D ELIVERS
Bamford Banter
Welcome friends!
We hope you are enjoying
a busy and prosperous fall
season! It’s been exciting
here at Daystar as we further
enhance our client support
portal and launch three new
service offerings, including
network monitoring, D3 data
backup, and Microsoft Office
365.
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You may have seen the local news that Daystar was recently awarded
a NH Job Training grant that enables us to fast-track some additional
engineer training and professional development initiatives in order
to be•er serve your growing technology needs. Training is currently
underway and we are very excited about the opportunity to invest
back into our tremendous staff!
Speaking of our team, please join me in welcoming three new
members to our Professional Services Group: Samantha Linnell as a
project coordinator and IT Support Specialists Zachary Carano and
Dave Buslovich. It is with a somewhat heavy heart that we report
that Josh Bourgeois is no longer with Daystar, however we are very
excited to work with him in his new capacity.
On another note, much like last-minute holiday shopping, many
of our clients scramble at the end of the year to make technology
purchases that apply to their 2012 budgets. If you are planning to
make some final purchases on your current budget, I advise you to
place orders as soon as possible to avoid the end of year rush.
On behalf of Keith, Dan, and the entire Daystar team, we wish you all
a safe and happy holiday season. We are extremely grateful for your
support and camaraderie!
- Eric Bamford, COO & Co-founder
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What’s inside....
Bamford Banter
Referral Rewards
Meet the Team: Wayne Benjamin
Welcome Aboard
Tech Tips
What to Get Your Geek
Proud to Support STEM
Like us? SHOW us!
facebook.com/daystartechnology
Question: What is a Raspberry Pi?
E-mail [email protected] by 12.21.2012 and put
“Newsletter Drawing” in the subject line. A winner will be drawn
randomly from correct answers.
603.766.5924
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[email protected]
DAYSTAR DELIVERS
Meet the Team:
Wayne Benjamin,
Client Relations Manager
Wayne joined Daystar in 2004
and, since then, has excelled at a
variety of positions. Currently,
as Client Relations Manager,
Wayne strives to help our
clients save time and money by
leveraging technology to operate
their businesses more efficiently
and productively. Wayne
works diligently to establish
and maintain long-term client
relationships and ensure that we satisfy each client’s unique technology
needs.
Wayne holds a Master of Business Administration degree and a
Bachelor of Arts degree in Computer Information Technologies from
Franklin Pierce University. Wayne is fortunate to have been exposed
to many technologies and information systems throughout his tenure
at Daystar, and is currently pursuing a Master of Science degree in
Information Technology Management.
Q&A with Wayne:
Like most about your work… Partnering people with technology and
opening them up to new ways of doing things.
Favorite TV shows… My all-time favorite is definitely The Sopranos.
Right now, it’s an eclectic mix of Revolution, Glee, and Parks and
Recreation.
Welcome
Aboard
Join us in welcoming the
following new members of
the Daystar team!
Samantha
Linnell,
Project
Coordinator
Zachary
Carano,
IT Support
Specialist
Ryan Snyder,
Maintenance
Program
Manager
Dave
Buslovich,
IT Support
Specialist
Favorite Food… I can’t say that I have a favorite food. I eat a variety of
foods and try to make healthy choices for the most part, even though
foods high in fats and nitrates are more tempting!
Last book you read…. Ten Le!ers: The Stories Americans Tell Their
President by Eli Saslow.
Technology you can’t live without… Electricity! It’s the essential base
for most others!
Your “secret sauce”… It wouldn’t be a secret if I told you.
Wayne can be reached at [email protected].
Ready for work . Whenever you are.
Enterprise-class tools at
a small business price.
Cloud-based e-mail,
calendar, Office apps
and more!
For a free trial,
contact Daystar today!
DAYSTAR DELIVERS
Tech Tips:
Effective E-mail Practices
Many of us send and receive a large number of
e-mail every day. Like its more formal counterpart,
the wri•en business le•er, e-mail is a reflection on
you and your business. However, it is often seen
as informal and familiar, resulting in more relaxed
grammar and sometimes inappropriate tone. E-mail
is an extremely efficient and indispensable business
communication tool; nevertheless, it is important to
communicate wisely and there are certain things to
take into account when e-mailing.
Lesson 1: E-mail is public, not private.
