Photographer on Presentation

I have been tripping major on Presentation Zen, TED talks and the general right side of the brain for the last nine months or so (its March 2009 as we speak).

Truth is most people suck when it comes to delivering a message. The message in itself may be worth the delivery even though the channel of delivery – the presenter, the medium of presentation, the methodology, the philosophy – is not.

Recently I stumbled on an article written by a photographer at TED. This dude comes out with remarkable tips for speakers.

• Deliver the speech to the crowd and not to the screen.
• Do not pace across the stage. You look like a caged animal. Animals look a lot cooler in the wild.
• Take off your name tag. You are your face, your body and your voice – not the dork tag.
• Make eye contact with the audience. Your message fails to make contact otherwise.
• The front corner of the stage might make you look like Jim Morrison. But that part usually is not very lit.
• If you are videotaped, the above factors come out 10x.
• Dress up a level above your crowd. There is no standard dressing. Torn Jeans makes as much impact as a Tuxedo. Its the crowd and the level that matters.
• If in a panel, do not look at your shoes and do not look at the ceiling. Look at the speaker. You look bored otherwise. You have no right to take away the punch from any message whatsoever.

Indians at TED try to put in too much humour, casual talk and accent. That plain sucks too. If an Indian, you are an Indian. There is no fighting it. Just be proud of your Yem Bee Yea

Why Kids can be much more evolved than us?

I have heard people say kids can do stuff. A friend of mine (Appu – Apurva – ex Chutney) once actually showed me why kids can be a “major trip”. I have stopped ignoring kids since and try get their game.

• Stop ignoring kids and the things they do. There is no “kiddie stuff”
• So sad if you have grown up. You are missing all the fun
• The energy levels of kids are unbeatable. Can you be on the run for 2 hours non stop with just a plastic junk
• Ask a kid to frame a story. Can you make such a trip?
• Ask a kid about crows, pigeons, lizards, dogs and such urban / suburban forms of fauna. You might figure out why these things are not extinct yet. Probably you might just land up with some “anti-extinction” plan for yourself
• Kids have more developed right brains and less developed left brains. How much I wish for the same. Well we got computers and calculators for the intricate calculations.
• If you can make a kid understand what you mean by Web Develpment, you probably know it well. And how do you know if the kid understood it? If you can understand what the kid means by web development and if that understanding is correct. Mere usage of words may not be helpful here. Try pictures, stories and such. Web Development can’t be more interesting than a Tom and Jerry show. Can it be?
• If you think kids are innocent, you are dumb. Kids have no mercy and no limitations. They live constantly on the edge.
• Try answering a kid when watching a movie. That can be more interesting than the movie itself.
• Cartoons made for kids are much more engaging than the soap operas made for adults

If you have plans to make something more creative and stuff, listen to kids. Plus, if whatever you make is not creative (that includes Dal rice, a website, a piece of music, a presentation, a document, a spread sheet, a sexual act) its not worth it!

coca cola and water neutrality

Coca Cola has come up with a concept of water neutrality.

Now that Coke has taken up a lot of ground water from its plants in India and also raised a lot of eyebrows, they have decided to do something right about it. Raise the water level which has gone down because of them. They say it should be done by 2012. This is something really nice. My levels of respect for the company has gone up. Hope they stick to their word

Oh, I am a strategic level guy. Please talk to my junior

I started my career at quite a prestigious place indeed. Had a perpetual hard on for securing that job for one complete year back at college.

“There goes that brilliant kid. He is cool too”

However a lot of prestigious places comes with an old management team and huge hierarchies. At the sales department where I spent some time, we had something which looked like this

CEO
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Operating division head
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Business unit head
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Sales head . . . . . . . Manufacturing head
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Regional Sales head . . . . . Regional Manufacturing head. . . . . . .Design Manager
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Senior Sales Manager
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Sales Manager. . . . . . Manufacturing Manager
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Sales Executive. . . . . . Designer
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Other forms of life

So being the new guy I came just above the other forms of life with a lot of old people above me, at times trying to motivate me with their 5 minute talks. It is a big deal as 5 minutes in their lives is a huge thing and you are supposed to be thankful for those 5 minutes.

However the catch is when except for the low forms of life every one else thinks they are doing something at a “strategic level”. Anything that has to be done will be strategically pushed down the ladder. Fault finding and “in my n number of years of experience” talks happen at the strategic area.

Off late, there is a general observation that the organizations are becoming top heavy and the average age is climbing up. even 10 minute motivation talks does not really seem to control this trend. Can’t get where the trouble is

how much? how often? how little?

How do you always be part of a winning cause?

How often are you comfortable with your superiority and uber coolness?

How little are you “OK” with things going as bad as possible?

How often do you accept things as it is?

How much do you understand the opposite sex?

How different is business A from business B?

How far is point A from point B?

How do you see yourself 5 years from now?

Show me the money!

Indie Music artists and neat bloggers – they have something in common.

Giving away stuff (amazing-kick-ass-really-cool-I-can’t-believe-it) kinda stuff for free on the web. Looking at revenue models and business development and such terms which has a very close connection to money does not apply to these really cool characters.

“Long tail” – that word can be used here in a lot of ways! Still, don’t they need money to make these creations or maybe they don’t or maybe they have saved enough for life or I can’t really get it!

OK! The indie artists can hold shows and make money for living that ways. At least some dudes might have listened to them or Last.fmed them. But still!