Media training 101 for small businesses

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Great news: you just scored a big press interview to promote your business. The story will expose your brand to the perfect new audience and drive meaningful traffic to your website. So…don't blow it. Yes, just as quickly as the excitement for the opportunity arrived, the realization that you now have to do an interview sets in. I get it—press interviews can absolutely be intimidating. The resulting coverage represents a significant opportunity to acquire new customers, drive sales, or raise awareness, and you want to be sure to represent your brand well and really compel the audience to check out your company. On top of that, you have to contend with adrenaline and nerves in the moment. You may be thinking, "So many other business owners are so polished and articulate in their interviews. How am I going to pull that off?" Deep breath. A successful interview is usually the result of good media training: preparation and practice in advance of an interview. I've tr
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How to Turn Off the Red Dot in Slack

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Slack puts a red dot next to its icon whenever there is an unread message. This is potentially useful, but can also lead to impulsively clicking. However interesting your job might be, it’s no match for a mysterious red dot, that most compelling of UI elements, one that you just can’t look away from wait are you switching windows right now? Get back here. Now.

Ahem. Here's how to disable that red dot on macOS and Windows.

Hiding Slack's Red Dot on macOS

Slack's macOS app puts a red dot on the dock icon whenever there are unread messages. When there are unread DMs or messages there’s a number, as seen below, otherwise there’s just the red dot.

Slack red icon

To turn this off, you'll need to open the preferences. Click your organization's name at top-right, then click Preferences

Slack preferences

Make sure you're in the Notifications section.

Slack notification settings

Scroll down until to the Sound & appearance section. You'll see the option to Show a badge on Slack's icon to indicate new activity.

Show a badge on Slack's icon

Uncheck this and the red dot will go away.

Hiding Slack's Red Dot on Windows

Slack's Windows app offers two red dots: one beside the taskbar icon and another on the icon in the tray.

Slack red dot Windows

There's no way inside the Slack app to disable either of these red dots, which is more than a little frustrating, but there is a workaround.

Right click your taskbar and click Taskbar settings.

Windows taskbar menu

Turn on Use small taskbar buttons.

Small taskbar buttons

This will shrink your taskbar but will also hide the red dot from your Slack icon.

Smaller taskbar

It's not a perfect solution, but it works.

As for the dot on the tray icon: You can't remove it either. The best solution I've found is to hide the icon entirely, which you can quickly do by dragging it above the arrow. Like this:

Hide Slack icon Windows

Again, it's not a perfect solution. Hopefully someday Slack adds a toggle for disabling these red dots, as they do in the macOS app.

Want more tips like this? Check out our Slack overview for updates, advice, and integrations.



from The Zapier Blog https://ift.tt/2ENq3Gp

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