distributed internally, you might comment upon new procedures or improvements to the business. Sales figures or earnings will show how your business is growing.
Some newsletters include a column that is updated every issue, for instance, an advice column, a book review, a letter from the president, or an editorial. You can also profile new employees or top customers or vendors.

This story can fit 150-200 words.
One benefit of using your newsletter as a promotional tool is that you can reuse content from other marketing materials, such as press releases, market studies, and reports.
While your main goal of distributing a newsletter might be to sell your product or service, the key to a successful newsletter is making it useful to your readers.
A great way to add useful content to your newsletter is to develop and write your own articles, or include a calendar of upcoming events or a special offer that promotes a new product.
You can also research articles or find “filler” articles by accessing the World Wide Web. You can write about a variety of topics but try to keep your articles short.
Much of the content you put in your newsletter can also be used for your Web site. Microsoft Publisher offers a simple way to convert your newsletter to a Web publication. So, when you’re finished writing your newsletter, convert it to a Web site and post it.

This story can fit 75-125 words.
Selecting pictures or graphics is an important part of adding content to your newsletter.
Think about your article and ask yourself if the picture supports or enhances the message you’re trying to convey. Avoid selecting images that appear to be out of context.
Microsoft Publisher includes thousands of clip art images from which you can choose and import into your newsletter. There are also several tools you can use to draw shapes and symbols.
Once you have chosen an image, place it close to the article. Be sure to place the caption of the image near the image.

This story can fit 100-150 words.
The subject matter that appears in newsletters is virtually endless. You can include stories that focus on current technologies or innovations in your field.
You may also want to note business or economic trends, or make predictions for your customers or clients.
If the newsletter is distributed internally, you might comment upon new procedures or improvements to the business. Sales figures or earnings will show how your business is growing.
Some newsletters include a column that is updated every issue, for instance, an advice column, a book review, a letter from the president, or an editorial. You can also profile new employees or top customers or vendors.

One of the most useful operations in MS Office applications is the ability to move images and/or chunks of data around, either within the same application or between applications.
Using the keyboard can sometimes be more productive than simply using a mouse alone. If you want to copy a lot of data, Ctrl+A will highlight everything, Ctrl+C will execute the copy command and Ctrl+V will carry out the paste command. Ctrl+X will perform the cut command which can also be linked to the paste operation.
If you wish to copy Word data into Excel, it is often useful to highlight the data then convert the text into a table using the command Table, Convert, Text to table before copying. The situation works equally well in reverse. However, if you wish to copy a block of data from Excel into an existing Word table, then the recipient Word document must have exactly the same number of rows and columns highlighted, otherwise a useless little symbol will appear instead (or other kinds of error).
When copying a block of data in Excel from one worksheet to another (especially if it contains formulae), using copy and paste will usually give erroneous results. That is when to use the Paste Special command and follow the options in the dialogue box. If you wish to show data in one worksheet that originates in another worksheet, using the Paste Link command will create a live link between the two, so that if the source data changes, it will also change the destination sheet in exactly the same way. The same process can be used to embed Excel data and graphs into Word, Access or PowerPoint.
If you want to copy data or pictures/clipart and you wish to place them accurately in the recipient document, then insert a text box first. This can be easily moved around and changed at will. If you then want to remove the default box outline, simply highlight the box frame and then Format, Text Box, Colour, No fill and the outline disappears.

Lichfield Business Village
The Friary
Lichfield WS13 6QG

Lichfield District Business Club Newsletter

Phone: 01543 308620
Fax: 01543 308622
Email: hawthornes@lichfield.biz

Promoting interaction in local business

In a nutshell … Club members’ businesses

Keith Peace is retired but is considering involving himself in a commercial enterprise. He currently does volunteer work for charities and has produced a number of 'bespoke' databases to ease daily admin. A database can be very effective in the running of a business; it provides the opportunity to analyse data, or to complete a specific task, and you only need to input details once. He is currently working on a 'Company Management System', which deals with the administration of a business. It includes Sales, Purchases, Invoices, VAT, Profit and Loss, Budgets, Projects, Analysis, Reports, plus much more. If someone would like to test this (for free!), please contact Keith on: Tel: 01543 264344
Andy Laverick has run Cosmic IT Solutions for the last 4 years and provides a commercial web development and consultancy service to SMEs.
Cosmic IT Solutions has assisted companies in all aspects of ICT from e-commerce advice and web design to IT training and development, hosting and domain name registration.
Andy has also worked with local government on numerous ICT based projects that offer support to local business communities.
Andy is also a committee member for your club and will be co-ordinating the Club IT evening in June dealing with various computer tips and hints.
Andy can be contacted on
Tel: 0870 1364910
War on spam intensifies.
US Internet providers Microsoft, AOL, Yahoo and Earthlink have unveiled plans to join forces in the battle against unsolicited junk e-mails.
The four Internet giants have filed six lawsuits against some of the world’s most notorious spammers.
The initiative comes after a new anti-spam law was passed in the US earlier in the year. Similar to the UK’s Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, which came into force last December, the US CAN SPAM Act stipulates that unsolicited e-mails must contain an opt-out option.
For more information on global spam laws, go to:
http://www.spamlaws.com

The Club is sponsored by Lloyds TSB, Barclays, SULC and Lichfield District Council

Despatches

Business Topic of the Month - MS Office Tips & Tricks

Visit your Club web-site at
www.lichfieldbusinessclub.com - it exists to help you

www.lichfieldbusinessclub.com

Did you know…