March 2009
In this issue...

 ►$25,000 Technology Makeover
 ►Business Survival Expo
 ►Ideas -- SharePoint
 ►Holding Web Meetings
 ►Twitter
 ►How to Pare Travel Expenses
 ►Quote of the Month
 ►Just for Laughs
 

SLPowers
is on Twitter

In looking for ways to increase communications with our clients, anyone can now “follow” SLPowers on Twitter. The very simply Internet sensation allows people (or companies) to connect with their audience based on one simple question, "What are you doing?" The answer must be under 140 characters in length and can be sent via mobile texting, instant message, or the web. This service will supplement our current alert broadcasting system to deliver more frequent updates to those clients who desire increased communication levels. Information to be disseminated via Twitter includes network status alerts, holiday announcement, or other information which SLPowers deems may be timely and/or valuable to our clients.

You can begin following SLPowers by visiting www.twitter.com/SLPowers

Holding a Web meeting? 5 pitfalls
to avoid
by Christopher Elliott
reprinted with permission from the Microsoft Small Business Center

Think hard now. Can you remember your first virtual meeting? For many of you, it was in the latter decades of the 20th century, and you likely called it a "teleconference." If so, chances are you can recall how simple — but expensive — the technology used to be.

Well, virtual meetings aren't expensive anymore. Read on
 

Just for Laughs


Quote of the Month

The first day of spring
is one thing,
and the first spring day
is another.
The difference between
 them is sometimes as
great as a month.

~Henry Van Dyke
 

SLPowers announces the birth of our
$25,000 Technology Makeover Giveaway

As we enter our 25th year in business, SLPowers invites you to celebrate the birth of our $25,000 Technology Makeover. One lucky business or not-for-profit organization will be selected by a panel of independent judges to receive honor of being named the prize’s godfather, which will comes with all the perks therein including products and services from our national vendor partners including WatchGuard, IBM, Microsoft, Cymphonix and HP, as well as by local partners including Anderson Telecom. The winner also will get various Guaranteed Networks® service subscriptions by SLPowers, which will be designed to ease passage through the infant years.

Businesses, not-for-profit and charitable organizations must apply online by April 30th at www.SLPowers.com/makeover.  Winner will be notified on May 26th.

Business Survival Expo

SLPowers is pleased to announce the dates for the 2009 Business Survival Expo. More than ever, South Florida businesses are under attack from economic pressures, employee theft, foreign competition, the risk of data loss, hackers, malware, even the weather. The event, to be held on May 26th at the Deerfield / Boca Raton Hilton, is a South Florida first and will feature local and national speakers and presentations designed to help your business save money, increase security and improve efficiencies.

The event is sponsored by SLPowers and supported by our national vendor partners including WatchGuard, IBM, Cymphonix, HP and Microsoft as well as local partners including Anderson Telecom, Host.net and ISN Telecom.
 

Ideas to Help You to Use
SharePoint Effectively in Your Business
Top 20 ways that SharePoint can solve your common business needs.
And I want to emphasize that these 20 are only a few of the many ways to utilize SharePoint .
 
1 Store all your emails on a secure and centralized Website for easy archive.
2 Keep a central task location for assigning tasks to team members. These tasks will automatically show up in your team's Outlook 2007 To-Do List. Those tasks will also link to your projects so you can easily find out what tasks are still open for each project.
3 Organize large events and store the related documents, assigned tasks, and generally post anything and everything related to the events. It will also integrate with Outlook for added efficiency.

Read on for more ideas

3 Easy Strategies to Pare Travel Costs
By Christopher Elliott
reprinted with permission from the Microsoft Small Business Center

Pinching pennies is a time-honored tradition among many travelers. But it's a practice that's now gaining increasing popularity among an unlikely group: business travelers.

Road warriors long have had rich tastes in travel. Back in the late 1990s, when the economy was white-hot, they routinely bought expensive airline tickets and stayed in pricey hotels while away on business.

But those lavish expenses paid by travelers have since dwindled back toward the mainstream of travel. The average airfare paid by a business traveler was $559 in early 2000 and dropped further to $500 for the same period in 2003, according to Topaz International, an airfare auditing firm in Portland, Ore.

Hotel rates paid likewise are on the decline. The average per-night rate for a full-service hotel in an urban market was $121.02 per night during the first quarter of 2000. Three years later, the average price was $117.55 per night, according to the Hospitality Research Group of PKF Consulting in Atlanta.

Is corporate travel getting cheaper? Or are business travelers becoming miserly? The answer: Both — but especially the latter.

When the economy cooled off, road warriors and their employers became more price-conscious. They refused to pay $2,000 walk-up fares that could be booked for $200 if they agreed to stay over on a Saturday night. This fundamental — and likely permanent — shift in behavior has basically made professional travelers act a lot more like vacationers.

In a 2003 survey of corporate travel managers, the National Business Travel Association found more than half the respondents had implemented cost-cutting measures. Among the favorites: buying cheaper, but more restrictive, airline tickets; booking less expensive cars; and heading to the suburbs for downscale, down-priced hotel rooms.

But you probably already knew that. What about other ways of cutting costs? Here are three tips favored by the travel pros.