People often get a kick out of learning that both of my dogs have their own email addresses. You can send them email at Max or Mason (at) freetech4teachers.com and they’ll get back to you as soon as they learn to type.

My dogs have email addresses because I conduct a lot of workshops throughout the year and I don’t always want to use my personal email account to either register for a service or to demonstrate a function on a big screen. By using the fake email accounts that I’ve created for my dogs I don’t have to clutter my personal email with lots of account registrations that I may or may not use again. Likewise, I don’t have to open my personal accounts on a big screen in front of a group.

The other reason that I use my dogs’ email accounts to register for services is so that I can demonstrate how to use a site or app from square one. For example, when I conduct Google Apps workshops I will use Max’s email account to demonstrate all facets of setting-up an account, adjusting settings, and adding new content to the account. By doing it this way new users see all steps on my screen the same as they will on their own screens.

If you find yourself conducting a lot of training sessions for colleagues or students, take a minute or two to create a fake email account for demonstration purposes.