D's food for thought

Ads beyond Brands

2011-09-17T16:42:00.000+09:00

I've always felt, advertising works best when the messaging goes beyond the brand. Ads without a non-push-selling-strategy is what is being appreciated.

Ads should connect and tell an honest story. They should focus on the impact it could have on lives. Some of the best advertising that works are of those that are people centric. Its no longer about how white my shirt would look with Brand-A detergent, but how amazing people would be in a whiter shirt.

With everything in a world you live is going social, no brand can even run the race with out focusing on people. And by people, I absolutely do not refer to Miss.World-turned-Bollywood-Drama-Queen-turned-Mom selling baby diapers on a TVC. By people, I'm referring to real, genuine people. That is a change, 'social' is driving.

One of the best examples, where the ads go beyond the brand to touch lives is here.

Top #6 Crowdsourcing Mistakes

2011-07-01T02:55:00.002+09:00

Crowdsourcing is popular. Its cheap, brings in a lot of visibility & all the ideas. So when every thing about crowdsourcing sounds perfect and awesome, comes in the loop holes.

The problem lies mostly in the execution part. Empowering the crowd although sounds great, but needs proper handling. Here are the Top #6 crowdsourcing mistakes!

Happy Crowdsourcing!

Visual Resume - The Future of Resumes

2011-05-10T00:51:00.001+09:00

When Raj finished college and started job hunting - the starting point was obviously making a resume. And even before he bought white shirts & dark ties for the interview, he knew that the resume was the most significant thing that'll make him stand out. That is because even before the interviewing process begins - shortlisting of resumes is the key. The single document/sheet of paper will actually decide if Raj will ever make it to the panel of interviewers.

Lets leave Raj and his story now. My point is - Is this definition for resumes changing. Changing or not - I'm not sure. But what I know for certain is that - The definition of resume is being broadened for better. Apart from the conventional resumes (docs/pdf), visual resumes are slowly catching up. This trend is mostly for younger & vibrant companies - like startups or fast moving corporations. Visual resumes can either be a presentation or even a single image. Both ways, it works amazingly well. And is undoubtedly the most powerful form of resumes ever.

Visual resumes work because along with conveying the message, they also speak of the candidates creativity & flair. The more you see, the better it is.

Here is one superb example of a visual resume in slides. Thanks Preeti for letting me use this. All the best!

Preeti Pooja- Visual Resume

Stop Teleprompting!

2011-04-21T12:38:00.000+09:00

This is what a news reader’s teleprompter screen looks like. It is simple. The text keeps scrolling and the new reader keeps on reading. This reading is supplemented with rehearsed & timed expressions of the news reader, along with Good mornings-and-thank yous’. This suits a newsreader perfectly, but not you.

While presenting, you just CANNOT keep on reading from the slides. It does not serve any purpose. All of us must have done that at some occasion, because it is seriously the easiest way out.

WHY WE DO TELEPROMPTING?

You made the slides last night only or worse on the way to office.
The amount of text on the slides is so much, that it is humanly not possible for you to remember them.
There are truck loads of numbers, statistics and astronomical figures in your presentation, which you can never memorize.
Looking at the projection screen is better than looking at the sleepy audience.
Because you strongly believe that teleprompting is the only reason to make presentations.

HOW TO STOP TELEPROMPTING & START TALKING

A conversational tone.

Have a conversational tone.

Your intent in a presentation should always be to communicate your ideas. The simplest approach here is to have a conversational tone. Frankly, this informal approach is quite effective, and make you more approachable and human. Conversations are easier than rehearsed speeches, hence it is better for you too.

Use Cue Cards.

Cue cards are little invisible cards that fit into your palm. Making cue cards is difficult and comparable to rocket science. Take a sheet of A4 paper, fold it length wise once, then again once breadth wise. Cut along the fold lines & eureka – you just invented 4 pieces of cue cards.

A sample cue card.

Scribble down neatly on the cue card – important bullet points/hints/any figures/important body gestures. Mention the slide number on top, so that you don’t get confused during the presentation. Also use both sides of the paper for consecutive slides. Remember to write legibly and with large letter so that you can read them quick. And you are done!

