Efficient use of Gmail and email etiquette

Yassen Tcholakov IFMSA-

Overview (1)
Part 1 Gmail features Part 2 Email etiquette Part 3 My tips and tricks Part 4 Hands on training Part 5 References
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Overview (2)
Part 1 Gmail features
Signatures Accounts Labels Filters Labs

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Overview (3)
Part 2 Email etiquette
Email structure Fields Timely reply Grammar and spelling Official address vs personnal address

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Part 1 Gmail features

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Accounts Signatures Labels Filters Labs

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1.1 Accounts (1)

Centralize all your emails in your gmail account
By forwarding them from other adresses By setting up Mail Fetcher
Settings | Accounts and Imports | Add POP3 email account

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&an

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=2

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1.1 Accounts (2)

Send emails from the appropriate address
Send emails from different addresses from within gmail
Settings | Accounts and Import | Send mail from another address

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/static.py?page=guid

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1.2 - Signatures
Sign your emails according to the address that you are sending from
Use multiple signatures in gmail
Settings | General | Signature

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=8

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1.3 Labels
Organize your emails
By creating labels for them
Settings | Labels | Create Label

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=1

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1.4 - Filters
Spare yourself some of the organisational work
Use filter to automatically sort through your emails
http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=6579
Settings | Filters | Create a new filter

In order to facilitate the use of emails you could devise a naming scheme and add tags to emails that you send
Ex.: [IFMSA], [SCORA], [LC Montreal]

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1.5 - Labs
Gmail has all kinds of new and cool features that you can use My favorites are:
Multiple inboxes Send and archive Undo send Sender time zone Signature tweaks Right side chat Canned responses Google calendar gadget SMS in chat Title tweaks

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Part 2 Email etiquette

1. Email structure 2. Fields (from,to,cc,bcc,subject,body,attachment) 3. Timely reply 4. Grammar and spelling 5. Official address vs personnal address

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2.1 - Email structure (1)

Greeting
Ex.: Hi , Dear , etc.
Hi Dr. X, I am Yassen Tcholakov, president of IFMSA-Qubec (the Qubec branch of the International Federation of Medical Students Organisations). I am writing to you because I would like to discuss the exchanges offered to the students from University Z through IFMSA. [Core of the message] Thank you for your time, -Yassen Tcholakov IFMSA-Qubec President +1.514.717.3170 www.ifmsa.qc.ca

Introduction paragraphe
Who are you Why are you writing to the person

Core of the message

We will see this in the next slide

Salutation
Ex.: Thank you, Regards, etc.

Signature
We will come back to this later

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2.1 - Email structure (2)

Core of the message
Structure your ideas
Make short paragraphs that are to the point
[Greeting] [Introduction] I would like us to set up a meeting in the course of the . month of September in order to discuss the exchanges offered by IFMSA. I am free on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9:00AM to 4:00PM and everyday of the week from 6:00PM to 8:00PM. Please contact me to tell me what time suits you best. I propose to discuss the following topics at the meeting: IFMSA-Qubec and IFMSA Exchanges in University Y The exchange experience of students going abroad If you would like to add any topics to the abovementioned list, please inform me so that I can prepare the necessary documentation. [Salutation] [Signature]

Be precise Clearly state what you want from the other person

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2.2 Fields (1)

From
See 2.5 Official vs Personnal address
From: president@ifmsa.qc.ca To: dean@universityY.com Cc: deansecretary@universityY.com Bcc: (none in this case) Subject: Meeting concerning IFMSA-Qubec exchanges Body: (see message in section 2.1) Attachments: (none in this case)

To
The person you are directing you message at (the same one that you greet usually)

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2.2 Fields (2)

Cc (Carbon copy)
People that need to be aware of the conversation without necessarily needing to be part of it
From: president@ifmsa.qc.ca To: dean@universityY.com Cc: deansecretary@universityY.com Bcc: (none in this case) Subject: Meeting concerning IFMSA-Qubec exchanges Body: (see message in section 2.1) Attachments: (none in this case)

Bcc (Blind carbon copy)

This is usefully only when sending to a large group of people without the desire to share their personal addresses between them
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2.2 Fields (3)

Subject
Briefly describe the topic of the email (see section 1.3)
From: president@ifmsa.qc.ca To: dean@universityY.com Cc: deansecretary@universityY.com Bcc: (none in this case) Subject: Meeting concerning IFMSA-Qubec exchanges Body: (see message in section 2.1) Attachments: (none in this case)

Body
Already discussed previously

Attachment
Always describe the attachment in the body Be aware of attachment size limits
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2.3 Timely reply

