Friday, January 04, 2008
1. Ajuby in FOSS.IN BOF
2. Pasting the BOF on the clipboard
3. Giving the demo to the folks
4. Explaining passionately
5. Demostrating on the laptop
6. Debating with the Sun Microsystem guy
7. Took quick time to grab coffee
8. The future innovators
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Spreading knowledge through Moodle.
The graph also shows that rate of Moodle adoption has increased amongst the Universities and the learning Institutions.
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Monday, January 02, 2006
Monday, July 04, 2005
Coke Addiction And The Six Cs Of Super-Rich
C FOR... CHARLIE
posted by Moses Paik | 1:59 AM | 3 comments
Friday, July 01, 2005
How to prepare for your web conference.
Here are few guidelines which I found very helpful in conducting a web conference. Usually there is a lot that can be quickly gained or quickly lost from a presentation. A little bit of guidance goes a long way toward making a highly effective presentation.
The following guidelines are intended for general presentations. These guidelines can be applied to face-to face meetings, web presentations, and desktop video meetings.
Basic Guidelines For Designing Your Presentation
- List and prioritize the top three goals that you want to accomplish with your audience. It's not enough just to talk at them. You may think you know what you want to accomplish in your presentation, but if you're not clear with yourself and others, it is very easy - too easy - for your audience to completely miss the point of your presentation.
- Be really clear about who your audience is and about why is it important for them to be in the meeting. Members of your audience will want to know right away why they were the ones chosen to be in your presentation. Be sure that your presentation makes this clear to them right away. This will help you clarify your invitation list and design your invitation to them.
- List the major points of information that you want to convey to your audience. When you're done making that list, then ask yourself, "If everyone in the audience understands all of those points, then will I have achieved the goal that I set for this meeting?"
- Be clear about the tone that you want to set for your presentation, for example, hopefulness, celebration, warning, teamwork, etc. Consciously identifying the tone to yourself can help you cultivate that mood to your audience.
- Design a brief opening (about 5-10% of your total time presentation time) that:
a. Presents your goals for the presentation.
b. Clarifies the benefits of the presentation to the audience.
c. Explains the overall layout of your presentation.
- Prepare the body of your presentation (about 70-80% of your presentation time).
- Design a brief closing (about 5-10% of your presentation time) that summarizes the key points from your presentation.
- Design time for questions and answers (about 10% of the time of your presentation).
Basic Guidelines About Presentation Materials
- If you plan to use a PowerPoint presentation as part of your meeting, then be sure to carefully review your presentation sequence before the web conference meeting, your objective is to synchronize your audio conference presentation with your PowerPoint slide presentation.
- Use a consistent layout, or organization of colors and images, on your visuals.
- If you use PowerPoint, a good rule to follow is to allocate one image for every 3-5 minutes of your presentation. Include 5-8 lines of bulleted phrases on each image.
- If you provide supplemental information during your presentation, then your audience will very likely read that information during your presentation, rather than listening and following you. Therefore,send out this information after you have completed your presentation. Or, send it out at the beginning of your presentation and ask them not to read it until you have completed your presentation.
- If you're speaking using desktop video conferencing along with your web presentation then try to accomplish eye contact with the web camera throughout your delivery. Look up from your materials, or notes, every 5-10 seconds, to look into the audience.
- Speak a little bit louder and a little bit slower than you normally would do with a friend. A good way to practice these guidelines is to speak along with a news anchor when you're watching television.
- Vary the volume and rate of your speech. A monotone voice is absolutely toxic to keeping the attention of an audience.
- Keep your hands relatively still, that is, not waving in front of you which can be distracting to the viewer.
posted by Moses Paik | 4:51 AM | 0 comments
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
India Heading Towards The Broader Adoption Of Open Source Software
Microsoft has become an increasingly harsh critic of the open-source model, in which the underlying code for software is freely shared for users to modify and distribute, saying the approach is risky and undermines innovation. The open-source Linux operating system has become a growing threat to the dominance of Microsoft's Windows.