You are going to need some clever body language while using cue cards. Place the paper in the curl of your palm. Practice reading two points in a single glance from the card. You need to spend most of the time looking at your audience than reading your cue cards. Just spend a couple of seconds to glance at your cue card.

Prepare well in advance

This is arguably the best and slightly harder way out. It also involves some work in your part. Prepare for your presentation well in advance. 2-6 days of preparation is good enough. If you understand and know your presentation matter & slides well, you’ll never ever need to put up so much of text on the slides. The amount of time you spend while making the slides, actually make you more comfortable with your topic. Thus eliminating the need to memorize the content.

So, stop teleprompting and start talking!

Sharing Handouts in Presentations

2011-04-17T15:45:00.004+09:00

Do you really need that stack of handouts?

If your presentation is peanuts, then the handout should be a jar full of peanuts. Pardon the terrible example. What I meant to say is that – Handouts are modestly detailed documents of your ideas & subjects from the presentation. I have come across several presentations that could have been much better in the way they share handouts. Although, handouts appear to be minor element of making & delivering effective presentations – It in fact is an important element. Handouts can add considerably in making you & your presentation appealing and awesome.

I give handouts rarely, only when it is very required. Here are some best practices of sharing handouts.

GIVE HANDOUTS BEFORE PRESENTATION

Don’t you ever, ever do this! I hope I’m making myself clear. Don’t ever give handouts before the presentation. Why? Because if your topics, ideas, statistics are shared and leaked out before you reveal them – what is the point in making a presentation anyway. You should rather email them your handout and stay at home. Keep the details of your presentation close to your heart; only unveil them at the presentation with style and flair.

Like I always say – There are no rules in presentation. So, there is room to experiment here too. You CAN give a handout before your presentation – Maybe to add humour, arouse curiosity and even introduce yourself. But yes, you will need guts, innovation and flair to try this. For example

Sample Handout 01/Before Presentation

Hi there!
I’m ABC & I’m a Presentations Specialist. I ride bicycles on alternate Sundays and I’m not speaking on the following topics.
# Economic impact of adult film industry on corporate houses
# 101 easy to cook recipes using fruits
# Mating guidelines for dogs & other domestic animals.
I’m going live-on-stage in the next 10 minutes – Hope you don’t run away.

GIVING HANDOUTS DURING PRESENTATION

Never interrupt an engaged audience.

Please don’t. Please for God sake, don’t give handouts during your presentation. This is annoying and your audience will lose interest in everything – You, your handout & your presentation.

GIVE HANDOUTS AFTER PRESENTATION

If you are planning to give handouts, this is the only time to do so – After the presentation. Restrict the handout contents within a single page. If very necessary handouts can also be of 2-3 pages maximum.

Ideally, handouts should contain all major ideas covered in the presentation. Handouts can also have some extra detailed information – But please make sure they interest the reader.

Now that you know when to give, here is - How to give handouts.

1. Keep handouts at strategic locations in the presentations hall.

Keep handouts at strategic places in the hall. Make it optional.

This is the best way to share your handouts. This makes it optional for the audience to pick your handouts from a nearby table. People from the audience who are genuinely interested in your topic will come forward and pick your handout. This makes perfect sense, because you do not come across as pushy. Ideally, you can keep stacks of handouts at each corner of the presentation hall.

2. Distribute the handouts yourself.

This is the usual practice. Although this is the oldest trick in the book, it has its pros and cons. The pros are, you will get an opportunity to interact with everyone in your audience. If you add a simple “Hi-How-are-you” with a smile, this can do wonders for networking with people. If played well, this can even turn into a conversation starter. If the audience is large enough, give out bunches of handouts to each rows.

Try not to look pushy or forceful while giving out handouts to each one of them.

3. Distribute through volunteers

Crumpled death of Handout.

This is the safest way to do it. Follow this if very necessary, and the audience is huge. Chances are most of your handouts will be found crumpled on the floor after the session is over.

