[Interview] Part 15: Teresa Hennig, International MS Access Authority

This is the next blog in the continuing series of interviews with leading professionals. In this series of blogs, I have an exclusive interview with Teresa Hennig. Teresa is an international authority on MS Access, a top user group leader, a best selling author and a recognized and profiled MVP.

Enjoy!

Stephen Ibaraki, FCIPS, I.S.P., MVP

Balancing Work Priorities

Stephen : You seem to be involved with a wide variety of activities, not just INETA and your user groups, but you are working on another book and are preparing Access training videos. How do you fit it all in?

Teresa: Oh, making it all fit in is not even possible. So, I'm constantly juggling priorities and demands as best that I can. Sometimes, I have to give up something that I really want to do, in order to solve an urgent issue for a client. But those are choices that I make. And like I mentioned earlier, it is a constant balancing act and we have to be flexible in our schedules. When making a decision about responding to a client's urgent request I not only consider my priorities and schedule, but also the impact of delays to their business.

That's exactly what happened the day before I flew to New York for my test screen shot. A client called and urgently needed my time. I was also leading the Access meeting that night and had other commitments. I chose to defer some of my plans and resolve the issue for my client. The alternative would have been to delay some of their work for 4 days. Knowing the cost impact to them, I changed my priorities. That is the type of relationship that I have with my clients. I feel as though I am a partner to their success. And really, their success is one of the most fulfilling parts of what I do - to be able to make things possible for others.

Stephen: Tell us about why you are going to do training videos.

Teresa: The videos are another way of reaching out to the community and providing resources for people to help themselves. We all have preferred learning styles or processes, and that can be influenced by both what and why we are trying to learn something. I'm very much a hands-on person. So, if I get to do something I have a much better chance of assimilating and retaining the knowledge.

I'm hoping that the training videos will provide that type of experience for new Access users. With the fantastic new features in Access 2007, I am anticipating that it will appeal to an entire new audience of users. Home users and even small businesses will find it much easier to create and use Access applications.

I know how important it is to have a support network, to learn from others and to see how something is done. So, I'm very excited to have been offered the opportunity to create training videos so that people can get this kind of help at a time that works for them. When you think about it, doing videos seems like a perfect fit for me. It's a wonderful combination of helping others, empowering people, working on a project and making a presentation. This is all very exciting. I've never done anything like this, but based on my demo they said that I'm a natural. So, wish me luck and watch for a new Access title from Total Training.
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Look for more with Teresa in the next blog.
I also encourage you to share your thoughts here on these interviews or send me an e-mail at sibaraki@cips.ca.
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