"The most unfortunate thing is that India still seems to believe in proprietary solutions," he said in the speech. "Further spread of IT, which is influencing the daily life of individuals, would have a devastating effect on the lives of society due to any small shift in the business practice involving these proprietary solutions. It is precisely for these reasons open-source software needs to be built, which would be cost-effective for the entire society. In India, open-source code software will have to come and stay in a big way for the benefit of our billion people."
posted by Moses Paik | 2:16 AM | 0 comments
Monday, June 27, 2005
Now each letter campaign you send out gives you the ability to precisely track what your return on investment is. This way you know to the penny if your marketing is working or not. Unlike many other forms of advertising you do to just get your "name out", direct mail gives you an easy way to track your returns.
Subtracting your expenses (cost of postage, printing, and list rental) from how much business your direct mail campaign brought you gives you your profits.
You must keep track of each and every prospect calling from your letter and responding to your specific offer (secret # 4).
That's why you'll want to assign unique priority codes, extension numbers for each promotion. Each letter you send should have a unique code. Then you will be able to credit that letter with the inquiry or sale. So you know what works and what does not.
Many times I'll use a priority code at the top of the letter. When prospects call in your staff should be trained to ask for the priority code.
Or if you do face-to-face business, an easy way is require people to bring the letter with them/or present it to your staff in order to get the special offer.
Tracking is critical or else you'll still be flying blind. Now you can track your revenues and results from each mailing. Plus, you get a clear handle on where your business is coming from and which
promotions are working.
Adding direct mail to your marketing is a surefire way to produce immediate results for your business. And by applying these seven little-known secrets, your next mailing can't help but be more profitable and successful.
posted by Moses Paik | 3:33 AM | 0 comments
Here's how:
posted by Moses Paik | 2:35 AM | 0 comments
Think about your own life. You've probably received some offers that you were interested in but you never acted on. Perhaps you put it aside for a phone call or maybe one of your kids came running in and distracted you, or any number of other reasons. Your prospects are the same way. To overcome this, you've got to create a plan for multiple contacts. Also, this way you can take advantage of the "moving parade of life". You are not selling to a standing army, but rather a moving parade of prospects. People will move in and out of different needs and wants as they go through changes in their life.
posted by Moses Paik | 1:05 AM | 0 comments
The best type of offer is something that is non-threatening and completely irresistible. If you can offer anything for free this works best. Such as a free educational report, tape, seminar, consultation, service, etc. Try to come up with such an irresistible offer that anyone would be foolish not to take advantage of it. Plus by making a compelling offer you can then keep track of how many people responded to your mailing.
posted by Moses Paik | 12:49 AM | 0 comments
Brochures and self-mailers do not work. What do you do when you get a brochure in the mail? Most people will either toss it out or file it away. Hardly anyone gives it more than just a casual glance on the way to the circular file.
What you need is an action device, and that's what a letter will give you. You need to take advantage of the greatest benefit direct mail has for you - personalized, intimate conversations.
A letter allows you to "talk" one-on-one to your prospect. That means you should use "I" and "me" and "you" freely in your letter. Don't use the corporate sounding "we".
Remember just one person is reading your letter at once. So don't write in the plural, even if your mailing is going out to thousands and thousands of people. Just sit down and write the same way you'd talk to a friend over dinner explaining the advantages and benefits of the product or service you're offering.
Start your letter with a compelling, benefit-driven headline. Prospects will decide to continue reading by the headline. If your headline fails to capture their attention and keep them engaged, your letter will quickly end up in the trash.
The most common mistake you can make is to put your company name, big and bold on top of the letter. This is the worst thing you can possibly do. You see, every person is concerned with one thing: *What's in it for me?*
Your company name does not show what, if any, benefits, the prospect will get from your letter. So put your company name at the bottom of the page where it belongs.
posted by Moses Paik | 12:32 AM | 0 comments
Saturday, June 25, 2005
Secret #2: How To Get Your Letter Opened and Most Importantly, Read
In fact, the Post Office freely admits that 20%-30% of all bulk mail gets thrown out for various reasons. The reason is simple; when your mailman's sack gets heavy, which letters do you think he would dare not deliver? That's right - bulk mail.
So if something looks like it's junk mail it is more likely to get tossed.
So in order to get your mailings respected (by the post office and your recipient) all your mailings should go out first class and use a real "live" stamp. That also means don't use mailing labels or even worse than that, is a "postage indicia".