It is important to check emails often
In todays digitalized world, checking emails once every two days is a minimum If you think about it, you check your mail everyday, the same should go for your emails

Once you read an email, it must become your priority to reply

If that email requires more time and you do not have it at that moment, a simple acknowledgement of reception as well as an expected date for reply is usually well perceived This should be done within at most 72 hours of the moment the message was sent
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2.4 Grammar and spelling

This is self explanatory; no matter who you are writing to, you should make an effort to write in a proper language without grammar and spelling mistakes
Make use of gmails spelling check feature Use any word processors spelling and grammar check to back it up Use additional software if necessary
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2.5 Official vs Personnal address (1)

From field
If you have an official email address: USE IT
Your official address makes it more professionnal People will get a clue what you are writing to them about depending on the address from which comes the email People in contact with you will automatically continue sending emails to the right address at the end of your term

Your personnal email address is the one you give to your friends
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2.5 Official vs Personnal address (2)

To field
If you are writing to someone on matters pertaining to their occupation/position within an organization, use the corresponding email address Receiving emails to the right address helps in efficiently dealing with the matter in the email
See section 1.4

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Part 3 My tips and trics

(the best part of this training)
1. 2. Use gmail Have your own system and dont let emails slip through the cracks

I leave emails in my inbox until I have dealt with them; then I archive them If I send an email and I expect a reply, I star the sent email in order to remember to check on it every once in a while I have a To read label where I put stuff that I intend to read later but that are not urgent and that should not overincumber my inbox
Important stuff sometimes ends up there, you dont want to miss it You should check it every two weeks at a minimum, I recommend and checking it once per week

3.

Check your spam folder every once in a while

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Part 4 - Hands on training

First open this google doc https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadshee After each step write done next to your name in that steps column

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Step 1
Create a new gmail account
gmail.com | Create an account

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Step 2
Log in your old account
Forward all your emails to your new account Section 1.1

Log back in your new account

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Step 3
Set up sending emails from your new account
Section 1.1

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Step 4
Create 2 different signatures depending on the adress that you are sending emails from
For the new signature use this template For the old signature use whatever you used before in your other account Section 1.2
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-Last name, First name newemailadress@gmail.com This is a fun training!

Step 5
A. Send me an email from your newly created address B. Send me an email from your old address

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Description of types of messages

Types of messages
[URGENT]
You must reply to this as fast as possible

[Spam]
You do not need to see these messages, the further from the inbox, the better

[Not Important]
This is a legitimate message, but it is not important enough for you to deal with it, create a canned response to be automatically sent
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Step 6
Create filters
Try to create filters to automatically manage the emails in order to do most of the job for you

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Little break
So are you ready? Things will get intense soon. Take the next two minutes to set up anything else that you think might help you deal with an overwhelming quantity of emails.
Be it google labs Or opening word in order to correct your emails faster Or anything else that you might think of
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Step 7
In the next 15 minutes you must send 8 emails
You have to send:
2 [Urgent] 6 normal messages 0 [Not Important] 0 [Spam]

You have to adress them to:

2 personal emails to NMO that share a border with your country (or that are very close if no one shares a border) 2 personal emails with NMO that are further from your country 2 group emails to more than 1 person 1 emails to everyone

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Step 7 (continued)
After each message sent indicate how many you have sent out Do not send messages to me except the message the 1 email addressed to everyone Respect email writing guidelines Write message that demand an action or a response Do not forget to reply to emails
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Step 7 (continued)
START

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Step 8
STOP Verify how everything went
A. Did you receive [Spam] and [Not Important] in your inbox? B. How many messages do you have in your inbox right now? C. How many emails did you send? D. Search for [URGENT]
E. How much time did you take on average to respond?

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Debrieffing
Did you like the exercise? What did you learn from the training? Do you think your email management skills have improved? How would you improve the training?
Which parts would you take out? Which parts do you think need more emphasis? Which parts were not given enough time?
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Part 5 - References
References for Part 1 References for Part 2

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References for Part 1

Gmail support
http://mail.google.com/support/

Gmail Tips: The Complete Collection Google search

http://www.google.ca/search?q=gmail+tips

http://www.g04.com/misc/GmailTipsComplete.h

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References for Part 2

Email Etiquette 101 Readers Respond: What Email Etiquette Hint Do You Wish Others WouldFollow?

http://www.netmanners.com/email-etiquette/em

http://email.about.com/u/ua/emailnetiquette/W

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Futher readings and exploration

Google docs Google calendar Synchronizing Google with your computer and various electronic devices

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