mindstorms: personalog

Showing posts with label personalog. Show all posts

Showing posts with label personalog. Show all posts

MyEclipse Customer Support Sucks

I cannot say it any clearer than this: MyEclipse Customer Support Sucks

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Tumblr vs Blogger: Make Sure You Consider Any Blogger Alternatives

Last month I have decided to create my completely custom Blogger template. I've had a few of different reasons for trying this out, but the main goals were to make it simpler for posting different format posts and also to offer an easier way to consume the content.

Indeed there were many other reasons behind my decision to invest time into creating a custom template: starting with the fact that I wasn't satisfied with the templates and their 'semantic' HTML and probably ending with my curiosity on seeing how complex would it be.

While I'll not walk you through my experience, I'll just tell you that the it was absolutely horrible, main causes being: 1) the documentation is most of the time wrong, 2) the user group is full of completely useless monkeys, 3) most of the time your best bet will be JavaScript (nb while I do like JavaScript I don't think that using it for customizing a template is a decent option).

Anyways, more or less I have finally got what I was looking for. But at that moment I have realized that I was trying to hack a system to make it behave and look like already existing solutions: Tumblr, Posterous and maybe others that I haven't heard of. After observing my own posting habits, but also how my visitors have consumed the blog, I have decided to experiment more seriously with Tumblr.

In just a couple of hours, I've been able to completely setup my new Tumblr: Think differently big. And in case you are wondering why it took me so long, I'll tell you that I've spent a lot of time just deciding which one of the absolutely gorgeous Tumblr themes to use, revamp the chosen theme HTML (nb while I completely suck at almost everything related to design and CSS, I am a maniac in what regards displaying information and HTML), integrating Tumblr bookmarklet with Google Reader and testing MarsEdit support for Tumblr.

At least for the next month, all my posting activity will happen over there, so now I'm inviting you to my Tumblr experiment: Think differently big. Thanks!

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Quick Guide on How to Behave at a Presentation
Today I've spent half a day at a VMWare event organized by IDG in Bucharest (my thanks to the organizers for the invitation). While I'm planning to write another post about how to learn at a vendor event, this post will be a bit different.

I have discovered that quite a few people present at such events do not know how to behave. And I am not talking here about the socializing part, nor about common sense (as in switching off your mobile while attending a presentation, not picking your nose in public, etc), but rather to the way they interact with the presenter and others in the audience during a session. So, here is my short list on how to behave at a presentation:
1. Raise your hand. We all learnt this from the school, but it looks like over years some tend to forget it. It is impolite to speak without permission, so raising your hand will signal that you have something to say.
2. Introduce yourself. You already know the name of the speaker, so considering you are trying to create a conversation, it would be polite to introduce yourself. In case your question is interesting for the rest of the audience, some may consider contacting you afterwards or citing you.
3. Make sure others we'll hear you. The presenter's time is shared between all participants so it would be nice that others will benefit of your question. If it is a private question, you can wait for after the session.
4. Be short and focused. Do keep in mind that there are others in the room and they are there for the presentation (and not for you).
  1. If it is a question: ask your question. In case your question needs some context make sure you are able to formulate that in at most one sentence.
  2. If you have more than one question, make sure you ask permission for asking all of them. Some presenters may prefer to address questions from multiple persons in the room.
  3. If it is a comment: make sure you ask for presenter's permission. The audience is interested in what the presenter has to say and in case you are not an expert in the field others will not care about your comment.
  4. Don't offer free advise to the presenter if he is not asking for it. While you might think that you have a better answer, I'm pretty sure that you don't know the whole context.
  5. Do not rant. And I'll say it again: Do not rant. In case you are not specifically asked for your opinion, I'll most probably not be interested on your comments to comments, comments to questions, etc. And others in the audience may probably feel the same.
5. In case your question was not completely answered, it is better to continue the conversation with the presenter after the session. Others have the right to ask their questions too.
"It doesn't hurt to ask". Actually, it does hurt. It does hurt to ask the wrong way, to ask without preparation, to ask without permission.

Seth Godin

Dedicated to all those that do not know how to behave at a presentation.

Disclaimer: as you can imagine by now, this post was caused by a couple of annoying people at the event. While I am pretty sure they will not read the post and most probably next time they will annoy once again the presenter, me and the rest of the audience, I'll probably have a couple of printed copies in my pocket and I'll make sure to handle them one at that time.
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DevWorld Retrospective
Monday marked the first edition of the DevWorld.ro an event organized by IDG and addressed to developers and designers.

The good
- I really liked the format of the event with some short sessions at the beginning, followed by specialized sessions for developers and designers and a panel
- I liked most of the sessions. I know it is very difficult to make everyone happy about it, so this is just my feedback
- I liked the fact that attendees have used the breaks to socialize and I've heard a lot of interesting discussions
- The selected projects for the contest were quite good. Their presentations were good too.
- The feedback they have received back looked to be in the right spirit.
The bad
- There was no internet connection and I had to buy it myself from the hotel desk. While I'm aware that getting an internet connection arrangement may be difficult and/or expensive (to somehow confirm this hypothesis, I've noticed that too many such events were no providing an internet connection) I think the organizers should try harder to get one.
- The space allocated for breaks was quite small and it hardly accommodated all the event participants
- Most of the sessions were longer than scheduled and so the agenda was not respected. While I do think that the speakers were the ones responsible for this issue, the organizers should have set up a process to keep it under control
- For the last couple of hours of the event there was no water.
What I'd like
- I'd like to see people in the audience getting more involved during the sessions
- I'd like to see people trying to connect with as many others as possible (instead of spending the breaks with the group they came in)
- and I'd definitely like to see the next edition.
Last, as I couldn't run the whole presentation I'm embedding it here:

Programatori cu capul in nori
View more presentations from Alex Popescu.

PS: Thanks to the fact that the schedule was not respected, I've had the chance to present to the full audience (and I confess I was quite happy with that).

Is there anything I've forgot?
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Lucky 7: We Want to See Blood
Disclaimer: This post is mainly dedicated to the Romanian audience and especially to those involved in the Romanian online business.

I have finally got the chance to participate to the Lucky 7 event organized by Cristi Manafu, a great initiative meant to help new comers promote their projects, learn and get feedback from those with experience in the Romanian online business.

Unfortunately, I have to say that the event has quickly transformed in a blood bath, some of the people invited to share their knowledge effectively trashing the projects. (nb on the other hand both Cristi and Costin have tried to offer some real advise).

Anyways, don't get me wrong. I still believe that those presenting should not be looking for a pat on their back and they need to hear real opinions. Still, I feel there is a long way between expressing your opinion (even if it is a blunt and direct one) and demolishing both the presenter and his idea. It is my belief that constructive and positive advise has a lot of value (via Vlad).

Even so, there is a lot to learn from this experience for those presenting and I think they should continue doing it while others staying in the shadow should try it:
- learn how the market players are thinking
- learn how important people on the market are behaving and how are they preparing to welcome you
- learn how to filter information
- last but not least: improve your presentation skills, connect and promote your business
We are still at the beginning and I hope in time we will become more opened, more friendly and, what I think is most important, more helpful.

In case you'd like to hear what I think about the projects that were presented at Lucky 7, drop me a note and I'll follow up with a post. Meanwhile you can read what Mircea wrote about the projects.
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The Perfect Workspace

How would you like such a workspace? Would you be more productive or would you just spend time admiring your setup?

Is it really looking better than mine?

See more great (or crazy) workspaces on Gizmodo

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