All these smack of "junk mail". The closer you can make your envelope look like personal correspondence the better since people sort their mail over the trash can. That means you only have only a split-second for them to decide if they'll open your letter or not.
posted by Moses Paik | 12:17 AM | 0 comments
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Direct Mail Secrets To Create A Stampede Of New Business
With direct mail, you're given the opportunity to use laser-beam, pinpoint accuracy to specifically target your message.
There are two major types of lists available.
1. The first kind of list is simply compiled information, taken from directories, phone books, motor vehicle records, etc.
Probably the most common way of using a compiled list is to buy a geographic list, like all the residents around a 5 mile radius of your office. Usually this will not yield the greatest results.
Another way is to segment a compiled list is by demographics (that's the fancy term for age, sex, income, whatever). This is a little better way to target.
But there is an even better way is to combine them using "Geo/Demo" characteristics.
You can pick certain geographic areas and certain demographic characteristics that you desire. Think of your ideal prospect, the more you know about them the better targeted lists you can purchase.
For most people a good starting point is to comb through your customer records to find common characteristics, like region, age, etc. Or if you sell business to business then you should try to look for common industries or SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) codes that a majority of your business comes from. Your goal is try to *clone* your best customers!
2. The second type (and much more valuable) is called a direct response list. These are lists of people who have bought or responded to direct marketing.
In some cases it will make more sense for you to buy a mail order list. The people on this list have bought something from direct response methods (mail, print ads, infomercials, etc.).
This kind of list is the most specific you can get.
What you want is a "starving crowd," somebody who has expressed an interest in looking better. Somebody who has paid money. And that's exactly who you can find using direct response lists.
But there's one more list that almost everyone forgets. It's literally a gold-mine lying at your feet. And that's your *own* list!
If you have not put all your customer's names and addresses into a database you're overlooking an incredible source of added business. This list will be the most powerful list and responsive list you can use for any offers because these people already trust you and like doing business with you.
This is critically important. Especially if you're in a business that typically doesn't keep their customer names and addresses because you're missing an incredible amount of money.
posted by Moses Paik | 10:03 PM | 0 comments
Friday, June 17, 2005
Telephone Manners and Etiquette
The following tips will help you use your "telephone tool" to its fullest:
- Smile when you're on the phone; your customers will hear it!
- Answer the phone pleasantly and maintain a pleasant demeanor while on the phone.
- When you place a call that you know might be lengthy, ask if it's a good time to talk before you dive into your spiel.
- Know what you want to say before making an important call. Practice the words out loud until they feel comfortable.
- Don't read from a script during a call. Instead either memorize your script as an actor would or use "thought starters" such as a word or two on index cards to guide you from one idea to another.
- Make a telephone appointment when you want to have a focused, longer (15 or more minutes) conversation with someone who is normally busy.
- Don't do things such as open mail, flip through the newspaper or do paperwork while on the phone. The person you're talking with will know you're distracted.
- Listen and respond to the person on the other end of the line. When you focus on them rather than on what you're going to say next, the phone call becomes much more conversational.
- When you're doing a lot of telephone work, energize yourself after every hour.
Your voice is your personality over the telephone. It makes an immediate impression that can portray you as friendly or distant, confident or timid, spontaneous or mechanical, relaxed or nervous.
So, how do you come across over the phone? Evaluate the following attributes:
- Pitch - The more inflection you use, the more interesting your tone of voice is. The pitch of your voice is an index of confidence and poise.
- Volume - Is it too soft or too loud? Often when people are tired or upset their voices tend to fade, and they will be asked to "speak up." Be sure to speak loud enough to be heard, but not so loud that you sound forced.
- Rate - If you speak too slowly you'll likely lose the attention of the listener. Conversely, your listener won't be able to follow you if you speak too rapidly. In either case, your message won't get through.
- Quality - The quality of your voice is its most distinctive and individual characteristic. This is where the essence of warmth, understanding and "likability" come into play. Being angry, upset or in a hurry negatively affects your vocal quality.