Any e-mail you send must be considered a public
conversation, regardless of disclaimers listed at
the end of the message. E-mail sent from your
company’s e-mail system is actually “owned” by
your business. Also, once you hit send, you have
no control over what the recipient will do. They
could forward it along to others or print it out and
leave it in a public area. Only discuss public ma•ers
in e-mail. Refrain from discussing confidential
personnel or human resources related issues or
the particulars of sensitive business deals and/or
proprietary information. You could face additional
legal repercussions in addition to reprimands from
your employer and/or offended parties should you
communicate confidential data via e-mail.
Lesson 2: Clear, relevant subject lines get your
e-mail opened.
Inboxes are inundated with hundreds of messages
every day. Your e-mail’s subject line is the best
chance you have of ensuring that your message will
be opened in a timely manner. This is especially
important if your e-mail is the first contact you have
with the recipient.
Always include a subject line. It should be concise,
clear, and accurately relate the contents of your
message. Never open an old e-mail from the
recipient, hit Reply, and send a message that has
nothing to do with the original message; this is
misleading, annoying, and
gives off a laziness vibe you
probably weren’t intendending.
Cutesy, vague, or obscure
subject lines run the risk of
be
being immediately sent to the
trash bin without being read.
Elude spam filters by avoiding
all caps, all lower case, urls and
exclamation points
in your subject line.
Lastly, proofread
your subject line
as carefully as you
review the rest of
your message.
Lesson 3:
A!achments ... how
much is too much?
You’ve got that
awesome PowerPoint presentation with a couple
of funny embedded videos that you know you’re
receiver is going to love! You quickly click on Insert
File, a•ach it to your e-mail, and presto! It’s gone…
right? Actually, it’s not so easy for your recipient.
Large a•achments can clog their inbox and cause
other important messages to bounce.
Ask before sending an a•achment over 500KB.
Provide a brief description of what the a•achment
is and ask how they prefer to receive it. Limit the
number of a•achments in a single message, unless
they have been requested or expected. Finally, make
sure your a•ached files have a logical file name so
the recipient understands the file at a glance.
Lesson 4: E-mail multiple recipients with caution.
Send or copy others only on a need-to-know basis
and think twice before hi•ing “Reply All” or filling
in the “Cc” or “Bcc” lines.
Only use “Reply All” when every member of the
e-mail chain needs to know the information you are
sending. Oftentimes, it is only the original sender
you need to respond to.
When sending original e-mail, use the “Cc” field
when the message requires that all contacts have
the same information. The contacts should either
already know each other’s e-mail address or be
comfortable with it being known to the other parties.
Use the “Bcc” when you are e-mailing a group of
people who do not personally know each other.
Maintain their privacy by not publishing their
address to people they do not know.
Lesson 5: Open well. Close strong.
When e-mailing someone for the first time, or after a
long period of no contact, briefly introduce
Tech Tips continued on next page.
DAYSTAR DELIVERS
Tech Tips:
Effective E-mail Practices
continued
yourself. Do not assume the
person knows who you are or
immediately recognizes your
e-mail address. Include a short,
simple reminder of who you are in
relation to the recipient.
Understand your recipient and
take into account your familiarity
with them when greeting and
signing off on your message. If
they are normally formal, write a
more formal greeting and close. If
the recipient is more casual, do the
same. When in doubt, err on the
side of formality.
Likewise, it is important to always
greet your recipient, whether it
is a formal “Dear Mr. Jones”, or a
more relaxed “Hi Sam”. Include
an e-mail signature with your signoff. It’s helpful for the recipient to
have easy access to your contact
information should they need to
call you, want to check out your
Website, connect with you on
social media, etc.
Lesson 6: Set a professional tone.
With the number of messages we
receive on a daily basis increasing,
it is important to keep e-mail short
and clear. Get to the point quickly
and use white space (e.g. via
carriage returns or bullet points).
State the purpose of the e-mail
within the first two sentences.
Be professional. Avoid using
emoticons or slang words. Employ
a standard writing technique
using proper capitalization and
punctuation. Likewise, don’t
overuse exclamation points; it can
emit an immature impression.
Always proofread your messages
before sending them. Check for
spelling and grammatical errors,
in addition to ensuring readability
and comprehension.
E-mail is often seen as informal;
people spontaneously fire off
an e-mail they would never
put in “writing”. Think twice.
Do not “e-mail angry.” It is not
good practice to ever express
anger, criticize or beli"le others,
reprimand staff, send bad news, or
fire someone over e-mail. E-mail
messages last forever on servers or
in other’s e-mail boxes.
Lesson 7: Go for a minimalist
approach.
