ADR resources roundup, december 2007

My monthly roundup is a short list of links to services, ideas, and articles that help make marketing and managing your mediation practice more effective and efficient.

Last month I wrote about thank you gifts for mediation clients and referrers. For more ideas, check out Freelance Switch’s 7 Innovative Ways to Thank Your Client during the Holidays. There’s still time to arrange a holiday season gift for the folks in your business world.

When you have the occasional business question, where do you turn? I’ve discussed SBA Small Business Development Centers as one option in the U.S. Now there’s a new online option, AskJim.biz, a small business information database that draws answers to your questions from Jim Blasingame’s “Brain Trust” group.

If you’re a divorce mediator, then having divorce support resources for your clients can be a powerful way to add value to what you offer. New startup Divorce360, billing itself as a one-stop site to “offer support, information and tools to help people learn about, prepare for and handle divorce and the issues surrounding it,” is worth a visit.

How many small gadgets do you carry in your briefcase…cell phone, PDA, iPod, USB drive, digital camera, SD memory card? That’s a whole lot of gadgets to keep track of. GadgetTrak helps owners of removable storage devices like those listed above track lost or stolen devices. When a thief attempts to access the device by attaching it to a PC, the gadget automatically communicates key information about the computer and location directly to GadgetTrak. You can find a list of supported devices here. Sadly for me, the iPhone’s not on the list yet.

Diane Levin’s blog is always a great resource for solid ADR information…and for fun and learning, too. Check out her post on Optical illusions as a training tool for mastering negotiation and conflict resolution skills.

And speaking of learning, one way for mediators to stay current is to track mediation in the news. Mediate.com’s inaugurated a new service, Mediation Today, to track and report on daily mediation news from around the world. It’s just another terrific way Mediate.com helps make our work easier and better.

Have any resources you’d recommend to your fellow mediators? Leave a comment to share it (if you’re viewing in email, click on article title to be taken to the web page and scroll down to find the comment section).

Copyright © 2007 by Tammy Lenski. All rights reserved.