I love working with talented trainers and here is one I must showcase.  Denise and I met last year on a Microsoft 365 Copilot project and I soon realized what an absolute Star Denise was.  Full of insights, experience and “can do attitude”.  A trainer’s trainer who wants to always do the right thing for her delegates.  Funny and sunny.  Over the last few months we have caught up shared ideas and materials so here are some interesting facts about Denise.

  1. I know Denise, that you really enjoy teaching beginners and embedding fundamentals.  Why is this do you think?

I suppose I remember how it was when I was a beginner. People assume you know the basics and you start to feel like you can’t keep asking colleagues how to do things, so you just try to get by doing the best you can. When you finally learn how to do everyday tasks easily it feels incredible. To be able to help people use the tools with more confidence and not be frightened to give things a try is wonderful. I mean, what’s the worst that can happen?

2.  Of all the MS suite which is your favourite and why?

I love training MS Excel the most. I often find myself training people who say that they hate Excel. My aim is to change that and help them love it as much as I do. You just need someone to point you in the right direction and you quickly discover that Excel tries to do your work for you. It’s one of those software packages that gets a lot of ‘light bulb’ moments. Basically, if you think whatever you are doing in Excel is time consuming and you feel there has to be a better way, there most likely is!

3.   We met training in a fast-paced environment, now Copilot is moving on significantly, Can you share your latest Role Specific thoughts for example on HR and Policies?

However, I’ve been thinking that people might get more out of it if we can try to make the training more role based, rather than showing off the type of things Copilot can assist you with. My background is in HR and I remember spending hours creating and editing policies, such as Health & Safety, GDPR,  risk assessment, anti-bullying, grievance and safeguarding policies, employee contracts and company handbooks. The list goes on… Now, what if you could have an AI assistant to help you? Just do a web search asking what Copilot could help you with in your specific role and see what you get back. I promise you’ll be amazed .

4. I have to ask you about your Children’s books.  The Frankie and Matilda series: Learn Excel, Frankie & Matilda Learn to Pivot Data, Frankie & Matilda Learn PowerPoint and Frankie & Matilda Learn Excel 2.0.  How did these come into being?  What age range are they for and how do we buy them?

For all my training courses I create guides for the delegates and give them links to helpful resources and it got me thinking, “How would I write this for children?” My cat, Matilda, happened to walk across my keyboard and my dog, Frankie, was trying to get up onto my lap and the idea struck me. I’ve always thought that animals know way more than we think they do. And of course my furry friends are super intelligent! Anyway, I thought why not give it a go. It was much harder than I imagined it would be and all the drawings were made using my laptop and touch screen pen so they’re not the most professional but I had hours of fun being a child again.

If you search for Frankie & Matilda books on Amazon you’ll be able to find them. When you publish on Amazon you have to set the age range, but I’d say they are for anyone that would like to learn a little about Excel and PowerPoint in a fun, alternative way.

5. Like me you have been a trainer for several decades, what do you enjoy most about training

I just love that trainers can really make a difference to people’s lives. If someone comes away from a course saying that was great, it feels amazing. Back before Covid I used to do a lot of face to face training and the absolute best thing is when people want to give you a hug afterward, you can’t have better than that (although that might have been relief that the training is over ). These days I mostly do online training, it’s not quite the same, but people do put little hearts on the screen now and again.

6. And Finally you are an ACE video creator, producer and editor.  When did this side of the business start?

AND BTW, I have seen them in action and can vouch for their design, excellence and learning points.

I have been creating educational videos for over 10 years. Initially, I created short videos and scripts using Camtasia software, which were then passed to another person for editing and enhancing. Occasionally, I received videos created by others that required a voiceover and editing, so, gradually, learned to edit videos myself and improve their quality. Additionally, I receive voiceovers and use VideoScribe software to create videos that align with the text.

I’ve lost count of the number of videos I have produced, but it’s likely over 1500 over the years. Producing each video takes a considerable amount of time, but definitely worth the effort. The majority of the videos created by me are available here: https://www.microw.com/

It is such a pleasure to work with you and to have this conversation. Find Denise on LinkedIn:www.linkedin.com/in/denisemcl