the air

Photo courtesy of D’Arcy Norman

One of the most irritating events in my life is listening to dreadfully prepared presentations by my engineering peers. Many people will agree with the opinion that engineers are passionately socially retarded. However, engineering presentations are quite adventurous and give us glimpses of what we can expect in the future. The one thing that most college engineers fail to do correctly is design and present an effective and amazing presentation that leaves the audience yearning for more. And I’m sorry to disappoint you, but engineering presentations are interesting because they are far more inspirational than a traditional Cosmo article.

Simplicity is the key

Allow me to get over my engineering arrogance and simply proclaim an idea for the masses. “Simplicity” is the key to success for any presentation. Effective presentation speakers (i.e., Steve Jobs) not only are enthusiastic about their presentation, but they are continually telling the audience why they are listening to him. He provides answers to issues that they commonly face and says his words as if he’s trying to educate you on your available options. Mr. Jobs does all of this by simply expressing his ideas/words by using an image or a keyword. By keeping it simple, the audience is able to clearly remember his points while absorbing his supporting arguments.

Avoid extensive animations

In a professional environment, I strongly believe that no one should engage in trying to impress their managers through trivial means. Rather, impress your audience with creative ways to express your ideas, words, and beliefs. That does not mean you should resort to elaborate animation sequences on PowerPoint. What it does mean is that you should be willing to explore how you can engage your audience. Believe it or not, audiences appreciate the ability to interact with you. So do yourself a favor and skip the “over-the-top” animations.

Practice

Now I realize that many college students like to breeze through presentations. Some of us even shudder at the thought of speaking publicly. No matter what path you choose, you have to practice your presentation throughly. What I have learned in the past few years is that if I prepare for a presentation throughly, I can deliver it without any nervousness in my voice and I will feel genuine passion for my topic. Let’s face it. Most of us college kids are not very passionate about academic topics. If you can feign genuine passion, believe me, your grade will improve greatly.

Now I now that this may seem like a very short list of tips, but you should remember that you have to find your own successful style. You probably won’t improve overnight, but you can start today to have a better presentation tomorrow. If you inspire yourself, you will inspire your presentations; and in return, you will have one hell of a presentation that will definitely leave your audience speechless. I found a great website that discusses professional presentations in great detail. Check it out and let me know how it works out for you.

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Photo: chesterfield

Human beings have a tendency to seek out stable comfort zones. While in these zones, we prefer not to be disturbed and consider it our “safety harness.” From this location, we will plan out our lives and conduct business with minimal fear. However, as soon as some drastic force threatens our comfort zone, we immediately transform from passive enthusiasts to front-line infantry to defend our turf. I’m sure what I just proclaimed may sound preposterous, but are you willing to adapt to rapidly varying environments frequently without complaint and actively pursue change? My guess is that you probably will not engage in such activities on a regular basis. Why not?

If you allow yourself to comfortably acclimate to a particular environment, you simply deny your ability to accept change in a world that is rapidly evolving. By preparing for constant change, you can evolve your mentality from a passive responsiveness to a proactive preemptive personality.

What does all that garbage mean?

Instead of reacting to change, it is far better to anticipate it and take steps to embrace the change. When the 2007-2008 school year began in late August 2007, I knew that most of my time would be spent working on my senior design project. At first, my proclivities were to maintain my current method of studying and adjust accordingly to the needs of my senior design project. During that time, I read an article in a magazine that stressed the importance of preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. And that got me thinking.

Instead of following the same study plan that brought my success, I decided to drastically overhaul it and start from scratch. Some people would consider that almost insane, but I considered it a revolutionary step forward. My new plan called for immediate action on time management and strict adherence to both goals and a schedule. Instead of engaging in spontaneous activities (e.g. last minute invitations to parties, night trips to Wal-Mart, etc.), I made sure that everything was planned for. And if anything last minute came up, I would then either deny it or simply allocate time for it at a later date. If neither were acceptable, I would then accept the event and carry on with it. As a college student, spontaneity is definitely hard to account for and can easily waste precious time.

Stop living in the past and present!

So many books and people tell me that it is important for us to live in the present. We should not worry about the past. Truthfully, I only agree with them on the latter statement. I don’t think anyone should live for the present. The present is a phase in which we must accept what is occurring. However, the future is where the real fun is. Since the future has not been created yet, why not prepare for the future now so that when it does arrive, we can worry about its future. That does not mean you should not pay attention to the present. What it means is that everyone should focus on the present for the future. Since future events have yet to occur, many things can change and it is only fair to understand that change and prepare for it. There’s no point in dwelling on what has already occurred since you cannot change the past. There is no point in dwelling on the present because it is occurring as we speak and you can no longer influence it. However, the future can be influenced and can be changed. So why not worry about the future?

