As the calendar turns to July and the country opens up to tourism and travel once again, it seems to be vacation season. If you’re planning to take some time off and want to bring a little something extra to your out of office replies, try adding any of the following to your out of office messages (and then see if anyone is paying attention to your automated responses)!
The Out Of Office (OOO) Message with a Fun Fact (that’s totally not true):
Thank you for your message. I’ll be out of the office until… In the meantime, did you know that the average human attention span has shrunk to just 8 seconds? That’s shorter than the attention span of a goldfish. Wait, are you still reading this? Ok, I guess that “fact” isn’t actually true (although it’s an oft-quoted statistic). I’m excited to respond to your message when I return, and we can work together on any of your training needs, including ways to spot false data from real, important data that can impact our work!
The OOO that Helps Improve PowerPoint Presentations
Thank you for your message. I’ll be out of the office until… Before you move on to your next email message, did you know that there are approximately 35 million PowerPoint presentations given each day? Actually, I don’t know how accurate that statistic is (but I lifted it from this PollEverywhere infographic). My point is that there are a lot of PowerPoint presentations given, and they’re given all the time. If you want to improve the look and feel of your next presentation to help it stand out a bit more, you may want to check out these five tips! Good luck, and if you need more help with your next presentation, drop me a line (although you’ll have to forgive me for not responding right away, I’m trying to enjoy my vacation!).
The OOO with Storyline Tips (if many of your emailers also work in Storyline) – this one was contributed by my colleague Lindsay Garcia:
Thank you for your message. I’ll be out of the office until… For those of you who work in Storyline, did you know that the Storyline timeline is practically an all-in-one tool when creating courses? It’s become my best friend! Some of my go-to actions you can easily do via the timeline:
- Preview a slide
- Select multiple objects at once (and then group them)
- Label objects and groups for easier animation and trigger actions
- Hide, lock and unlock objects
- Use the player head to insert objects and cue points right where you want them and to align objects seamlessly
- Adjust the time an object (and the overall slide) display
If you have some shortcuts or tips on Storyline, I’d love to hear about them. But not until after I’m back. Because I’m focused on not checking my email while I’m out!
The OOO to Help with Writing Skills – contributed by my colleague Heather Snyder
Thank you for your message. I’ll be out of the office until… Since we’re in the world of email (and the whole artform of written communication), I’ll leave you with some advice until I’m back in the office: When you’re writing, be sure to use the active voice. According to Grammarly, active voice is more direct and sets a strong tone while passive voice is subtler and weaker in your messaging. For example: Replace a sentence such as “This email was read by my colleagues” with “My colleagues read this email.”
The OOO with a Prize
Thank you for your message. I’ll be out of the office until… If you’re still reading this, I’d like to reward you! If you’re the first person who can tell me how many of the letter “t” you find in this message, I’ll give you a $5 Starbucks giftcard when I return.
Ok, this last one may have moved away from an L&D-style OOO message, but at the end of the day, who wouldn’t want a little joy in their life by discovering an unexpected note in an otherwise mundane element of our working lives?
If you’re taking a trip this summer, I hope you have a safe and amazing time, I hope you recharge your batteries and I’m looking forward to sharing more L&D ideas all summer long.
