Showcase: Articles

Fredrickson Communications eZine

Special New Year’s Edition
January 4, 2008

Contents

1. Happy New Year
2. New Article - Why web users don’t like FAQs
3. Featured Links - The value of the checklist and tech triumphs and flops of 2007.
4. Upcoming Events

1. Happy New Year

by Lola Fredrickson
CEO, Fredrickson Communications

All of us at Fredrickson Communications wanted to take this opportunity to wish our clients and colleagues a happy, healthy and prosperous new year! I personally want to thank each of our clients for the opportunity to work with you on such a broad range of interesting projects. Last year was an exciting year, and we look forward to the opportunity to continue working with you in the upcoming year.

Besides working with our clients to make information useful, our other mission at Fredrickson is to help training, communications, and IT professionals connect with each other to share ideas and experiences. We sponsor several peer-to-peer networking organizations and other events to further this goal, and you’ll be hearing more about these in future editions of the eZine.

In the meantime, best wishes for new adventures in 2008.

Lola

2. Why web users don’t like FAQs

By John Wooden
Fredrickson Communications Usability Lead

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) are everywhere on the web, used on all kinds of sites and in all kinds of contexts. From their humble beginnings in the early days of Internet newsgroups, FAQs have become a standard way of providing end users with important information.

But there’s a problem: users don’t like FAQs, at least not the way they are presented on many web sites.

In usability test sessions I have conducted over the years, test participants have repeatedly made the same two complaints about FAQs:

“They take too long to scroll through.”

“They never have the question I’m looking for.”

And sometimes, testers make a third complaint:

“The answers are too longwinded.”

In the last Fredrickson update, J. Hruby described the “new ruthless user” as impatient, laser-focused on their task, and looking for the quickest path to the target information. If you are thinking about adding FAQs to your site, it’s worth remembering this behavior. More. . .

3. Featured Links

by J. Hruby
Fredrickson Communications Account Manager

The end of one year and the beginning of another seems to bring a flurry of good articles about technology and communication.

Never Underestimate the Humble Checklist

The December 2007 issue of The New Yorker magazine contains an excellent article about the value of the simple checklist when it comes to job performance. Most training professionals know that effective job aids can dramatically increase the ability of the trainee to perform tasks correctly and consistently. This in-depth article has some amazing examples of just how the humble checklist has increased performance, especially in the most demanding life-and-death job situations. Read the article...

Tech in 2007 – The best and worst of the technology year

There were many new introductions in technology in 2007, but as always, tech remains a double-edged sword. Yahoo!’s resident gadget hound Ben Patterson has some interesting opinions on which innovations deserve fanfare and which ones flopped.

The good and the not-so-good of the tech introductions in 2007.

4. Upcoming Events

Minnesota Professional Association for Computer Training (PACT)

The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning™Workshop

Thursday, February 7, 2008
Metropolitan Ballroom
Golden Valley , MN
9:00 AM to 4:00 PM
Discount price for PACT: $375

Did you know that, in a typical training and development program, only 15% of participants transfer their learning back to the workplace? Managers want to see better results from their training investments. How can we improve performance and document the impact?

Applying The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning™ has increased the value of training and development programs in scores of Fortune 1000 companies. Learn proven tools, techniques and processes that you can apply immediately to improve the business value of your programs.

Learn proven tools, techniques and processes that you can apply immediately to improve the business value of your programs.

For more details, visit the Career Enhancement page of www.pactweb.org/members/career.asp

How to Turn Training and Development into Business Results

Workshop by Dr. Roy Pollock

Friday, February 8, 2008
Metropolitan Ballroom
Golden Valley , MN
8:30 AM – 11:00 AM

This interactive presentation will cover:

• “New Finish Line for Learning” – improved on-the-job results and the forces driving that change
• "The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning" that characterize the most effective learning and development programs.

The session will include case studies, exercises, and practical tools that participants will be able to apply to their own programs.

Details will be at www.pactweb.org