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Photo courtesy of floridainvestigator

I came across a posting on Slashdot that discussed a proposal for a patent by IBM that introduces variable toll pricing. In other words, if you drive during congestion, you have to pay a higher toll. At first it sounds like an outrageous plan, but if you investigate further, it actually becomes quite clear at how advantageous this system could be. However, like most, we are all discouraged the moment we are asked to shell out more cash.

Reduced traffic

The purpose of this system is not exactly to discourage people from using tollways. Rather, it is designed to penalize “slow drivers” and drivers who use the toll-system during rush hour. In a way, it is encouraging users to use the tollway throughout the day, instead of everyone joining the roads at a particular time. This is actually pretty good since now, some drivers will choose to leave later or earlier, reducing the number of cars during rush hour.

Better emissions

Unless you have a hybrid, most vehicles tend to consume more fuel during city driving than on highways. During rush hour, you can consider yourself driving in a city because of the constant stop-and-go movement. However, if this new toll system is implemented, you may be encouraged to leave earlier or later, avoiding rush hour. Thus, you can then drive your vehicle at highway speeds and in effect, reduce emissions and/or fuel consumption.

Increased funding

No matter how much you hate paying the government, you have to admit that without them, our roads would be virtually non-existent. If the government is able to accumulate increased funding through tolls, it is possible that more public work projects (e.g. road repairs) can be approved. Improved roads mean better wear-and-tear on your vehicle and maybe even lead to fewer accidents.

Reduced road rage

I don’t know about you, but when I drive, I have quite a bit of road-rage. I despise slow drivers, especially the ones who drive in the left lanes and do not bother to move over for faster traffic. During rush hour, I’m a total beast. I tend to be very aggressive, making sudden lane changes without warning to get ahead. If that sounds irresponsible, here’s a fact: you probably are guilty of the same thing! With the new toll system, you may be willing to pay a higher rate, but maybe you’ll have less road rage due to reduced traffic. Even if you don’t, at least someone else might be inclined to have fewer road-rage incidents.

My money is on the fact that the new toll system will definitely not eliminate rush hour traffic. Rather, it will reduce - by a small margin - the number of vehicles on the road during rush hour. It will definitely have some impact in many areas. Just how much the impact will make a difference is a major debatable point. Are you willing to pay more to drive in traffic? I definitely am!

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Photo: Mark Jones

Once you succeed at a particular task or goal, do you ever think that you are on top of the world? Do you ever feel that there is nothing that you cannot accomplish? Too often, many people find themselves full of confidence once they accomplish the so-called “difficult” task. What you will not find is people challenging themselves to go further and not accepting their success as the apex of their life. So why do these people stay behind their success but fail to go beyond their own success? That is something worth asking yourself daily.

Afraid of failure

I remember reading a from a motivational book that many people are afraid of success. I never understood what the author meant by that until a few weeks ago. People are not exactly afraid of success; they are, in fact, afraid of “what happens” after success. This is the point where expectations increase and the pressure is on to re-produce the success. And it is at this point where almost everyone concerns themselves with failure. They feel afraid that they will not be able to replicate their success. They allow even the smallest setback as an omen for their upcoming demise. However, very few people look at the challenges and simply claim, my failure will be the success.

Failing is succeeding

We spend so much time telling ourselves how important it is not to fail that we almost always fail to even realize that success is built around failure. In my opinion, humans learn through mistakes. If one way doesn’t work, another way should work. If not, you keep trying another way until it does lead you to where you want to go. The best part is that humans have built this type of logic into robots too. Just take a look at the iRoomba vacuum cleaners. Sure, you can outline a boundary that defines the area. However, the robot “makes a mistake” by bumping into objects and automatically determines a way around the object. It will continue “bumping” until it finds a way out. Humans work the same way. Hence, if you fail, you are one step closer to success because you now know a way that does NOT work.

Success is just a stepping stone

Whenever you succeed, don’t waste your time thinking about how much you had to overcome and how it was such a great journey. The moment you succeed at something, begin planning for the future. Life is continually changing around us and your environment will change as a result. Hence, staying behind your success is a sure way to fail in the future. That’s why you have to start diversifying and looking for new ways to continue to succeed to ensure that your success arrives at a continuous pace.

What’s the difference between Will Smith and Martin Lawrence? They’re both actors and they’re both good at making people laugh. So why does one actor earn far more money than the other? Will Smith diversified himself by being a sitcom actor, an established singer, a serious drama actor, and an action hero. The same cannot be said for Martin Lawrence. Sure they both enjoy success, but by diversifying, Will Smith has ensured that he can enjoy success in different forms. He does not need to make comedy films to earn a reputation (e.g. Independence Day, I Am Legend).

