Technology Seminars by Geeks on Tour

GeeksWhoTeach

Jim and Chris Guld are professional technology trainers.  As ‘Geeks on Tour’, we present seminars all over the country at computer clubs, RV Rallies, senior centers, and even people’s homes. The following list shows the topics we present.  We are updating and developing new topics all the time.  The current, popular, topics are at the top of the list, numbered in order of importance. Each seminar is accompanied by a handout.  Handouts can be downloaded for free, see the link after each seminar.  Contact us about booking a presentation at your club or event – you’ll also find info there about what we charge.  Read these in-depth reviews of 2 seminars we presented to the Quad-Cities Computer Club.

Title Sub-Title Description
Current Top Titles All seminar handouts       Seminars are designed for 90 minutes including Q&A, but we can deliver them in a 60 minute format if necessary.

  1. Learn Smartphones with Geeks on Tour – 16 Tips
    Meet Jim and Chris – the #GeeksWhoTeach. They’ve been in the technology training business since the early 80s. Now they focus on teaching smartphones – this seminar covers tips for Smartphone basics, Smartphone photography, Google Maps, Device Independence, and QR codes. Class Materials
  2. Smartphone Photography: take a good shot and make it better. You have one of the best cameras ever created right in your pocket. Smartphone cameras, if you know how to use them, take wonderful photos and videos. Then, with just a few more taps, using free apps like Google Photos and Snapseed, you can make them even better. After learning these techniques, people will say WOW when they see your photos. (Class Materials)
  3. What Does This Button Do?: Smartphone basics, plus a hodgepodge of tips from our YouTube show of the same name. (Seminar handout)
  4. Google Photos: What to do with all those photos A free tool to store, organize, edit, and share your lifetime of photos. We introduce the basics, then show our favorite features (Class Materials)
  5. Maps and Apps for RV Trip Planning Jim and Chris, of GeeksOnTour.com have been RVing since 2003, mostly full time. They will share their current list of the most useful apps and maps including step-by-step demos of how they plan their trips. (Class Materials)
  6. How to remember and share your travels with photos, maps, and a Blog Jim and Chris have been RVing since 2003 and they have all the photos, maps, and Blog posts to prove it. In this seminar they will share their system with you and show you how you can remember any time or place from your travels just by simple searches. It’s all done with free software from Google: Google Photos, Google My Maps, and Google Blogger. (Class Materials)
More Seminars
“How to organize your photos”
Chris and Jim Guld from GeeksOnTour.com have over 100,000 photos and videos and they use Google Photos to keep them organized. Most of the photos were taken with their smartphones, but many came from older digital cameras and also old family albums, prints and slides. They can show you any photo from their life in seconds, and they don’t even need their computer to do this. In this seminar they’ll show you how you can do the same with the following steps:
  1. Gather all your photos to one place – your Google Account in the cloud. It’s free and unlimited.
  2. Learn how all photos are sorted by date, and searchable by People, Places or things
  3. Separate the best from the rest by marking your favorites and creating albums
Chris wrote the book Learn Google Photos 2021 and she’s happy to take your questions.
Hands-on Workshops 3 hours each, $45, limit 12 people

1. Smartphone Photography: Hands-On smartphone photography classFor people with iPhones/iPads or Android phones and tablets – from beginners to advanced, everyone learns something in this class. If you’ve never taken a selfie, or figured out how turn your flash on or off – not to worry, that’s where we’ll start. The class is hands on. You need to bring your phone or tablet as we will have you exploring and experimenting with all its camera-related features.

2. Take your smartphone photos from so-so to stunning. For users of Google Photos, we start with basic crop and filters. Then we add the free editing app “Snapseed” and turn your photos into masterpieces. You’ll work with your own phone/tablet and your own photos as well as some sample photos from the geeks.

3. Making digital photo albums with Google Photos. The key to success with finding and sharing your photos is Albums. In this workshop we’ll teach the basics of making albums and sharing albums. Working with your own photos and your own phone you will make albums and share with the class. The goal is that, on your next trip, you’ll know how to make and share the albums before you go. Then you add photos during your trip and you have no work to do when you get back home!

4. Getting the most out of Google Photos. This is the hands-on workshop that was held several times over Zoom after the release of Learn Google Photos 2020.  Class Materials page – workshop recordings for members only.

#4 Smartphones: What Does This Button Do? How to use today’s iPhones and Android devices Think your smartphone is smarter than you? We can fix that!

