Enough and more has been written on the event by bloggers that are way more enthu than me about reporting the details.  So I’ll only write about the stuff that left an impression on me…

The Indiblogger team has evolved so much in the two years since the last event in Mumbai.  This one had its own hashtag (#indimum), complete with a hi-tech registration process (just enter your Indiblogger id!) and a live stream that showed tweets and arrival updates on the big screen throughout the event!  In fact, thanks to the tweets, people could “follow” the event live, even if they were unable to make it. 

Many of us got a chance to put faces to names we’d been interacting with for so long.  Activities like the whackiest intro to your self/blog, and writing comments on chart papers hung on each of us, only helped break the ice and make it more fun.  (Your’s truly was chosen as one of the five whackiest intros from the group of over 250, and won a domain name registration which I ended up gifting away to a fellow blogger who had four blogs on four different URLs!)  As if that was not enough, there were also cool freebies for every one, prizes for pop quizzes, and Gul Panag (ain’t she so pretty?) who was invited to join in the festivities and moderate a discussion on the future of blogging.

The energy level in the room was visible and contagious!  It was so nice to meet fellow bloggers passionate about blogging, and spend an entire afternoon with them, just having fun and getting to know each other. 

To cut a long story short, I left with more friends that evening than I’d walked in with!  What more could you ask of a lazy Sunday afternoon?

See also: Reviews by Indibloggers | Pics on Flickr (Thanks, Renie!)

For years, I have lamented about the fact that the only “mail” I receive (via snail-mail) any more is bills and receipts.  No letters.  None whatsoever. 

Aunts and uncles who used to send out letters once in a while, have switched to email.  Moms and Dads had to, simply to keep pace with their teenage sons and daughters.  Even the greeting cards you used to send out till just a few years ago, have transformed into free e-cards that do their dance on your computer screen, and die a painless death in 90 days or less.

I know, I know.  Electronic communication is so fast and friendly; so instantaneous in delivery.  Who would want to write letters?! 

Now, I love Technology as much as the next guy.  Maybe, even more.  But any one who’s ever received a well-written missive would agree that email could never replace the charm, the magic, of a handwritten note.  The use of appropriate grammar, the unhurried attention to detail, the choice of good stationery on special occassions… even words that were striken or revised would leave their mark on the note, for every reader to see. 

It was almost as if, every time you put pen to paper, you chose to bare your soul to the reader. 

Makes me think that we’re fast losing touch with an art form that was an important part of our heritage, without even pausing to ponder on it… 

In the decades to come, will our children even understand the antiquated practice of actually writing a letter using pen and paper?  Would Abraham Lincoln’s letters gain the legendary status they have, if he’d shot off some emails from his Mac instead?  Most importantly, in the absence of such cultural cues, how will we know what was really important and worth preserving?  What will History be “written” on?!

Worth a thought, isn’t it?

Now, with Facebook, that’s relatively easy to do.  Sign up for an account, and the system offers you multiple ways to “connect” with friends from all the other services you may be using.  A few clicks later, your Facebook homepage is lush and green – complete with all the status updates of the world showing up in your News Feed, without requiring any effort from your end!  But, Twitter?  That’s a different story altogether…

What is Twitter?

Well, the founders of the service describe it as “a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent messages.  People write short updates, often called “tweets”  of 140 characters or fewer.  These messages are posted to your profile, sent to your followers, and are searchable on Twitter search.”

The easiest way for me to describe it is in relation to Facebook – It’s a lonely world on Twitter when you first begin to tweet.  There is almost nothing on your homepage unless you immediately start “following” a vibrant community of twitterers.  I repeat: Nothing.  My guess is that that may be the single biggest reason why most people never go beyond the first few tweets.

What can you do with Twitter?

