One of our main goals is to keep you, our client, front and center and fully in-charge of your learning experience. We understand that paying for services is a challenge for many people and we are constantly looking for ways to make it easier for you to pay or find funding, while still being able to pay for our office space, our insurance and professional fees, our equipment, etc. We are always working to develop funding partnerships in the nonprofit sector.

But we also want to make it easier for you to manage your own training. Next month, we will be unveiling a number of different things to help you do this. Here is a sneak peak at what is coming down the line in September:

Online Scheduling:

You will soon be able to schedule your sessions or enroll in workshops online. You will also be able to call in and we can schedule for you using the online system. The system saves your information and preferences and keeps a record of your sessions and workshops. You will be able to cancel or change your appointment yourself, instantly add appointments to your calendar, and it will send you automatic email reminders to help you remember your scheduled sessions with us.

Credit/Debit Cards:

We will be accepting credit and debit cards through our online system, so no more waiting for an invoice and having to write a check. You can now pay immediately and upfront and get an email receipt for your records. You can even have the system save your card details if you would like. Again, you can still call or pay in person if you are new to the online system. If you don’t have a credit card or prefer to pay in cash or check, we can still do that. Just let us know.

Group Workshops:

We will be offering a series of workshops each month. Each workshop will be two afternoons a month. There will be a cap of 5 students per class, so you will still get plenty of individual attention, and the group format will be lots of fun. The enrollment in the workshops is rolling, meaning that you can take just one 2 session workshop or you can continue your enrollment for 2 or more months–whatever is most useful for you. Right now, we have these classes in mind:

• Mac/VoiceOver Focus
• Windows/JAWS Focus
• iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch) Focus
• Advanced iOS for those who want to go beyond the basics with their mobile device.

We will change and add to the group classes based on interest as we go.  Let us know what you would like to see as far as workshops. These workshops will start in September, so give us a call or email if you are interested and we will make sure to keep you updated on enrollment.

Mini Consults:

Have a quick question? Need a fix to a specific problem? We will be offering a limited number of Mini Consults a week. These 20 minute sessions are an economical way to solve a specific problem or get you unstuck.

The scheduling system will be a big transition for us and we hope it goes smoothly but there might be a glitch or two along the way. In August, we might ask some of you if you’d like to volunteer to be “beta testers.” It will be a learning process for all of us! But we will quickly smooth it out and it should make getting access to quality tech training easier, more convenient and more economical for you. Please give us feedback so that we will be able to make your experience with us that much better.

Saturday Hours:

We know that for some people, weekday appointments are not possible. We will be accepting appointments on Saturdays. This adjustment will also mean that we will not be open for business on Mondays, as a rule. But there may be times when we switch things around as needed.

When we get nearer to September, we will post more specific information and show you how to get started. Stay tuned!