4. Email

If the email ids of your audience is recorded through a visitor’s book or any other medium, you can safely email them your handouts coupled with a short cover mail. This is a paperless, effective approach.

Use handouts wisely and use them of you really need it.

Why Buy - Need or Desire?

2011-04-17T02:29:00.002+09:00

No matter how confusing things can be, one person has always the clearest conscience – My Dictionary. And he says,

Need A condition or situation in which something is required or wanted; necessity; obligation.

Desire To wish or long for, want; to express a wish for; request; the object of longing; passion.

Business basics have taught us to serve and cater to needs of people. Services & products offered by businesses and entrepreneurs have to solve people’s problems. Hence, it always comes down to catering to a need. Agreed? Yes from me! The theory is twisted, and this is how.

What about desire? That dirty-cunning-passion you have for expensive dark chocolates – what exact need does these chocolates fulfil? Stop feeling guilty, it is okay to have your own fancies.

Need and Desire – Both represent complete different mindsets and consumers. ‘Need’ refers to basic, functional requirements, while ‘desire’ is more about love, passion and indulgence.

Nobody creates consumer desire the way Apple does.

The best example for ‘desire’ has to be Apple. Each apple product has made people crave for them. To be precise, Apple has made people desire. Maybe you need a laptop, but you desire an ipad. That is the difference. The ipad is obviously much expensive than a basic laptop, but it adds has X-factor, the appeal & everything is cool about it. When it comes to desire, unlike need there is no price tag attached. Desire is craving for something, hence pricing is mostly a no-factor here. ‘Desire’ products have a certain social-push and (or) social-upgrade associated with them.

The Body Shop outlets sell consumer experiences.

I’m reminded of a certain friend who splurged on cosmetics from The Body Shop after getting her first pay check. Lakme & Ponds always worked for her till then, but the occasional indulgence in The Body Shop products is plain & pure desire. This further proves that price is almost never a deterrent when it comes to desire.

And for need – we have Dell laptops or say Shalimar coconut oil. Basic, functional and suits our requirements. They work excellently as they have been doing for years and fulfil needs to our satisfaction.

Although there is no pleasure or wow-feeling attached like a Body Shop or Apple product.

We as humans are complex and selfish. To carry with life on we need things, but to add that extra zing, we desire for things. Need or desire – The marketer is a happy-tired man!

The Big Diaper Fight in Advertising.

2011-04-15T00:20:00.002+09:00

When it comes to population growth, we Indians are aggressive and we quickly keep multiplying. We are currently a nation of 1.2 billion people. This means, we have a tremendous number of babies. Also with the increased population of educated & working mothers with disposable incomes – the baby care market is booming. 28 billion to be precise.

Diapers is any marketers delight!

Diapers is any marketers delight. Because this segment has everything - Consumer education, Innovation in products and the target segment is young educated mothers! And there is tough competition too!

80 % of the baby care market is held by segment of baby diapers. The reason behind the booming of the baby care market is because of diapers. Why?

It is a disposable product. Use, throw & buy more.

Diapers are excellent when it comes to mobility for the baby & parents.

Use of diapers means – no more potty on the sheets, people & laps.

Hygiene levels go up.

Convenience for parents especially at night & while going out.

Since young mothers are extremely finicky about what brands to buy for their baby – references mostly work here, coupled with some advertising.

The initial years in advertising for diapers was mostly spent in educating the customer. The shift that young Indian mothers took from nappies & clothes to diapers was gradual and steady. Now that the mothers are aware and they realise the need for baby diapers – advertising has a different message to convey.

Dry and happy baby

Germ & rash free diapers

Affordable pricing

Softness, comfort, dry & light

Non leaking and locked diapers

Ventilating diapers which allow movement of air.

Innovation is also driving the diaper markets. Pant styled diapers, which do not have any straps have been introduced by a couple of players. Most TVC’s focus on a rash free baby butt and more importantly a happy and playful baby. Almost all of these ads project a young educated mother who is happy with the baby too, because of the conveniences of the diaper.