Tom Lambert has posted an easy-to-understand explanation of the typical Twitter Modes that emerge from the use of the platform:

1. Broadcast Mode – Basically, a soapbox that matters
2. Network Mode – Reading and replying via Twitter
3. Journal Mode – “Me” mode i.e. write what you want… for yourself
4. Listen Mode – Actively soliciting opinions

You can read the entire post for details of the various modes, but you’re beginning to get the picture, right?

How do I use Twitter?

If you ask me, I basically use Twitter as a combination of Broadcast+Journal. 

It’s a platform for me to connect to a wide audience (without the permission they need to connect via Facebook), on subjects that matter to me.  So, in Broadcast mode, I use it to auto-post blog updates from all my various blogs (5 and counting!) so that any one who wishes to keep track of my writing can do so by “following” me on Twitter.  I also end up tweeting about links I find interesting during the day’s reading, which serves as a my Journal and complements my Broadcasting, since it’s usually about stuff that matters to me.

So yes, my “followers” list is a function of how much I’m connecting with my audience.  But I’m not obliged to follow every one who decides to follow me.  And, there’s no reason you should be obliged to follow anyone reciprocally.

I don’t particularly fancy using a ‘public’ platform like Twitter to have entire conversations with my friends (or followers), so I avoid using @Replies and tend to use Email/Chat/Facebook for that.

How should you use Twitter?

Guy Kawasaki, over at OpenForum, has posted a very readable list of things to avoid when using Twitter.  One of the points he eloquently makes on that post is how you should avoid telling others ‘how to tweet’:

There is no right and wrong with Twitter. There’s only what works for you and what doesn’t, so telling people how to use Twitter is as laughable as telling people what kind of websites were acceptable in 1980. Twitter is a platform – do with it what you want, but don’t tell others what to do.

Sensible advice, there.  So I’ll refrain from prescribing how you should use the platform.  What I’ve attempted to do with this post is to demystify some of the workings of Twitter, and make it a little more comfortable for newbies to work with it.  I only hope it has been of some help to you…

See Also: Facing the Truth (related post on Facebook)

While Diwali is popularly known as the “festival of lights”, the most significant spiritual meaning is “the awareness of the inner light”… While the story behind Diwali varies from region to region, the essence is the same…

Just as we celebrate the birth of our physical being, Diwali is the celebration of this inner light, in particular the knowing of which outshines all darkness (removes all obstacles and dispels all ignorance), awakening the individual to one’s true nature.

Me?  I chose to celebrate this Diwali with a new beginning to my online presence.

I’ve been busy the past few weeks, working on the migration.  And, I am pleased to say that the entire process is now complete. 

A new domain name and new email ids for the entire family.  New designs for both my blogs.  A completely new photoblog.  And, a new website for all my online initiatives. 

My new web home – http://Naveen.Bachwani.com

GreyMatter blog – http://Naveen.Bachwani.com/blog

BeingDad blog – http://Naveen.Bachwani.com/dad

Painting with Light! (photoblog) - http://Naveen.Bachwani.com/portfolio

Hope you make the most of them…

Now, I’ve spent more than a decade working with Powerpoint.  And know, first hand, that it’s not nearly as easy as it seems.  Yes, any one with a mouse and a copy of Microsoft’s PowerPoint software can start “building slides”.  But, creating a presentation of Quality – that’s a different matter altogether.

Some argue that addressing an audience is an art, not a science.  That you need charisma to make an impact.  That leaders and speakers are born, not made.  Others argue that they have, in fact, benefitted from the countless resources on the Web (and in the real world) that offer the promise of making you a better speaker.

Be that as it may, this post is about helping you with the first half of the problem – How to make a good Powerpoint?

First of all, you need to realize that there is no substitute for “clarity of thought“.  Just as knowledge of Photoshop does not make you a Van Gogh, knowing how to make PowerPoint work does not necessarily result in an impactful presentation.   So take the time to study the material before you, and jot down your thoughts (preferably on paper) on what you want to share with your audience.  Then, read PresentationZen’s Top 10 Slide Tips before you even double-click on the PowerPoint icon!