The more forma"ing you include
in an e-mail, the more likely it
could be inadvertently caught by
a spam filter and blocked from
the recipient’s Inbox. Even simple
forma"ing, like using a unique
font, relies on your recipient’s
system to display the e-mail the
way you intended.
Use very li"le, if any, forma"ing
in everyday e-mail. Black text
and standard fonts are safest. The
ultimate goal is to communicate a
message; don’t impede that with
your own forma"ing.
Lesson 8: Don’t cry “Wolf!”….
unless it’s warranted.
Realistically evaluate the
importance of your message. Don’t
use the high priority
option unless the message
truly warrants it. If you
regularly set high priority
to your messages, it will
likely have an adverse
effect. It is be"er to use
clear,
descriptive
subject lines
and allow
the recipient
to place
priority.
Similarly,
use the
“delivery receipt notification”
sparingly. Your recipients don’t
want to feel like you’re watching
over their shoulder. And creating
the need for a recipient to allow
receipt notifications can simply be
annoying.
Lesson 9: Respond appropriately.
In most cases, e-mail is not
expected to warrant an immediate
response. Still, it is important to
reply in a timely manner, usually
within 24–48 hours.
Also, weigh the need to send a
response. Avoid sending one-line
messages like “Thanks.” Our
inboxes are big enough without
inconsequential messages. As
a sender, you might consider
including the caveat “No Reply
Necessary” in your messages when
you don’t expect a response.
Invest a moment to clean up your
reply if needed. For example, if
your e-mail trail includes carets
or pages of non-Bcc’d addresses,
delete them.
Lesson 10: Be realistic.
Understand the nature of e-mail. It
is not immediate or real-time and
should not be used for last-minute,
urgent, or sensitive news. It is
also not a conversation. Complex
subjects that require explanations
or topics up for negotiation are not
really suitable for e-mail. In these
Tech Tips continued on next page.
DAYSTAR DELIVERS
What to get your Geek
Geeks are hard to buy for.... trust us, we know.
Whether it’s your spouse, kids, parents, or friends,
the geeks on your gift list can prove to be a challenge.
Below are some gift ideas from our geeks to help you
with your geek holiday gift shopping.
From Anne, Director of Communications
Touchscreen-sensitive gloves will help your geek
keep their fingers warm while winter texting,
e-mailing, Facebooking, or dialing. AGloves and The
North Face both have good products.
Pi is actually a
computer...that costs
$30!!! Seriously, it can
do anything!
From Wayne, Client
Relations Manager
For those times a geek
needs more than a
smartphone camera,
the Nikon Coolpix S01 is very neat. It’s small, light,
and features a touchscreen capability.
From Kyle, IT Support Specialist
Geeks create a lot of data... where to put it all?!? A
Seagate 1TB Free Agent GoFlex Ultra-Portable Hard
Drive can store large files and programs.This is
useful for backing up personal computers as well!
From Ryan, Maintenance Program Manager
Geeks like to buck the trends... so check out the
Samsung Galaxy Note II, with Android Jelly Bean.
It’s awesome and it’s not an iPad mini!
From Eddie, Senior Network Engineer
If your geek is also musically inclined.... a guitar pick
punch is AWESOME! Turn expired credit cards, old
gift cards, hotel key cards, and other thin plastic into
perfectly-shaped guitar picks. Check out Vat19 online
for a cool pick punch.
Tech Tips... continued
From Eric, Senior Programmer
The true geek would LOVE a Raspberry Pi. Contrary
to the common belief that this is a dessert, Raspberry
cases, a phone or personal conversation is best.
E-mail is fast and purpose-driven. It is more objective
than personal conversation and an efficient way to
communicate the same message to multiple people.
E-mail is a powerful communication tool we rely
on every day. When used properly, it helps us to be
more productive, efficient, responsive, and informed.
- Mike Ransom, PSG Manager
Proud to support STEM
New Heights Robotics team
advances to States tourney!
Daystar is extremely proud to support New Heights’
Robotics Program. The after school program features
two middle school teams participating in the FIRST
LEGO League robotics competition. The Seacoast’s
qualifying tournament was recently held at UNH with
19 teams competing.
Teams compete in robot games, a project component, and teamwork and core values. Team B
(pictured above with Coach Wayne Moulton) mastered the technically challenging Robot Game and
were the 4th highest scoring team. Team A scored big on their project presentation and will compete at the State FLL Competition in December in Manchester, NH! Job well done to both teams.
We are honored to support such talented kids and the awesome staff at New Heights!