Huggies from Kimberly Clark. Huggies is immensely popular and is almost synonymous with the name diapers. Clearly this is the first mover advantage. All that investment into educating the customer has paid off.

Pampers from Procter & Gamble. – Along with normal diapers, Pampers is also offering pant styled diapers. Pampers is trusted and leads the by example when it comes to product innovation.

Mamy Poko Pants from Unicharm

Pampers came to India in 2006 and they offer a special sub-category of pant styled diapers. Most of us recollect the jingle from the TVC. You would surprised to know even ringtones of the jingle are available. It is a Japanese brand.

Challenges

Baby diapers also has its share of challenges. Market penetration is tough, and changing consumer behaviour is equally challenging. Diapers by practice are not used in India from a very long time. This is new emerging trend. The problem of rashes is inevitably there too.

Diapers, no matter what still continue to give smiles and peaceful nights to countless babies and their mothers. Thank you Sohaana Kapoor (my 47 days old neice) for making sure I spend 12 hours a day with baby care products!

Marketing Lessons from Poonam Pandey

2011-04-06T18:15:00.001+09:00

All good things in the world with the exception of peanut butter have some lessons to teach us. The last time I looked up into the sky for some inspiration and marketing lessons – I found Poonam Pandey.
WHAT THIS IS NOT. This article in no way questions the morality of her actions or intentions. This is not a lesson on moral policing, neither does it demean or promote any of Poonam Pandey’s activities.
WHAT THIS IS. This article tracks Poonam Pandey’s instant rise into fame, where she happens to be widely talked about on web and otherwise. Her strategies, USPs and formula to fame are interpreted and analysed here.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

One of Poonam Pandey's rare decently dressed pictures.

Mid March 2011 - India is doing well in the ICC Cricket World Cup, and it is two weeks away from winning the cup. And in between all this action while Harsha Bhogle & Mandira Bedi are debating – something happens.

Poonam Pandey – a lesser known model walks in from oblivion. And she spoke, (rather tweeted) I’m going to strip if India wins the world cup.

What followed is a social media enthusiast’s delight. Retweet, retweets and retweets. Hashtags were created, trends were reported. And a new hot topic surfaced from the zillion of tweets – Poonam Pandey. What worked for her? Here it is -

ATTRACTIVE LOOKS A fantastic body, and more importantly several pictures on multiple websites that showcased her beauty. Her portfolio was built to make fans. Several portals offering sensuous wallpapers, just proves the point further. And her superb looks has played a pivotal role.

THE GOOGLE ADVANTAGE The Most Downloaded Model on the Internet – Poonam Pandey. Yes this is a fact. Anything touched by Google turns gold. Google can make or break brands in minutes. What worked for her was, while the initial buzz about still gradually building up – Google became her best friend. As people began searching for ‘Poonam Pandey’, search engines returned several bikini clad pictures and wallpapers.
This worked wonders. An attractive looking young lady in a two piece – is bound to get a second & third look from both men and women.

PERFECT TIMING Poonam began repeatedly hitting the iron when it was not just hot, but was super hot and melting. Opportunist, is an miniscule understatement for her. Team India was just a few days away from confirming a semi final berth. The whole nation was almost seeing the ‘Great-Indian-Dream’ together of India winning the cup after a gap of 28 years. It was never a better time to echo the dreams of the nation for India to win the world cup. And Poonam did it.

India's national interest - Cricket

NATIONAL INTEREST Our national interests are simple – scams, onions, bollywood and cricket. Poonam focussed on the safest and largest of the interest, Cricket- that too the ICC World Cup. What cricket means to us as a country or a sub-continent is inexplicable. It is larger than Rajnikant, if that makes sense to you. When Poonam spoke she struck a chord with the whole country, because when it to national interest and patriotism nobody can beat us. Multiple super successful patriotic movies and ringtones prove that beyond doubt. We love our country.

SOCIAL MEDIA Poonam, you seriously cannot deny this. Without social media, you could not have achieved even an iota of what has happened. Twitter and Facebook are the sole elements who fuelled your famous campaign.

