Mentor Teleconference - April 2018

@travelgirl Yes, starting new discussions are certainly appropriate for Mentors. I'm sure that Colleen will cover this in our teleconference today. I am sorry to hear of your multiple diagnoses that cause you concern. Most of us Mentors are in the same boat. I sometimes feel like a "professional patient" because I'm getting really good at talking to doctors and investigating whenever I am faced with a new diagnosis. Unfortunately, just like you, I can also set myself into panic-mode. My fellow mentors have kindly helped me through those times as well.

Teresa

@gman007, @hopeful33250, notepad.exe is the old guy in the neighborhood. It's been around since MS-DOS days in the early 80s. It's a plain old basic text editor with no frills or features. There have been many third partys and open source versions of similar programs with new features and enhancements. I think the Notebook program Teresa mentions is a new app available through the Windows 10 Microsoft Store. The Microsoft Store came about in Windows 10 so they would have a method to sell you stuff like Apple and Google/Android.

If you find something you like that works better than notepad, jump on it - whatever helps you do a task easier is the name of the game. I like notepad.exe because it's simple, it's free and I've been using it since MS-DOS days. What can I say ☺ My first computer was an IBM PC with an Intel 8088 processor, 8 KB of memory, and two 360 KB floppy disk drives, running MS-DOS 1.0.

Happy Wednesday! ~ John

@travelgirl, We were all new once! And it took us time to learn about each other, so be patient and keep on sharing and talking with us. Rosemary

I know this is too late for today, but thinking ahead to June....

I would like to learn more about ways to improve effective communication with our members. What does data show? How might that influence us as mentors?

Rosemary

@johnbishop, John, I am so excited that in addition to getting more comfortable with my learning notepad, I found out that I could save my settings on Chrome! Tom and I share a computer, and he prefers microsoft edge, so I always needed to re-open (there must be a tech term) my Connect, and email sites when I went to Chrome via taskbar . Now click taskbar Chrome and Everything is there waiting for me!!!

Thanks for giving me the courage to investigate some more computer features:-)
You are definitely contributing to my mental health by reducing some stress. Maybe blood pressure, too!
Rosemary

Never too late Rosemary! Effective communication is the cornerstone of of of of of...a a a communicating ☺ Email and social media has put a damper on communication or rather made it easier to not think before speaking. I am so guilty of not thinking before speaking or writing something. I really think the current moderators, mentors and especially our fearless leader have excellent communication skills and we can learn from each other. I'm hoping I'm better than when I first started and will get better at communicating each day because of the exposure to the styles and words of you all.

Here's an excellent overview of effective communication:
https://www.helpguide.org/articles/relationships-communication/effective-communication.htm

Today is the day! Happy Wednesday April 11th. Want to know why I'm so happy (don't care, I'm telling you anyway ☺)? Spring will be here soon. It's going to be close to 50 degrees today!!

John

So happy to see the pre-conversation to our teleconference. We will cover a lot today, and identify those topic that need more attention or a deeper dive to carry over to the Mentor Meetup and really get into.

@travelgirl @duvie @gailb @gman007 as newer additions to the mentor team, I might suggest you read through these 2 discussions.
1. Mentor Teleconference - October 2017 https://connect.mayoclinic.org/event/mentor-teleconference-october-2017/
This was our first teleconference and we started the discussion online by asking each mentor and moderator to answer these 2 questions in thread:
- What aspect of your personality or skill set do you feel adds the most value to Mayo Clinic Connect?
- What is your favorite past time or activity that helps you re-energize and reconnect with you? (feel free to upload pictures to show us
Reading this will help you get some back ground on the others. I also invite you add your answers.

There was a second teleconference in November which you can review here: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/event/mentor-teleconference-november-2017/

Today is our third one, so its still a new-ish thing.

2. Coffee Corner: A place to talk about anything & everything https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/coffee-corner-a-place-to-talk-about-anything-everything/
Last month, Rosemary started this thread just to have a place to talk among mentors about anything. Kind of like the proverbial water cooler. Drop by any time.

@johnbishop We had snow today (SE Michigan) but it will reach 50 this afternoon !

@johnbishop, the "Notebook" program I remember is Google/Notebook. I don't remember it well, because Google put it to sleep 5 years ago or more. Is there a new Notebook program I should track down -- to compare with the grand old Notepad, which is my choice for plain text creations?

I am not going to be able to join today, but if you become more effective, the rest of us may have to take an English composition update class. I enjoy reading everyone's writing and that goes for many of the members. I enjoy reading the way @parus uses words and we have discussed that. I hope the meeting is productive and I have no doubt that Colleen, or our fearless leader, will insure that it is. I think I will be able to view some or all at a later date.
Gary