· The position of your microphone is essential. Moving the microphone by just a couple of centimetres can change the accuracy dramatically – but the installation process emphasises this.

· Speaking sentences makes the dictation more accurate, as the software puts the words into context, whereas single words can come out incorrectly.

· Take the time to ‘teach’ Dragon words that it regularly gets wrong, it learns them on the first go.

· The more you use it the more accurate it becomes, as it builds up your profile.

· Don’t use it after a bottle or two of red wine. It seems to talk rubbish – or was that me?

A highly recommended bit of kit for anyone who spends a lot of time in front of their computer writing. From our comments on this, I’m really interested to know how Dave gets on with MacSpeech Dictate.


Post by Alan

Is it because a keyboard is so flexible in the way commands can be given or that it is less easy to make a mistake when touching something physical? It may just be that there has been no really serious need to update the good old keyboard with something that is better and easier to use.

What are the alternatives?

I can only really think of one and that is our voice, technology cannot yet be wired to our thoughts and there are no other methods that I believe offer another way.

A couple of companies have been consistent in their ongoing commitment to enhance the voice as an alternative to the fingers. Nuance Communications who produce Dragon Naturally Speaking Software is one and the the only one  who’s software I have used in the past. I used a version way back in the early days and found it was very difficult and time consuming to get it to work intuitively.

We are now onto version 10 and their suite promises:

* Turns your voice into text three times faster than most people type – with up to 99% accuracy
* Allows you to completely control your PC with your voice
* Automates complex workflows with voice commands

So does it work and what is the learning curve like?

Watch this space as we are about to find out and will update you with our results soon.


Post by Grahame

After much debate we have so far concluded that it is about openness, honesty and authenticity. Openness is about communication, honesty is about values and authenticity is about leadership. All of these combine to effect the culture of the organisation and whilst organisations talk about having a ‘performance culture’ do they define what that actually means? There is also the overriding question of ‘what’s in it for me’ (WIIFM)? Is a leader in the organisation encouraged to be open, honest and authentic or are they encouraged to keep things close to their chest, look after the values of the organisation rather than their own and put on a façade of everything being wonderful even when it isn’t?

The whole approach of ethical performance is what assists an organisation to navigate their way across their landscape, which is why we have included values in our unique balanced score card performance landscape programmes at www.performancelandscape.co.uk.

I am in the middle of writing an article about ethical performance and I am sure I will also get drawn in to discussing what demonstrates unethical performance, but we would like to hear your views.

Terry and Alan discuss in the video what the future holds for organisations in the public sector when budget cuts force them to rethink their strategies. Will they cut down on training, will that be a good or bad decision? It’s an easy target where money can be seen to be saved at an instant….BUT is that a short sighted strategy? Well we know that it is. Historically cutting back on training creates a less productive and enthusiastic employee. Investing in people helps businesses and organisations stay strong with a committed workforce ready for the challenges ahead.

It was a long day and at the end we were both brimming with ideas and information. You may well ask what this has to do with our core businesses  Leaning 2 Achieve Ltd and Biz Web Solutions. As with any business you need to be able to sell yourself and promote what you do to others and internet marketing sits at the cutting edge of this. Much of what is used such as video, sales letters and joint ventures are pioneered by these guys and they know what works and what is likely to bomb.

Have a look at our short video called Martin Avis London lunch and you will see how informal and relaxed the whole event was, oh.. and the food wasn’t that bad either.