The whole web has gone gaga over you. Netizens cheered for India with you before winning the cup. And even after winning, Netizens are waiting for you to complete your promise. Her aura has grown leaps and bounds through social media. Her Facebook page currently has more than 11K likes, and on Twitter she about 9k followers, where she is pretty regular with her updates.

ATTRACTING CRITICS She along with millions of eyeballs has also attracted unwanted opinions from religious organisations and self styled moral policing brigades. Bigger your critics, the more successful you are. And this is a great yardstick of checking your popularity.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Poonam, what you have acheived in commendable. And this is what can happen in near future - A couple of reality show invites. A cameo in a Mahesh Bhatt film, or maybe even a female lead. Presence in magazine covers for the next month. PETA associations.

Not just online, you are a success offline too. You have been featured on reputed national dailies and magazines on the very front pages. Every single tweet of yours makes it way to the newsroom and discussions. You have all the potential to become what you want to be. All the best & be immensely successful.

The Shepherd and his frisky Goats: How Alcohol was born.

2011-04-06T01:07:00.000+09:00

Around 5000-6000 BC, humans had created their first agricultural communities. (Does this sound like history? It is history) In the Tigris-Euphrates valley (now in Iraq) one fine day, when the sun was just fine and our planet had no issues with global warming – There was a shepherd who used to watch his goats while they kept munching fresh green grass and other little plants.

After a while the shepherd observed that his goats were acting friskier than normal. They were horny and were acting funny. Initially, he was very surprised and was curious to know about this weird behaviour of his goats.

He started investigating. When he started looking around for things that the goats have been eating he found something. The goats, he found out have been crazily gobbling up rotting grapes fallen from a nearby vine. Being even more curious, he picked up a few rotten grapes and tasted them. And he felt something funny in his head.

What had happened here was that, the rotten grapes had fermented giving rise to some alcohol content. That made all the goats and the shepherd feel ‘high’.

To put this a little more technically, naturally occurring micro organisms in the air had landed on the grapes and started feeding on the fruit, digesting the grape sugars and turning them into carbon-dioxide and ethyl alcohol. Hence, alcohol was born.

So now every time you take a sip –Think of the shepherd in 5000 BC and of course of his horny goats too. Cheers!

Advertising - What you do not know.

2011-04-05T02:19:00.005+09:00

Advertising is like God. It is everywhere. They are in our smses, the morning newspaper, billboards, Google Search results, Facebook, in trains & flights, of course in television and even in urban public toilets. Global ad spent in the first six months of 2010 is 238 Billion USD, which is equivalent to six Bill Gates tied up in a Swiss bank together. All these dollars together make sure advertising reaches out to you in every insanely possible way.

Let me give you a brief on how amazingly you and brands are entangled.

You wake up in the morning to an alarm from your cell-phone, catch hold of a toothbrush, some toothpaste or maybe some mouth wash. Shower with a beauty soap, some shampoo. You glance through your newspaper while eating cornflakes. A pin striped shirt, a ball point pen, a pair of leather shoes. You drive to work, and switch on the PC. Work involves machines, skype-calls, files and A4 papers. When evening comes, you may watch a movie or have dinner at a fine dining restaurant or while leaning to a burger counter. Finally you retire to a mattress, covered with printed bed sheets that lull you to sleep, with the air-conditioner on.

So how did so many products & services get deeply rooted into your life? Did advertising give that continuous gentle push to all these brands into your life? Yes, advertising did and you allowed that to happen. A collection of carefully picked advertising perceptions, more or less define you today.

Advertising is hated too. Sometimes we see that brands are taking over the world, and reducing people to walking billboards. With a million brands, trying out another million ways to advertise – are we going to hit saturation? Suddenly it seems so crowded.

Why do we hate the ads in between an interesting cricket match or a captivating movie? The ad jingle that starts playing after our favourite song on FM radio, the distracting ad in the magazine next to the article, the flashing ad blocks on a webpage – Annoying isn’t it? Even trolleys at the airports & the walls adjacent to the roads are not spared. Perhaps it is an eyesore for the public?