If you think you know all there is to know about PPTs as you’ve made dozens of them already, take the time to go through Nancy Duarte’s enlightening webinar (now stored as a video feed) on Creating Powerful Presentations.  Trust me, you’ll learn some thing there.

If you’re the sort who tells himself that you’re not the creative type or that “Design” is for designers, you need to read Garr Reynolds’ piece on Why Design Matters.  Go on, now.  Don’t be afraid to discover that it really does matter…  If you’re convinced already, improve your design quotient by reading Reynolds’ excellent essay on Design Basics.

Last but not the least, bookmark AllTop’s rich resource on all things related to communication, here.

Related post : 1-2-3 of Presentations

There’s a huge gap between most how-to books (cookbooks, gardening, magic, etc.) and business books, though. The gap is motivation. Gardening books don’t push you to actually do something. Cookbooks don’t spend a lot of time trying to sell you on why making a roast chicken isn’t as risky as you might think.

The stakes are a lot higher when it comes to business…. The recipe that makes up just about any business book can be condensed to just two or three pages. The rest is the sell. The proof. The persuasion.

Computer books, of course, are nothing but bullet points. Programmers get amazing value because for $30 they are presented with everything they need to program a certain tool. Yet most programmers are not world class, precisely because the bullet points aren’t enough to get them to see things the way the author does, and not enough to get them motivated enough to actually program great code.

Godin also offers some pointers that will help you make the most of your experience with business books:

Decide, before you start, that you’re going to change three things about what you do all day at work. Then, as you’re reading, find the three things and do it. The goal of the reading, then, isn’t to persuade you to change, it’s to help you choose what to change.

If you’re going to invest a valuable asset (like time), go ahead and make it productive. Use a postit or two, or some index cards or a highlighter. Not to write down stuff so you can forget it later, but to create marching orders. It’s simple: if three weeks go by and you haven’t taken action on what you’ve written down, you wasted your time.

The single best use of a business book is to help someone else. Sharing what you read, handing the book to a person who needs it… Effective managers hand books to their team. Not so they can be reminded of high school, but so that next week she can say to them, “are we there yet?”

Tim Sanders also writes about this subject in his book – Love is the Killer App – where he describes his strategy of “cliffing” over several pages, to those willing to learn from it.  800CEORead.com adds to Godin’s post by way of pointers like “Don’t skip the Introduction”, and “Don’t pick and choose parts of the recipe”.

Me? I always buy my own copy, and extensively follow my own variation of cliffing to help retain the key points in the context in which I first encountered them.  I also make an active effort to understand how what I just read applies to an earlier piece of work, and to my work life in general.  Thereon, I try to implement some of the learnings, as best as possible, in my sphere of work.

The most important learning here?  Reading business books is a different kinda ballgame.  If you’re serious about learning from these writings, you’ll need to review your approach towards it.  If all you want is to act informed, head to your favourite “Business Book Summaries” website today!

Naturally, I went back to see what had happened to the blog that had originally inspired me to start one of my own – Rajesh Jain’s Emergic.org. 

If you’ve been following my blog, you will know that this past year has been an eventful one for me, to say the least.  As a result, I’ve not been able to keep pace with the XML feeds of some my frequently-read blogs, as much as I would’ve liked.  And, the Emergic blog has been one of them, especially in light of the sheer volume of writing put out by Rajesh, day after day.  That is why I was surprised to come across this post on Emergic:

It has been an extraordinarily long break from blogging. After six years of daily updates, I took a break last June-end, necessitated by a bout of influenza which left me bed-ridden for a couple weeks. Around the same time, work became very busy. Also, my son, Abhishek, (growing from 2 to 3 years) made sure that mornings and evenings were his time with me. And, I had just gotten bored of the format of one weekly Tech Talk series (which was becoming repetitive) and giving links to interesting articles. So, I stopped – hoping for a magical makeover and some inspiration! That never happened – until now.

