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Angela Green Editor, Virtual Assistant 3.0Sponsored by Online International Virtual Assistant Convention
3 Reasons Virtual
Assistants Need to Care About Google Wave
+ A little about me
Editor of Virtual Assistant 3.0, a blog for Virtual Assistants www.virtualassistant30.com
Author of “The Virtual Assistant Manual for Moms: A 4-week plan to build your VA business”
Live near Minneapolis, Minnesota with my husband & 3 kids
+A little about you
Over 75 participants registered for this call
There will be an opportunity for you to introduce yourself after the presentation
+Overview of this event
A sneak peak
What is a “Wave?”
Why you need to care!
Downsides, where to go for more information
Chat about what to make of all this
+A sneak peak
+What is a ‘wave’?
Wave = people participating in a conversation. It is interactive; like email, threaded conversation, IM all in one.
Email was invented almost 40 years ago, to mimic snail mail. We communicate differently in 2009! This will change the way we work. No more back-and-forth, forwarding, or cc’ing.
In Google Wave you create a wave and add people to it. A wave could have text, photos, gadgets, files, links to other waves, or feeds from other web sources.
You can insert a reply or edit the wave directly. Can add a new person to the wave at any time and they will easily get up to speed. You can also use "playback" to rewind the wave and see how it evolved.
+Other benefits
Could embed a wave in your website or blog, like posting pictures, files and accept comments. This could foster more conversation on your blog, making more interactive.
Will work on mobile phones.
Can use it to collaboratively edit documents.
+Let me at it! Or…I still don’t get it.
Are you excited? Preview will be extended to 100,000 users on September 30, 2009. No announced schedule beyond that.
Still don’t get why you should care? I will give you three good reasons…
+Reason #1: Your clients will use it
You are a virtual professional so it is important that you are knowledgeable and well-versed on the tools available that help you and your clients work virtually. If you are not up-to-date, another Virtual Assistant will be!
Although some of your clients will not be familiar with Google Wave, it is also your responsibility to educate them on the available options to work efficiently with you.
+Reason #2: You will be able to interact easily with clients like you are in the same office (and this time I mean it). I know, we have a tendency to say that about a lot of
computer applications that come along. We heard that about instant messaging, we heard that about project management tools, and we heard that about Skype.
With Google Wave: there are no more endless strings of emails. You and your client will only need to interact using one
platform (Google Wave). You can easily manage projects, share files and keep a record
of conversations. You will be able to communicate instantly with your clients.
+Reason #3: You have to love the price – FREE. Because Google Wave is open-source, developers
around the world are creating Google Wave “Gadgets” and “Robots.” (Just like there are thousands of applications for Facebook and Twitter now.) Twave (Twitter+Wave) and Wave in Wordpress, just to name a few.
There will no longer be a need for you or your clients to invest in expensive project management, file sharing or communication tools. ClientSpot: $15/month Ace Project: $24/month Basecamp: $24/month Central Desktop: $25/month
+What are the downsides?
Sure, there are Google skeptics out there. They have concern about the confidentiality aspect to keeping your documents and records of your communication “in the clouds” (a technical term for storing things on the internet instead of your personal computer).
+Where can you go for more information?
wave.google.com: Sign up to be notified when Google Wave is ready.
Ben Parr of Mashable.com has written Google Wave: A Complete Guide that is so far the comprehensive preview.
If you are really geeky: http://googlewavedev.blogspot.com/ (Technical news for developers)
+So, let’s chat
How do you communicate now with clients and manage projects now?
Does Google Wave seem like it would enhance your communication with clients?
How might you use Google Wave?
What do you see as cautions to using Google Wave?