I think it is time to answer. No, this is not annoying. Neither can this ever be an eyesore. Why? Read on.

The money that comes from advertising puts satellites into space, so that you can watch cricket at home and scoff at Koffee with Karan. The same money makes sure you get news in real time. This is the money which funds the radio stations, so that you listen to your RJ and songs – for FREE. Did you ever pay Google for using search, or Gmail for the infinite number of emails that you have storing for years now. Even Facebook – you have been connecting with friends, sharing pictures, talking – all again for FREE!

The point here is, we shamelessly enjoy so many products and services for free or at subsidised prices, and we take it for granted. However, behind the scenes, it is the advertising rupees that fuel and propel these services.

I admit that a section of ads are pushy, cunning & maybe deceptive and lack a creative approach. But the umbrella of advertising is here to stay, and for good.

Whiskey or Whisky – The Classic Confusion

2011-04-04T04:18:00.001+09:00

Long ago when people were still arguing about which came first – the egg or the chicken, came up another classic confusion. Whiskey or Whisky?

Whiskey is also spelled as Whisky. (Or vice versa, if you disagree) What is the right way to spell? Is whiskey different from whisky? And what have you been drinking so far – Whiskeys or Whisky?Let me kill the confusion here.

Irish and American whiskey manufactures call their whiskey as WHISKEY (note the ‘E’). While the Scottish and Canadian manufactures call them as WHISKY (without the ‘E’).

And since marketers & cunning copy editors also rule people’s perception these days – WHISKY now refers to Scotch Whisky. One modestly accepted opinion (which is still debatable) says that the Irish introduced the first whiskeys. The Scots, then adopted the Irish spirits and changed the spelling to WHISKY, by removing the ‘e’. Hence, confusing generation after generation of whiskey drinkers.

Perry Luntz, puts across out quite an acceptable argument. “No etymologist (that’s a word-derivation expert) knows exactly why the Irish spelled the wine of their country with an “e” and why their neighbors across the Irish Sea left the “e” out. It’s often used as an indication that the Irish had the spirits first and because it sounded like a broad “e” in Gaelic, they started spelling whiskey with an “e.” Under this theory, when the Scots started making aqua vitae, they wanted to point out the difference between theirs and the Irish. Hence, no “e.” That’s as good an explanation as any.”

Anyways, that is more than enough information. Here is a sure shot way to know what your whisky/ey is :

Countries that have E’s in their names (UnitEd StatEs and IrEland) tend to spell it whiskEy (plural whiskeys)
Countries without E’s in their names (Canada, Scotland, and Japan) spell it whisky (plural whiskies)

Sigh! Yes, I’m having an information overload. Bring me a scotch!

How Multi Screens can increase productivity?

2011-04-01T23:26:00.001+09:00

We love multi-tasking and working smart. Doing things faster, better is an amazing thing. And so is devising efficient ways to do work. Using keyboard shortcuts, putting up sticky notes, doing flowcharts on a whiteboard or simple scribbling on a piece of paper – each one of us has some approach towards being more efficient.

I have been using multi-screens since over a year now. And going back to a single screen feels ancient. Multiple surveys have proved that adding an extra monitor, your output will go up by 20 – 30 percent.

Why? Three reasons for you, Dear!

MORE SPACE, MORE ROOM!

Imagine a study table that can accommodate a single book. Now, you have bigger table, where you can place two or even three books simultaneously. Why do you think reading newspapers is faster than reading a book? Because the newspaper is bigger and is spread out. The same logic works here - the bigger your table, more things you can place & work with.

Multi screens increase your screen space about 200-300%. Whoa!

MAXIMISE MINIMISE MAXIMISE MINIMISE

The problem with a single screen is that, you need to maximise & minimise repeatedly to walk around all the programs you are using. Multi screens will drastically cut down on this.

You can have your email on one screen; work on a document on the other or simple stare at twitter updates. All this without jumping screens.

READABILITY

Reading becomes quite comfortable here. You can stay focussed on your ebook or any article without interruptions. Look up supporting documents or compare, everything on different screens.

