Office 2007 Discussion
Washington Trainers’ Forum
May 19th, 2009

About EncoreTech
Productivity through Software Training
End-User Training and Support
Pre-rollout Consulting
Train the Trainer
Documentation and Curriculum Development
Project Management
Software Reseller

Stacy Gittleman | Chief Executive Officer
EncoreTech
(p) 212.835.9450
(m) 516.521.2293
sgittleman@encoretech.com Stacy Gittleman
Throughout her training and executive career,
Gittleman has focused her sharp business acumen
on satisfying the stringent requirements of large
law firms and other demanding corporations, by
providing customized technology training solutions
that are crucial to every firm’s long-term success.
As CEO of EncoreTech, Gittleman has won the
respect of this demanding industry for her
flexibility and inventiveness, and has built a stellar
reputation for quality, reliability and integrity.

Jeffrey Roach | President
EncoreTech
(p) 404.549.5750
(m) 404.394.9072
jroach@encoretech.com Jeffrey Roach
Jeffrey Roach has been working with law firms for
the last 20 years designing and delivering learning
strategies. Currently the President of EncoreTech,
he works with top law firms and training
departments around on the country on maximizing
the value of their training and support dollars. In
addition, Jeffrey also works the executive team at
EncoreTech on the long-term strategic direction
for the company. Jeffrey holds a B.A. degree from
Depaul University and an M.A. from New York
University.

Discussion Topics
A quick update from Stacy and Jeffrey—who is upgrading and when.
How do I stay relevant if my firm isn’t upgrading?
What are some of the best Tips ‘n Tricks for Office 2007?
What are some best practices as I prepare for the rollout?
How can I shrink my training down to 10 minute nuggets and my
documentation down to 1 page handouts?
How can we WOW the user?
What are some good topics for attorneys?

Based on a comprehensive survey
ILTA conducted last summer, our
best guess is that firms are a year
to eighteen months behind their
original deployment schedule.!
How is Office 2007 Tracking?

A quick update from EncoreTech
A number of firms had originally planned on being done by now.
Integration issues with the DMS and other add-ons caused most of the
delays.
Most of these “early adopters” are still in pilot and hope to begin their
rollout in the next 60 days.
There are some success stories of firms who have completed the rollout.
We are forecasting a lot of activity in the last quarter of 2009 and the first
quarter of 2010.
The Office 2010 technical preview begins in July and may impact firms who
are still two years out.

Remember, even if your firm has no
immediate plans to upgrade, they
still need a strategy for dealing
with Word 2007 documents and
clients. This strategy should
include in-house expertise.!
The Waiting is the Hardest Part

How do I stay relevant if my firm
isn’t upgrading?
Lobby for a train the trainer course now, the new UI isn’t going anywhere.
Insert yourself in the middle of the firm’s strategy on dealing with Word
2007 clients and documents.
Network with trainers who are currently supporting Office 2007.
Consider an early awareness program that focuses on the new look and
feel of Office 2007/2010.
Invest in eLearning and materials to help prepare a core team that will
support Word 2007 until the firm makes the change.

Embrace the new UI and leverage it
to promote features that support
your best practices. In other
words, emphasize what’s important
and try to hide the stuff that
scares you.!
Our Best Tip

What are some of the best tips
and tricks for Office 2007?
Prioritize your styles.
Use (but don’t abuse) the Quick Access Toolbar.
Move the QAT below the Ribbon (trust us).
Consider a custom tab for the Firm.
Understand the implications of XML file format.
Plan for compatibility and sharing documents internal and external.
Beware of templates created in previous versions of word, and documents
based on those templates. Do they still work?
Test, test, test all of your add-ins—separately and together!

The greatest impact you can have
on your learners today is to shore
up their core skills. This will
allow you to use your limited
classroom time in the rollout to
focus on what’s new, rather than
what’s old that people still don’t
get.!
What can I do today?

What are some best practices as I
prepare for the rollout?
Promote the technologies that you believe to be important.
Ask yourself if the environment is optimized in such a way that doing it
the right way is also the easiest way.
Educate your engineers on what works fine “out of the box” and what
doesn’t.

The days of 5-day immersion
classes are over. The training for
Office 2007 is typically two ½
days for secretaries and a couple
of hours for attorneys. Choose
wisely.!
Tick, Tick, Tick

How can I shrink my training down
to 10 minute nuggets?
Classroom time continues to shrink, while the number of applications and
the complexity of those applications continues to expand.
Try to focus on what really matters to the learner—not you.
Pick one path and follow it.
Offer learners lots of opportunities to learn in lots of different ways.
Always ask yourself, what can I cut from this class/content?
Align your messages across your classroom, content and eLearning.

Don’t just focus on what’s new
and cool, but take a moment to
remind people how much of the
product has not changed. There’s a
fine line between anticipation and
anxiety. Don’t cross it!!
Ain’t it cool?

How can I “wow” the users?
Wow them with how much they already know.
Show them how they can tweak the environment to work better for
them.
Impress them with what the firm has done to anticipate the way they
work.
Showcase the features that are crowd pleasers, such as attachment
preview, searching in Outlook and building blocks.

Don’t forget that attorneys are
paid to practice law, not turn out
beautiful documents. They
probably won’t share your zeal for
well-structured documents.!
It’s Just A Means to an End

What are some good topics for attorneys?
Look for opportunities in Outlook to grab the attorneys attention.
Piggyback on Outlook—Outlook uses Word to compose emails!
Be practical when you choose topics.
Keep your expectations reasonable—these are attorneys, not word
processors.

If people use anything that is
flawed or broken long enough, they
will complain bitterly when you get
around to fixing it.!
Jeffrey Roach