This time around, I will blog more on what I think – rather than giving only the links. So, the posts will be less frequent, but hopefully more meaningful. I have also migrated the blog from MovableType to WordPress. All in all, time for a new beginning.

As it turned out, I hadn’t missed all that much.  Coincidentally, in that time, my friend Rajesh had also moved his blog to WordPress, like I had done only last month!  The best part of it all was that the Emergic blog was off to a fresh start – hopefully, less volume more insights – leaving no excuse to keep up with it, every day…

I also took a peek at the other blog I most frequently-read – MetroDad.  His was the dad-blog that reaffirmed my efforts to continue writing on parenting and fatherhood, whenever I wondered if there was any audience for it.  To my surprise, I discovered that the MD blog was also on a trip down memory lane, having completed four years of dad-blogging:

When I first started this blog, I never really believed that anyone would be interested in hearing a guy blather on about fatherhood… After all, let’s face it. We still live in a world where men are not really encouraged to discuss their inner feelings. Most of us just don’t want to hear about it.

But four years, ten pounds, and two colonoscopies later here I am. Still standing.

In fact, this is my 337th post. It’s hard to believe. 337 times I’ve released my mental diarrhea out into the public arena. Who knew I even had that much to say?

If any of you have attempted blogging, you’ll know how tough it is to maintain one.  For all the technology out there that’s made it easier to publish your thoughts on the Web, “keeping at it” takes effort and time, and is easier said than done.  One estimate I’d come across recently, stated that over 90% of blogs that are started on various popular platforms do not go past three posts, and lie dormant thereafter.

It all begs the question: Why do I blog?  MetroDad offers an insight:

Since its inception, this blog has been my own personal soapbox. It not only serves as a place for me to transcribe my personal journey into fatherhood but also lets me vent about the truly important issues of the day that seriously affect all of us.

Not unlike MetroDad’s own experience, writing through this blog has offered me an avenue to do two things:

1. Speak about the things that really matter to me as an individual, and

2. Maintain a log of my years as a parent, so that my two little children have the benefit of knowing what their childhood was like, and what their parents were all about – something, I did not have the opportunity to know growing up.

Five years and 244 posts later, there doesn’t seem to be much of a decision to make.  Is there an option but to continue blogging?!

I’d been ordering books home for a while now, and a courier delivery was not an uncommon occurrence.  But, this particular one was much awaited.  I’d anticipated its arrival for quite a few weeks, in fact.  And the entire process had taken nearly a year to come to this stage… The reason?  This was the delivery of a book authored by me!

Yes, after months of searching, I’d found a publisher for my first work!!!

Thanks to the platform provided by IfIWereABook.com, a few publishers had expressed interest in my manuscript.  And, with one of them – Sanbun – I’d managed to take this to completion.

It was in the making for a few months, after we’d first signed on the dotted line.  After all, there was proof reading and editing, designing the cover, finalizing the content, etc. etc. etc.  Unlike perhaps the works of Penguin or Harper Collins, in this case, I was pretty much doing all of it except the actual printing.

Finally, on 5th March 2008, the delivery was made.

This book reproduces many of my blog posts on the subject of “fatherhood”, in a book-friendly format.  It traces the journey of my experience as a parent, from my first child’s birth to the time she reached about three years of age.

It’s a slender little book, all of 48 pages.  It should be available in select stores in India, soon.  It’s priced at Rs. 100.  And, it’s got its own ISBN code! Of course, the royalty cheques haven’t started pouring yet.  But, it’s a start, isn’t it?

The publishers have promised to make it available to their distribution network, and send out some copies to a few wholesale buyers to guage the market potential.  If the initial response is enthusiastic, more print runs will follow…

And, as much as it fulfills my own dream of “publishing a book one day”, this little project is also a means for me to leave behind a little something for my daughter Pumpkin… The story of her life!  I only hope you enjoy reading it, as much I have enjoyed writing it.