Read what Bill Gates has to say about multi screens.

On my desk I have three screens, synchronized to form a single desktop. I can drag items from one screen to the next. Once you have that large display area, you’ll never go back, because it has a direct impact on productivity:

1. The screen on the left has my list of e-mails.

2. On the center screen is usually the specific e-mail I’m reading and responding to.

3. And my browser is on the right-hand screen.

This setup gives me the ability to glance and see what new has come in while I’m working on something, and to bring up a link that’s related to an e-mail and look at it while the e-mail is still in front of me.

And here is what my dual screen set up looks like. And yes, my productivity has gone up. I can have an early lunch now.

How to make a presentation that rocks

2011-04-01T21:38:00.001+09:00

Yes, this is possible. You can make a presentation that will rock. Your audiences will go home happy and you'll communicate your message too. There are just six things that decide whether a presentation rocks or sucks. Well, it is that simple.

THE APPROACH – SHUT UP, AND TELL A STORY

The presentation you are going to make could be technical, sales pitches, for a project or be just another present your ideas. And please correct me if I’m wrong, I assume you already have stacked up a lot of statistics, data, reports & pie-charts. In other words, there is an information overload. You can go terribly wrong here. Don’t bombard the audience with all you figures, tables and bar-graphs.

Presentations are about telling stories. Weave a story around the subject; thicken the plot with strong facts & relevant figures only. Finally package the story with incredible visuals and a clear message. You intent is to communicate your message/idea in an interesting & captivating way.

THE DEBUT SLIDE

Your debut or opening slide speaks a lot about how your audience is going to react to the presentations. The first slide gives you a good opportunity to connect with your audience and build up a curiosity.

ü Less is more in presentations. Write less, communicate more.

ü Use obnoxiously large fonts or just plain large fonts.

ü Be simple, and avoid clutter.

ü Be bold & experimental. Frankly, there are no rules here.

USING IMAGES

Pictures look better & more compelling than you, if you are not Steve Jobs.

ü Use images as whole backgrounds. This makes a better impact of the idea.

ü Create a high contrast between text and the image.

ü Use clear & high resolution image.

ü Make sure to give image credits.

ü Never ever use clipart, search on Flickr, Google Images & Deviantart.

KEEP IT SHORT AND SIMPLE

The simpler your presentation is, the easier your message will be. Using small sentences & being articulate will help. Try to restrict the total number of words on a slide to a maximum of thirty. Although there are no rules to decide the number of slides in a presentation, ideally this is the break-up that I use.

ü 5 minutes: 8 – 12 slides

ü 10 minutes: 15 - 30 slides

ü 15 minutes: 20 – 40 slides

Avoid using bullet points, and put across your point directly.

CHOOSING COLOR PALETTE

This is the easiest thing to do, that most presenters do wrong. The picking right colour palette (colour combinations) for the presentation is important. That’s because, the slides need to look sleek, colour coordinated and soothing to the eye. Picking right colour combinations manually is quite a task for so many slides. How to do it? Visit any of the sites below, and just take your pick. Voila!

ü http://www.colourlovers.com/

ühttp://www.colorcombos.com/

THE RIGHT SETS OF FONTS

Typography can kill. The safest approach here would be to stick to a single family of fonts. Even safer is stick to either Serif or Sans-serif font families.

NO ANIMATION PLEASE

Sound effects, transitions, shadows, spinning objects and God-knows-what-else. Please avoid them. Nobody appreciates them.

As I always say, the presentation (the slides) is there to supplement the speakers effort in communicating his message. It is just a little piece of software. What makes it special is your presence, your talking, your voice.

All the best!

Are you Murdering Powerpoint?

2011-03-22T21:14:00.002+09:00

Yes, I think you are murdering PowerPoint. You may have been innocently using Microsoft Powerpoint for years. You have made presentations & murders without even realizing. Maybe you have been giving slow & gradual deaths to your audience and Powerpoint too. Let’s do a quick check whether you are a PowerPoint Murderer or not.

