Most professional speakers work at home and spend a great deal of time navigating through airports, sleeping in hotels and traveling to far off destinations. I know, because I travel and speak frequently and below are some of the tools that I regularly use in order to make my life easier.

Skype - If you haven't yet heard of Skype, you will. Skype is one of the simplest and most notable VOIP (Voice over IP) phone services on the market. Don't let the acronym scare you. Even my eighty-seven year old father-in-law uses it.

So what's the benefit you ask? Skype comes in many flavors; however the basic service allows users to make unlimited computer to computer calls and video conferences to anyone in the U.S. or Canada for free.

Using their optional SkypeOut service, you can call from your computer to any landline in the U.S. or Canada for a flat fee of $29.95 per year or call almost anywhere in the world for as low as 2.1 cents per minute.

Let's look at a couple of real world examples. Recently I was waiting in the business class lounge in London and I needed to confirm my reservations in Prague, Budapest and Vienna. Using my laptop computer and the lounge's wireless network I was able to call all three hotels for less than thirty cents thus saving a fortune in cellular international charges.

Last year my son spent five months traveling around China while attending the University of Beijing. With Skype we were able to speak with him at length for a nominal per minute charge. In addition, we were able to: video conference with him; see his dorm room, meet his roommate, send chat messages and more. Using SkypeOut he could call our cell phone when we weren't at our computer for a minimal fee of a couple cents a minute. During that time my mother was very ill and in the hospital in Los Angeles. I brought my laptop to her bedside and using the hospital's wireless network, setup a video call to allow them to talk and see each other. Sound and picture quality was quite good; however the video portion works best with a high speed connection.

Installation is easy. Simply download the Skype software at www.skype.com, make a free test call, search for friends who are using the service and start making calls. In addition, you can transfer files and participate in Skypecasts which are live moderated conversations with up to 100 people. My secretary can even send me incoming text messages while I'm on the phone. You can even make conference calls and keep a log of your chat sessions. I often use all of the features to keep in touch with Clients and to collaborate with coworkers. These are just some of the features currently available.

USB Flash Drive - USB drives are the current high capacity equivalent of yesterday's floppy disks. Now they are smaller, faster and carry hundreds of times more information. The only requirement is that the computer that you connect to has a USB port (preferably USB 2.0) which just about every new computer now has standard. If your presentation utilizes Microsoft Powerpoint or any other form of data that you are going to project onto a screen, then you should have a complete executable backup on a USB drive. Recently I was speaking at a major event and minutes before my presentation my computer crashed. With a USB drive I could simply borrow another presenter's laptop, plug in my drive and continue without a hitch.

Today's drives are large enough to carry audio, video, data files and more. They range in price from about twenty to forty dollars for a 1 gigabyte drive to less than $100. for a 4 gigabyte drive. There are many great brands to choose from including: Kingston, Lexar, Memorex, Sony, Vebatim, Sandisk, etc. They differ primarily in capacity, transfer speed and size. Don't leave home without one.

Also check out Roboform2Go and Goodsync from Siber Systems software. They offer a couple of excellent products that can work in conjunction with your USB drive. Roboform2Go stores all of your internet passwords and other personal information on your drive and offers password protection capabilities. GoodSync allows for easy synchronization of your USB and PC data. More information can be found on their websites at www.roboform.com and www.goodsync.com.

GotoMyPC - I can't tell you how many times I've been on the road and needed to access a file from my home or office. Year's ago, I used to play with remote control software such as PC Anywhere which required setup on all of the machines and was tedious at best. Not anymore! Now I use www.GoToMyPC.com, a subscription based service that is outstanding. I can login to my computers from any PC in the world that has a browser and Internet connection. From there I can remotely access all files and programs on my remote machine as though I was sitting in the office. I can transfer files to and from the local PC and I can even print them remotely on the road.

When my wife or son needs help with a computer problem, I just login and effectively take over their PC. They claim that it is the simplest way for anyone to get online and access information in real time and I agree. It is easy to install and has automatic upgrade capabilities.

GoToMeeting - Invite clients or colleagues to attend an online meeting on the fly. The Professional version offers an unlimited number of meetings with up to 10 participants for as low as 39.00 per month. www.gotomeeting.com.

Also check out www.GoToWebinar.com - For as low as $79. per month you can subscribe to GoToWebinar which includes GoToMeeting. The service offers robust webinar support features including group polling, questionnaires, and much more. It's great for conducting seminars to groups of individuals for sales, marketing or support purposes. Save travel, time and share your message with a global audience without ever leaving the office.

Try them for 30 days for free; you'll be hooked like me.

To be continued.....

If you have interesting tools or techniques that you would like to share, I'd really like to hear about them.  Please contact me c/o:

David Larner
9420 Reseda Blvd. Suite 610
Northridge, Calif. 91324
(818) 986-7200

or email Speaker@pacbell.net

For booking information phone Michael MacFarlane, Walters International Speakers Bureau (818) 335-8069.