I have used a Toshiba 3505 Tablet PC for two weeks. My experience has been very positive. In addition to normal PC stuff (Outlook, Word, Excel, etc.) I have found the Tablet PC to be a very valuable tool in meetings with my clients. My typical client engagement is "1 on 1" or "1 on 2" in their office or conference rooom. I typically have the lead at the meeting and always prepare in advance.

First, there is the "cool" factor. The tablet is, to the folks I deal with, novel and interesting. This usually helps with the "engagement" process at the meetings. I used to take meeting notes on paper. Now, I take them in the Journal application that comes on the tablet. I have found that the Tablet PC is training me, or at least a positive feedback loop has been establisthed. The meeting notes are now more useful to me than they used to be (easy filing and retrieval, the ability to e-mail an ink note, cut and paste, etc.) Because of this I find myself taking better, neater notes. This in turn makes the notes even more valuable.

In the past, I frequently used a laptop in these meetings to display documents to clients. This works even better with the tablet than it did with a converntional laptop. Before each meeting I import the documents needed for the meeting to "Journal" format. This is an easy process. I just print to the "journal note writer" from Word or other applications.

I setup the tablet so that the client and I can both see it. The ability to use a highlighter for emphasis when reviewing a document or showing a PowerPoint presentation as we talk is great! Another good thing is the ability to jot down the clients positive comments on the document, both to reinforce them and to record them. It is also a lot easier to flip back and forth on the screen from my notes (in Journal) to another document I am showing (in a second instance of Journal or PowerPoint) than to fumble between a pad of paper and a conventional pen and a PC. This is important when I am working at a clients desk where space is often at a premium.

I am confident that this new sales tool will help me to achieve higher sales!

Paul W.