Read More: Bundle of Joy

On further investigation, it turned out that ‘If I Were A Book’ did not actually turn your words into a real book, but the did the next best thing possible.  It gave you an opportunity to showcase your work among some well-renowned publishers.  The list of partner publishers was impressive: RandomHouse, HarperCollins, Jaico, Hachette, etc. etc.

Post content which you feel is book worthy and watch it instantly take the shape of a book!  Get noticed by top international print publishers looking for talent like you… Read pre-printed books and voice your opinion to decide which books get printed…

Could this be true?  Could I really get a shot at a real-world publisher seeing my work and evaluating it on its merits?  Could it possibly work?

Having harboured the desire to write a book someday, I’d always been on the lookout for an opportunity like this.  I’d done my share of research, learning all about self-publishing options like Lulu and BookSurge, and visiting the “Submit your Manuscript” pages of most leading publishers’ websites.  It seemed like there was no downside to trying out this new platform.  After all, the worst case scenario was simply: No one would call.

So, I went ahead and hit the big green button that said “Publish My Book Now!”. 

My first book-concept is entitled “Bundle of Joy” and is intended to be a compilation of my blog posts on Fatherhood, charting the life of my first-born from conception to the time she was three… From the point of view of her father, of course. 

With that submission, the search for a publisher has moved up a notch.  It will help if you folks – the people who like my writing – rate the book on the site (registration required).  So, please take the time.

And, if there’s a author hidden inside any of you, I suggest you rush for that green button, now!

P.S. Interestingly, the past few weeks, I have been reading a fascinating book by Chris Anderson - The Long Tail.  And, this new platform seems to be yet another example of the Long Tail at work!  Must read, if you’re remotely interested in Science, Economics or the New Information Age…

Nicholas Carr writes in The Guardian about the “self-recording craze” that seems to have pervaded our world so completely :

The unexamined life, said Socrates, is not worth living. Today, we seem to be operating under a new and very different dictum: the unrecorded life is not worth living. Thanks to digital technologies, we now have the tools to chronicle our daily actions and thoughts in the minutest detail – and to share the record with the world.

The desire to bear witness to one’s personal experience isn’t anything new, of course. Long before words and pictures turned into strings of ones and zeroes, people set down accounts of events in their lives. They painted on cave walls, wrote in diaries, took snapshots and collected keepsakes and souvenirs. What’s changed is the scale of the effort. Whereas in the past we tended to record only important events, today we can, and do, record pretty much everything. Nothing we do or think, it seems, is too insignificant to be preserved or broadcast… in as close to “real time” as possible.

Is this a good thing?  Carr does not seem to think so :

What exactly is behind our rage to document the minutiae of our daily existence? That’s hard to say. Maybe it’s just another manifestation of modern-day narcissism. Maybe it’s a byproduct of our media-saturated culture, with its sense that nothing’s real until it’s been recorded and broadcast. Or maybe it goes deeper than that. In striving to preserve the moments of our lives, to immortalise them, might we simply be expressing our fear of death?

As for Socrates, it’s hard to imagine that he’d be pleased with any of this. We’re so busy recording our lives that we have little time left to examine them. And perhaps that, more than anything else, is the real point.

And then, there’s Seth Godin who recently opined on this very subject in “Just one post” :

A lot of people have blogs. But most people don’t.

I think you should. Even if you only have one post in you.

Having a blog is pretty daunting, especially if you don’t like blank paper and are the sort of person that hates falling behind. I can imagine that the idea of posting 50 or 300 times a year is a little bit nuts for many people.

But what if there’s just one thing you need to say, but you can say it clearly and well and in a way that hasn’t been said before? What if you’ve got one great blog post inside of you, and, even better, you’re willing to update that post as you learn more and gain more insight?

An entire post about a certain kind of fossil. Or the misuse of a certain word. Or about a key difference between two kinds of bluetooth…

Why not?

Socrates or Seth?  Who’s got it right?  You decide.