Go beyond and win

To wrap it all up, the point is that you need to go beyond your success and ensure that you always succeed. Since life changes around you, it is logical to assume that you must continually change your ways to ensure that you continue to succeed. So don’t stay behind your success, stay ahead of it. If you disagree, why? How do you do things to ensure that success for you is not a limited resource?

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It seems that every day, peer to peer (P2P) traffic is on the rise. Almost every media company around the world has categorically illustrated P2P as the bane of the industry. However, very few companies have stepped up and proudly supported P2P technology. The question I pose to most individuals is, “could P2P technology be used for legitimate purposes?” My own answer is yes because P2P allows network traffic to move away from a central server and distributes the traffic over hundreds of network connections. This allows files to be readily available faster while easing network congestion and maybe even reducing costs. However, many companies are threatened by such a model because in its current state, it is actively destroying their commercial enterprise.

I came across an interesting article that looks at the MediaDefender - a company that tries to pro-actively thwart online piracy by flooding numerous sites with fake files - and how it fell from its pedestal through its own faults. MediaDefender and its clients simply fail to understand the basic proclivity of any consumer. This is summarized in thought by one of PirateBay.org’s founder:

consumers don’t care about how Hollywood wants to schedule its releases—movie theaters first, then pay-per-view, and so on. They want the content when and where it’s convenient and comfortable.

I’ve never thought of piracy like that, but I have to admit, he is correct. Consumers want to be able to access content on demand regardless of where and when. For instance, I want to be able to watch the newest movie in the comfort of my own home while the weather outside is freezing cold. Why should I have to drive out to a theatre that has extremely over-priced popcorn and other condiments in frigid weather? What if I could pay the $10 up front and be able to watch that movie in my living room the day it is released?

Piracy is convenient

Everyone can argue that piracy allows anyone to have access to the content for free. And I am not going to dispute that. However, another major benefactor of piracy is simply convenience. It allows me to experience the best without taking away from me too much. It’s far more convenient for me to go ahead and download a song that I heard on the radio rather than wait for it to appear on iTunes. Often, I have noticed that songs I hear on the radio are not always available on iTunes. In addition, “piracy” allows me to fully preview an album before I deem it worthwhile purchasing. The same can go for TV shows. If I want to watch a missed TV show, I can either wait a whole day before Hulu.com or some other site has it available. Or, the smart thing, is to just go on Mininova and download it within several minutes of the program ending on national television.

Companies need to champion convenience

Convenience is what the consumer craves and companies are not willing to provide any convenience. In fact, the only company that is even remotely close to understanding what the consumer wants is Apple. iTunes is a great resource for providing consumers with the content they seek. Moreover, Apple is beginning to tightly integrate several of their products (i.e. AppleTV & iTunes) to make it even easier for consumer to purchase content. If you disagree, just take a look at the onerous methods promoted by Microsoft.

Unfair pricing drives piracy

As a college student, I cannot afford many of the luxuries that try to seduce me. I cannot afford to spend $500 on Adobe software. I cannot afford to spend $300 on Microsoft Office. However, there are times when I absolutely must use certain products in order to successfully complete an assignment or project. The candid part is the fact that thousands of students across the US are in the same boat as me. So what are we to do? Companies would simply say “tough” and I say bullshit to that. I will never accept a company telling me that if I cannot pay an X amount of money I cannot get access to their software to pass a course. And the bottom line is that the damn prices are unfair. Prices should be far more reasonable for consumers in general.

Apple sells Mac OS X Leopard in version for consumers at a price of $129 for a single license or $199 for up to five licenses. Microsoft sells multiple different versions of Windows at different price-points. Windows Vista Ultimate, equivalent to Leopard in many ways, retails for almost $400 for the full version. That is a significant amount of money for any middle-class household. And these companies wonder why people steal. If they had fairer prices, people would actually pay rather than steal. Is that last statement true? Honestly….no

Piracy will never cease

No matter what type of technology is developed or coercive tactics employed by the government and/or companies, piracy will always thrive and lead the way in innovation. As long as their exists a price tag on a product, piracy will exist. The fact that every company needs to accept is that piracy will not go away. You can take steps to reduce its impact but you can never eliminate it. Once companies understand and accept that fact, they can then take the next step and focus on the consumer. Consumers want convenience and they will do whatever they can to ensure maximum convenience. Rather than spending money to eliminate piracy, more companies should invest in strategies that address consumer demands and interests to curtail the effects of piracy. Maybe one day, companies will turn around and listen to their customers. Until then, speak out so others can share your insight. What are your thoughts on piracy and its effects on the industry? What should the companies do? Why is piracy prevailing time after time? These are the questions we all need to be asking and answering.

photo courtesy of rebopper

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