Free!

I’ll admit – I’ve had some conference calls (meaning via GTM) in some not-so-normal places. Mostly this happens when a client needs to talk to me right now because they’ve nuked their help system or there’s a very narrow window when they can talk and I’m away from my desk. I’ve conducted meetings in a McDs, Panera, Starbucks, you name it.

And no scoffing – I was aware of the challenges that these places present and the clients agreed to deal with them since they were in crisis mode.

The problem was, I had to find a place to stop where I could set up my Macbook, log on to my Windows virtual box, open GTM and THEN join the meeting.

K.L.U.D.G.Y

So when I got my iPad I was excited to see that GTM has an app for that!

It came in handy the other day when I had a meeting scheduled but didn’t have the time to get all set up. So, I pulled over, and logged on to the meeting via my iPad. GTM’s UI is clean and minimal – nothing to distract or confuse. Here’s the login screen and a bit further down a view of the meeting itself.

Super handy!  How handy? So handy that I didn’t need a headset, a wifi hotspot, or even an actual location. All I needed was a meeting ID and I was good to go.

The sound quality during the meeting was excellent. I could hear and be heard very clearly just via the iPad’s speaker and mike.

Here’s a screenshot from the meeting:

One of the few buttons on the UI is Mute – which can be extremely helpful. I like that it doesn’t get tucked away like the desktop version can.

Another of the buttons is the chat feature – very similar to the desktop version where you can chat privately with another attendee or send out message to everyone.

I loved that I can use this on the go and that I’m no longer tied to my laptop. It’s great for quick client meetings or even longer collaboration meetings.

Easy, convenient, and free – a great combination that makes for a wonderful app.

Have you used the GTM app for iPad yet? If not, you should. If you have, let me know your experiences with it.

This is the second in my series of posts about iPad apps that have helped me succeed as a consultant. Today I want to tell you how in love I am with the Dropbox app. I’m not ashamed to admit…I looooovvvve this app because it solved a number of challenges that I was having while working on my iPad:

• Where to store files that are emailed to me
• How to review client docs while on the go
• How to fax docs from my iPad
• How to pull up and print docs from my iPad

Granted, the last two items involve other apps to make this happen (eFax and Print n Share respectively) but Dropbox got me well on the way to being fully productive without toting around my MacBook.

I was first exposed to DropBox when a client needed to get her entire Flare project, source code, not output, to me for review. It was too big to email and she didn’t want to FTP it. So she suggested that I use DropBox. I had to get a free (!!!) account at dropbox.com (but I think you can do that through the app as well). Once I signed up, I got 2GB of space free. Not bad!

When I was all set up, I saw my client’s files waiting for me. Easy peasy. I downloaded the client software and POOF! I had a new folder in Finder (Mac) and Windows Explorer. I could move folders and files over without any trouble at all.

Sharing docs with clients via my iPad is super easy too. Here’s a view of my folders through the app:

Everything that I have is viewable both on my iPad and Mac.

Storing, Printing Faxing

If you want to store the doc directly on your iPad, print it, or fax it – press the arrow in the upper right hand corner and a list of options will open:

Clicking iBooks would store the PDF on my iPad for quick reference. Selecting Print n Share would prepare my doc for printing. Clicking eFax would get ready to fax the doc. The link that you see in the screenshot above creates a hyperlink so you can email this doc (technically the doc’s location) to someone.

I have used the DropBox app for evaluating clients’ documents, reviewing contracts, storing docs that come from my Inbox or are on my PC that I may need later. I no longer need to email documents to myself.

I will write later about how I use DropBox on my Windows virtual box as a source code backup (in case my iMac falls over and crushes my Time Machine containing all my other backups) for all of my help projects. And no, I’m not paranoid – just prepared.

DropBox app – FREE!