It was a tough decision, but in the end the DeskDemon team was unanimous. The best suggestion for the new name for your monthly e-zine was e-mailed to us by Management Assistant Shelley Frost from Lincolnshire: DeskDemon Express. We think it's great. It lets you know that it's a DeskDemon product, and "Express" sets the tone for fast communication, describing the way the e-zine whizzes down the wires into your inboxes. So congratulations indeed to Shelley, who wins a beautiful bouquet of flowers courtesy of Interflora, and our heartfelt thanks. Plus, every time she receives her copy of DeskDemon Express she'll know that she named it.

Thanks to all of you who sent us alternatives to the old ON! Office Networks - we had great fun reading them. On our shortlist were OPEN - Office Professionals Editorial Networking from Pam King, SecsExpress from Alison Wardley, DemonEzine from Michaela Burk, Admin E-ssentials from Helen Hyde, and Office Professionals Online, suggested by Ranjita Singh.

All these names had a good ring to them, but in the end we decided we didn't want to limit the readers to a job title, as DeskDemon Express is read by a wide variety of people, from secretaries to EAs, and from editorial assistants to office managers. (And besides, as editor, I didn't fancy the double-takes I would get when I told people I edited an online e-zine called SecsExpress!)

Thanks again to those who took part, and we hope Shelley enjoys her lovely bouquet.

Each year, top recruiters Gordon Yates produces a report on the secretarial and administrative worlds, and it has become an extremely well-respected publication, used by all those in the sector to assess changes in secretaries' salaries, roles, aspirations, and much more.

But of course such a report can only be up-to-date, relevant, and valuable if the information and views are supplied by secretaries, PAs, office administrators, etc - and that's where you come in. We'd like the readers of DeskDemon Express to have the chance to add their views to the wealth of others who have already given their perceptions on the role of today's office professionals.

It doesn't take long to complete, and it's all online (so there's not even the hassle of finding an envelope)! Simply click through to the link and take a few moments to add your voice to the definitive annual survey of your profession. Your name will be put in the draw for one of six £25 gift vouchers for amazon.co.uk and you'll also receive a copy of the report when it's published (which retails at £150).

Thanks in advance for taking the time to complete the questionnaire - we at DeskDemon believe it's very important to be a part of the national debate on the secretarial role, and your views really are valuable! Simply click HERE

Medical secretaries have been in the headlines recently, as stories broke across the national press of UK doctors' notes being sent to India to be typed up. The shortage of medical secretaries in the UK, has led to National Health Service trusts outsourcing their audio typing needs to agencies, who send the work to India. This practice has resulted in some potentially dangerous errors.

Examples included a condition called "phlebitis left leg" which came back from overseas as "flea bite his left leg"; a "below-knee amputation" was changed to a "baloney amputation"; a sufferer with a "Eustachian tube malfunction" was written up as having a "Euston Station tube malfunction"; and one patient was prescribed a course of "Lanzarote" instead of "Lansoprazole".

While occasionally amusing, these clerical errors are clearly potentially serious, as Michael Fiennes of Amspar (Association of Medical Secretaries, Practice Managers and Receptionists) explained: "If a dosage is wrongly prescribed, or if the patient's condition is misdiagnosed, the patient could die."

But Michael is not critical of secretaries in India. "I have no doubt the secretaries in India type very good letters, but they are not trained medical secretaries, familiar with medical terms," he explains. "Typing staff in India are paid around one-third of UK medical secretaries, so it's a question of economics. If British medical secretaries were paid properly for the work they do, there would not be a shortage of skilled staff here, and there would be no need to outsource to other countries."

But the attraction of outsourcing the notes is not purely cost: documents sent to India are returned within 48 hours, whereas they would previously have taken up to one month to be sent out by UK staff.

It's a fast-moving world, and fitting in long training courses can sometimes be tricky. That's why leading admin and secretarial trainers Hemsley Fraser has launched a range of Accelerated Development Workshops.

Based on their Core Competencies Framework, the half-day workshops aim to provide a short, sharp, results-driven solution to help you keep up with your changing role - while lessening the impact of your being away from your desk. The workshops are focussed on achieving immediate impact - at the end of the session you will come away with practical skills, techniques and tools that you can transfer straight back to the workplace.

Held in central London, these affordable training sessions focus on a specific skill such as Communicating with conviction, Building confidence and self-esteem, Maximising your Personal Impact, Time Management, Project Management, and Finance.

For more information about the workshops, please contact Hemsley Fraser on 01752 849400

Last issue we put five of the brand new AA Business Hotel Guide up for grabs, and these five lucky readers will soon be receiving this excellent new resource:

Jackie Elsdon, PA to Directors at Jaycare in Newcastle upon Tyne;
Lorraine Taylor, PA to Ops Director at Washington E&C in Birchwood;
Jane Anderson, Senior Secretary at Saudi Aramco in Devon;
Maria Newcombe, Secretary to the Directors, Ultra Electronics Electrics Division in Cheltenham;
and
Paula Stevens, PA to CEO for Teleca in Winchester.

Congratulations to all the winners, and we hope they find the AA Business Hotel Guide a truly useful desk-top resource. With 2,000+ hotels for business, more than 700 golf courses, and conference and corporate event information, it's sure to be a very handy guide.

If you're running a small business, keeping abreast of the new employment rights can be a struggle. So the work-life balance charity Working Families has produced comprehensive and detailed guidance to help small and medium sized employers deal with flexible working requests. It includes advice and evidence from other small business owners, checklists to assess and process requests for flexible working, and information about employees' and employers' legal rights and responsibilities.
The guidance is freely available at www.workingfamilies.org.uk

We recently received a letter from Susan Sexton, Director of event management firm Worldspan International. Susan was writing in response to our article on training courses for event organisers ("How to broaden your event horizons", July/August issue) and she made some very interesting points. I've reproduced some of Susan's letter here, as I thought readers would find her letter useful:

"Dear Editor,

I read your feature on broadening event horizons through educational courses with interest. It is a subject that lies close to my heart, as an event organiser for 30 years and a mother whose son has recently been studying such a course. Organising events is all about logistics, efficiency, planning, creativity, and ensuring your suppliers are paid. These courses are great and will teach you all of the above and more.

However, that's only half of the story. The thing no one teaches you about organising events is the one aspect far more important than any of the above - communications and relationships. People are in everything we do, and as the organisers of events we must learn not only to communicate, but to ensure that we are able to work with all cultures and mentalities

Event organisers in all situations must understand the people they are working with. Invariably they split into four types: internal clients, guests, suppliers and colleagues. We need to understand that each one of these categories is different and requires a different approach.

Events are about people, and the reason they are being held is about people - sales, face to face communications, incentivising, etc. Courses create great foundations, but understanding the people involved is the most important knowledge for event organisers. And turning that understanding to your benefit through experience is the greatest skill.

Treat all your contacts throughout the life of the event in the way that they wish to be treated, and the event will not fail. The client will appreciate you, the guests will love everything you do; the suppliers will do anything for you, and your colleagues will like working with you. In the words of George Bernard Shaw, 'The difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she's treated'."