- Articulation - The price of poor articulation is high, particularly in business. You must enunciate or pronounce your words very clearly or your listeners will misunderstand you. Faulty articulation and incorrect word pronunciation give your listener the impression that you are sloppy, careless and lack knowledge.
posted by Moses Paik | 6:27 AM | 0 comments
Got Into The Blogging World
This is my first blog. Its not very long time that I've started blogging, but from the first day I've been feeling that blogging has improved my communication skill. Blogging helps me a lot in learning new things. There are many things which blogging makes me acquainted with, it is really very exciting to learn new things while blogging. The blogging is the best way to develope your conversational skill and it also teaches you how to present yourself in the midst of different kind of gatherings. It also makes you aware of new things, technologies, ideas, strategies and many more things which are really very nourishing for the personality development. When I started to blog, I found it really very hard to blog. After few days I found that I was getting fond of blogging. I was very much excited to go through the blogs once a day. Everytime when I went through it, I found something new and exciting. Sometimes I came across some of the facts which I didn't knew before. It was blogging through which I came to know some of new things. I think that blogging is one of the technique through which the knowledge of reading and writing can be improved and developed. I think that the blogging is like a big tree of knowledge where the fruits are different posts and each and every fruit has got its own taste and you will like the taste of every fruit because every fruit has different taste, that is, different kind of knowledge. Well if you find that this post needs to be modified then the suggestions will be gratefuly acknowledged.
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
If you think it may be lacking, or if you’d like to increase your credibility and confidence, consider the following tips:
- Be Aware That Gestures and Mannerisms Either Support or Sabotage What You Say
- Become Conscious of What Your Body Language Says When You’re in Front of a Group
- Add Volume to Increase Authority
- Lower the Pitch to Increase Credibility
- Identify Vocal Qualities That May Detract From an Overall Positive Impression
If you want to be more EXECUTIVE then click here.
Seven Questions Employees Should Ask Before Joining a Startup
Going to join a start-up, get prepared by the following queries:
1. If you are receiving employee options, what is the number of fully-diluted outstanding shares?
2.Has there ever been a down round, a flat round, or a CEO change?
3.What is the burn rate and how much cash is in the bank now?
4.What is the plan for exit strategy and its timeframe?
5.Could you meet the CEO, the founder(s), and those on the management team?
6.Are there plans in the next six months to hire anyone along the chain-in-command between your position and the CEO?
7.How many employees did/does/will the company have six month ago, now, six months from now, a year from now?
These questions are erupting in your mind, if yes, then click here to get the answers.
Thursday, August 04, 2005
In a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence of Mohammed Afzal in the Parliament attack case, but condoned the death sentence of Shaukat Hussain Guru and passed the order of 10 years rigourous imprisonment.
The court upheld the Delhi high court judgement of acquitting S A R Geelani and Afsan Guru, wife of Shaukat Guru.
Justice P V Reddy and Justice P V Neolkar absolved Shaukat Guru of charges under the Terror Act, but sentenced him to for concealment of the conspiracy of the attack on Parliament.
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
The death toll in Maharashtra rose to 942 with Mumbai accounting for 436 deaths, Navi Mumbai 60, Thane 206, Raigad 136, Ratnagiri 18, Sindhudurg seven, Kolhapur 11, Parbhani six, Nanded nine, Yavatmal 10, Satara four, Beed seven, Aurangabad seven, Jalna two, Hingoli one, Wardha two, Pune seven, Nasik one, Bhandara five, Washim two and Amravati five.
In Vidarbha region, there was also a let up in rainfall and water level receded in Vainganga river in Bhandara. In Nasik, incessant rains since Monday night disrupted normal life and the civic body issued notices to residents of old houses in Kazi Gadhi locality, facing threat of collapse due to heavy rains.
There were no fatalities in the Air France jet crash at Toronto airport, although 43 people were injured, authorities said. Authorities increased the toll to 43 after initially reporting 22 injuries.
Airport official Steve Shaw confirmed that no one died in Tuesday's accident, speaking to reporters shortly after an Air France A-340 jet arriving from Paris crash-landed at Toronto's Pearson International Airport during a storm. Forty-three people were taken to area hospitals, but their injuries were minor, Shaw said.
The plane was apparently struck by lightning while braking on the runway, according to a French source close to the investigation. Shaw added that the circumstances surrounding the crash are the subject of an ongoing Canadian-French investigation.