Varun Rampal

It’s been a while since I wrote my blog, so this is a long overdue update

A good presentation is key in your career. In a few minutes your audience will be lost or begging for more.

So what’s the key to a good presentation? Its a combination of shock & awe, language, visuals and attitude skills which make up a good presentation style. The last thing you want is overdoing it on any one of the skills and not focusing on the other skills, each skill compliments each other.

Below is a youtube video of the person who gives the best presentations - Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs has stormed back to the top of his industry and envy of his competitors not only for creating groundbreaking and revolutionary products, but also for knowing how to launch them. His presentations are a mix of strong product knowledge and controlled excitement which keeps the audience on the edge of their seats and wanting more.

Twitter lets people see what its users are doing. A lot of people find it useless (see below cartoon) as it only allows for status updates

However, some have found Twitter extremely useful. At the G-20 protests, the protesters had immediate updates to all police locations and actions to stop their protests. Similarly, the police also were informed about the protesters locations through their website which detailed the date and time of protests (see below video)

Up to individual users to decide whether Twitter is just a fad or a proper social networking platform

In their rare joint appearance at All Things Digital 5 conference, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates discuss their contributions to the technology industry, the qualities they most respect in one another. Watch the videos below

I’ve never been bowling before, even though I drive past the Dubai Bowling Centre everyday from work. Friends were going bowling so I decided to try my luck.

I realized I was horrible, no aim at all and the bowling ball fell off the path 99% of the time. The one time the bowling ball stayed on the track I managed to hit a lot of pins, so hoping I’ll get better next time I play. If I don’t then I can start backwards bowling, watch the below video for a bowler who bowls backwards and is really good at it!

The better part of that week was going for the Coldplay concert in Emirates Palace! The tickets were majorly expensive (AED 800) but worth it, we were only 10 rows away from the stage and saw the band up close. Even when it started raining, we stayed there and listened till the concert ended.  Was by far the best concert EVER in the UAE and cant wait for them to come back. I would put some videos up but I can’t find one decent quality video so will only put up pictures.

Coldplay Concert in Abu Dhabi

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Best concert ever in UAE, Coldplay Concert in Abu Dhabi

Dubai Bowling Center Location

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Emirates Palace Location

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Microsoft has officially launched its new campaign against Apple.

The television advertisements make fun of Apple’s ‘coolness’ and social acceptance & targets the higher price of Macs versus PCs. Apart from the price difference I don’t know why how PC could be better. PC’s are generally cheaper because they’re mass produced whereas Mac’s are custom made so the entire cost of a Mac from conception to completion is much more expensive.

But the extra price tag is definitely worth it. I use a PC at work but a Mac book at work and have never had the famous PC problems of ‘crashing’ – guaranteed Steve Jobs would never have a product launch where the product crashes like Windows 98. Watch the below video when Windows 98 crashed

The upside of these advertisements is Microsoft is finally taking some risks. They’ve been seen as the dinosaur and uncool company that cant connect with consumers the same way Apple can. Consumers go crazy for Apple products – iPhone, iPod etc but no one goes crazy for the Vista? Maybe this will be the start of how Microsoft starts communicating with its consumers better

Watch the new Microsoft television advertisement below

My dad needs some online help. He has holding group but no website for it, a website for his real estate brokerage but no websites for the other businesses & you can only find his website if you Google it EXACTLY down to the URL.

For these any many other reasons I have decided to rebuild my dad’s website & online presence (the first time he built it he forgot he has a son who works in an online agency).

I have two options for building the website

1. Static HTML website – the quick & easy option. Pages are designed & built. Even if there are updates to the site it will probably be updates to the contact details
2. Content Management website – the long & not so easy option but I can completly mange the content of the website. I’ve never built a site 100% on my own only worked with teams of people who build the website (designers, UI developers, programmers)

I decided to go with option 2 since I will learn a LOT & this will help my personal & professional development.

The techies & Mazen (Flip account director) at work they give me two recommendations for Content Management Systems. The first is WordPress which this blog is built on. The second is Joomla! Most people are telling me to use Joomla! as its suited for websites whereas WordPress is more suited for blogs.

I decide to go with Joomla! trusting the techies know what they’re talking about & after reading some reviews online comparing WordPress with Joomla! for websites & the Beginners Guide to Joomla! is a good start

TED is by far one of my favorite sites to browse. TED which stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design started in 1984 as a conference to bring the world’s brightest and innovative people in one place.

I found this video about Tim Berners, who was credited with creating the world wide web. In the beginning of the video, you get a bit lost at the techno speak but if you give it a few minutes you really get into it and start to understand more about Tim’s strong stance on ‘net neutrality’ and ‘data freedom’ which he preaches strongly

Click here to view the video

Strongly recommend you bookmark the ted website or use its rss feed to watch all its latest videos

My first day of using my blog and I have this message from wordpress

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

I started this blog for a few reasons

• a forum to discuss digital & online marketing
• share my views on general topics
• not be an extension of my social networking (facebook) activities
• become more technically knowledgeable

I have high hopes for this blog and hope it becomes a big success

Thanks to Martin D for the first comment on my blog & helping me set this blog up