Whether you’re a smartphone or tablet newbie or a longtime user, this fun, interactive seminar is jam-packed with useful information, such as how to:

  • Turn on/off Sleep/Wake Reboot
  • Multi-task: Check your calendar while on a phone call
  • Understand cloud accounts
  • Install/Uninstall apps
  • Take fabulous pictures

Join Geeks Jim and Chris Guld of GeeksOnTour.com as they share tech tips from their popular YouTube show: What Does This Button Do? See GeeksOnTour.com | Weekly Class

Read the Seminar Handout

#5 Google Photos: what to do with all your pictures How to store, edit, organize and share the memories of your life You’ve taken hundreds of pictures with your smartphone*. Now what?! The geeks at GeeksOnTour recommend Google Photos. It works automatically, and it’s FREE.

  • Gathers pictures from all your digital devices
  • Provides unlimited online storage
  • Frees up space on your phone
  • Searches and sorts by date
  • Lets you create albums, edit and enhance pictures
  • Makes it easy to create collages, animations and movies with music

Let Chris** and Jim from GeeksOnTour.com show you how!
*iPhone or Android
**Designated Google Photos Top Contributor Platinum, author of Mrs. Geek’s Guide to Google Photos.
Read the Seminar Handout

#6 Create your own website-travelog How to tell your story using Google’s free tools: Photos, Maps, Videos, Blogs Keeping a journal of your travels? Let us show you how easy it is to use Google’s free online tools to transform your journal into a travelogue complete with photos, maps and narrative. Not a traveler, but still have a story to tell? Google’s Blogger.com is a simple tool to make your own free website for whatever you want. Check out our blog at GeeksOnTour.BlogSpot.com to discover the possibilities, and be sure to click the menu options for Photos, Videos, and Maps.

But wait, there’s more: One final click turns your story into a beautiful book of memories.

To read the seminar handout Click Here

#7 Technology for Travelers How to use Internet, maps, apps and websites to enhance your travels
Jim and Chris love teaching seminars

Geeks Jim and Chris of Geeks on Tour rely on their phones, tablets, computers and GPS devices to help them as they RV their way across America. Whether you’re on the road for the first time or are a seasoned RVer, this continuously updated seminar always reveals new ways to put technology to work for you.  Discover the joys of using:

  • Internet on the road
  • GPS navigation
  • The Geeks’ favorite travel apps
  • …and much more

Read the Seminar Handout

#8 How do I make my own custom Google Map How to use Google My Maps to Plan, Preserve, and Share your Travels You’ve probably been to the Google Maps website to search for a destination. But did you know that you can use Google’s My Maps to create and save custom maps to record your travels and share them with friends and family. Your custom maps can even include your photos, links, and descriptions.You can also use My Maps to create maps for Family Genealogy, or locations of favorite things like Hot Springs, or Presidential museums. This seminar will show you how!
Read the Seminar Handout
#9 Video Making Short Videos: A Fun and Easy way to Share your Travels You may have heard that Video is where it’s at! What you may not know is how easy it can be for you to make your own, using free tools like Google Photos,

Windows10 Photos, YouTube, and more. The first step is to take some video – just tap the video button on your phone – you’d be surprised how valuable even 30 seconds of video can be! Combine your video with still photos, other video clips, and music. In this seminar you will learn everything you need to know. Read the Seminar Handout

#10 Blogger: How to make a free website How to make a club or small business website
Making your own free website using Blogger.
If you have a hobby, club, or small business to share with the world, a website is the way to do it!
This seminar will introduce you to Google’s free website tool, Blogger.com.  Learn how to start a Blog/Website and add pages for specific purposes. You can share responsibilities of maintaining the website with multiple “authors.” Learn how with Geeks on Tour’s easy to understand, step-by-step instructions.
————— —————- ——————————————————————————

Other Topics available by special request only:

Apps for Travelers Using material from our weekly “What Does This Button Do?” online show, we will show you as many Apps as we can fit in the time allotted!
Every traveler needs to know how to navigate with their mapping app, we will demonstrate with both Google Maps and Apple Maps. For foreign travel, Google Translate is a must. For RVers, we love Where Am I?, Gas Buddy, and Field Trip. We use several campground searching apps, Social Networking apps, Personal Safety apps, and many more.
Read the Seminar Handout
Picasa Collages Make Collages with your Photos and Text Picasa is older software, but it still works great – especially for getting creative with Collages.
Internet What is Cloud Computing? The ‘Cloud’ is simply The Internet – but it is taking on special meaning as Google, Microsoft, and others are offering accounts where you can have your own slice of the sky. If you start a document with your computer, finish it on a tablet, and view it on your smartphone, you’re using Cloud Computing.  This seminar will explain the concept and demonstrate how you would use it with examples from Google Photos, DropBox, and Onedrive.  You will learn how to share pictures using the Cloud and specifically how to get photos from your smartphone to your computer automatically.
Facebook Facebook for Travelers Facebook is the perfect tool for keeping in touch with new friends you meet on the road.  This seminar will help you understand exactly what it is, how to get started, and tips for using Facebook successfully.  Facebook is a great way to share your pictures, with just one person, your group of friends, or the whole world.  Worried about privacy?  You actually have complete control over who can see your stuff.  We’ll show you how.  Do you have a travel club, or a small business?  Making a facebook page for your organization is easy, and it lets you communicate with your members, or customers.
Visit our facebook page at www.facebook.com/geeksontour
Google Earth for Travelers Overview of Google Maps, Earth, and StreetView: A complete interface to our planet. Google Earth is now accessible from Google Maps, all web-based, probably the coolest program ever conceived! Zoom in to detailed satellite imagery of any location, or even 360 degree photography.  Find out about locations from links, photos and reviews. Last but not least, make your own interactive map of your travels to share with others. Virtual travel at it’s best.  You GOTTA see this!
GPS: Streets and Trips GPS Navigation and Trip Planning This was our favorite trip planning tool and it still works if you already have it. Microsoft discontinued Streets and Trips with version 2013.
How to plan your trips and follow your plan. Featuring Microsoft Streets and Trips 2013. Understand the different devices available, dashboard, hand-held, and USB devices for your computer. Even GPS enabled cell phones like the Droid and iPhone.
Internet on the Road Internet Connections on the Road: WiFi, Satellite, Cellular Come learn more about how to “Get Away, and Stay Connected!” Should you get a data card from your cell phone company? How does Wi-Fi work? How much does an Internet Satellite system cost? Do I need an amplifier or antenna?  How the Geeks Stay Connected?  With their Android smartphone as a Hot Spot.  These questions and more are answered in this seminar.
Photo Story 3 Photo Story 3 makes Free and Easy Narrated Slideshows Take your digital still photos and let Photostory 3 make them look like a video movie with Zoom and Pan effects. Add custom-created music and narration all with this free, and Oh-So-Easy download from Microsoft.
Safe Computing Regular Maintenance Techniques to keep your Computer Running Smooth and Virus-Free Practice Safe Computing: We call it BUCS, as in Backup, Update, Cleanup and Scan. Like a car tuneup, if you do it regularly using free tools, your computer will run much better. Combine that with a good password system and learning what to click on and what not to click on and you can do a good job of remaining virus-free as well.
On the Road On the Road with Geeks on Tour A short (20 min) slideshow and talk about our full-time RVing lifestyle.
Computer Boot Camp 2-day, hands-on class on Computer Essential Skills Geeks on Tour Hands-On Computer Class
Unlike kids today, we weren’t born knowing this stuff! What are windows and how to manage them? Reboot, cut, copy, paste, browse the web, saving files and finding them again! Editing documents and lots more.Using your own PC laptop, we present 6 sessions over 2 days complete with hands-on exercises. using Windows 7, Know your Laptop, Word Processing and Filing, Maintenance and Safe Computing, Wi-Fi and Web browsing.

I learned more in these past couple days than in the past ten years of using a computer.”

Google Photos and Snapseed Photo Editing Workshop In this class, students work with their own devices, either iPhone/iPad or an Android phone or tablet. The course uses sample pictures for editing exercises. The pictures have been specifically selected to demonstrate the editing features of Google Photos and then more with Snapseed – both are free apps. Following a demonstration, students have time to do hands-on editing themselves on their own devices. Class duration: 3 hrs Fee: $30 Members=$20
Internet Love Story Geeks on Tour: Relationship and Business made possible by the Internet Jim and Chris Guld were 50 years old when they sold their home and cut all their ties in order to follow their dream of living on the road. No retirement and no income; yet they were convinced they could make a living on the road as long as they had the Internet. Follow their journey over 14 years of criss-crossing this country and teaching everything from setting up Internet Satellite dishes to taking cellphone selfies.
Websites Creating a Website with Free WordPress This seminar will give you step-by-step instructions to create a complete website with static pages as well as a blog and photo album. It can be a personal website, small business, or a club. You will learn to set up an account on the FREE WordPress.com hosting site and build a website using all free tools. Presented by Jim and Chris Guld of Geeks on Tour who have two WordPress-based sites: www.picasatutorials.com and www.wifisavvy.com .
Windows 10 Windows: Tips and Tricks Understanding the start menu, great searching, dictation and OneDrive.  Set your Internet connection to metered data to avoid unwanted downloads. Bring your questions!  Read Seminar Handout

One reply

  1. Greetings. We really loved having you at our meeting last year. Could you send me your calendar of travel so we might be able to schedule a visit to our group again? Thanks!

    Heinz Scheuenstuhl
    GGCS Secretary

Comments are closed.