YOU STILL USE CLIPART

I can never forgive you for this. Clipart is long gone, and is now ancient property. If you still like the screen beans, the 2D cartoons which have been used and overused till extinction, you need to STOP RIGHT NOW.

YOU LIKE THE COMIC SANS FONT

This is yet another unforgivable terrible mistake you are committing. Comic Sans is not formal, nor does it fit into informal presentations. Comic Sans is ridiculous & pleasantly irritating.

YOU USE THEMES

You either use the default themes in MS PowerPoint or even go to the extent of downloading them. This is a crime to design. Themes are quick and handy, but ultimately you are murdering your presentation. Themes make your slides MONOTONOUS & repetitive, and help your audience to sleep better.

YOU USE BULLET POINTS

Yes, this is another killer mistake. Bullets and more bullets are sufficient to kill any good presentation.

YOU WRITE ESSAYS IN SLIDES

A very common flaw, is to add a big bunch of text on a single slide. Good practice is to have less than 30-40 words per slide. Large chucks of text can split into multiple slides of better readability.

YOU OVERDO ANIMATION

Animating each step of slide transition, every little action can get very showy and is very outdated. Animation can be easily avoided in slide shows. If required, little animation maybe used to supplement the story board.

YOUR TEXT IS NOT LEGIBLE

Choosing a wrong background or font color can be devastating. A good contrast is required in the color schemes used.

USE OF LOW RESOLUTION IMAGES

Pictures which break into pixels when viewed in full-screen is a poor thing to happen. Choose the right images with good resolution.
If you are doing any of the above, you better stop murdering PowerPoint now!

What Scotch is & Indian whisky is not

2011-03-22T20:57:00.001+09:00

Most people get this one wrong. And that’s because most people don’t mind in being ignorant about what really lies in between the floating ice & the bottom of the glass.

For starters, let’s just say that whiskeys which have been made & bottled in Scotland are called – Scotch Whisky (or just Scotch). This is plain and simple. If we dig in a little deeper, ideally there are three points that needs to be satisfied for a whisky to be crowned as a scotch.

The whisky is produced completely in Scotland. That is because you cannot replicate their cool, maritime northern climate. All processing, conversions, fermentation & distillation is done at a single distillery only. (you can excuse the alien words)

Scotch whisky should be aged for a minimum of three years and one day, in oak barrels at Scotland.

And the final whisky has a minimum alcoholic strength of 40%.

This definition holds perfectly well, except when you are in India. Scotch Whiskey is almost like a disputed term here. It is conveniently misused by people and more importantly by the liquor manufacturers & their fancy brands.

Indian made whiskies are not even considered as whiskies in the European markets. The reason being, India whiskies (most) are made from sugarcane molasses. For a whiskey to be labelled as whiskey in the European Union, it should be made from grain & should be matured for a minimum of three years. Most Indian whiskies cannot meet these stringent regulations hence, Indian whiskies in the E.U are called as Indian Sprits or Rum.

Even though we happily consume about 217.1 million cases of alcoholic beverages a year, Scotch whiskey is still accessible to the average middle class. There are a couple of reasons on why is the best whiskies denied to us. The problem lies with Indian laws & regulations. Clearly these laws which impose high tariff barriers on imported whiskies, directly & shamelessly favour the domestic producers (& their Indian molasses whisky). As a result of all this, actual Scotch whisky accounts for only 1% of the total market share. And the incredibly high import duties make Scotch in India, obnoxiously expensive. A small peg can cost you anything between 600-1400INR.

Yet another paradox is, Indian Made Foreign Liquor – IMFL. As funny as this sounds, yes we are very capable of even making foreign liquor in our own country. IMFL is a broad category that has all the western-styled beverages like whisky, rum & vodka. Well, alcohol in India is quite complicated. And yes, we like to do things our own way!

I know this is difficult to digest, rather to sip. It is like suddenly proclaiming, that Indian whisky is no whisky at all. Good heavens! Then what have been we been drinking as a nation this long? - Spirits from sugarcane molasses branded as whisky.

I think this proves a bigger point. Indian whisky connoisseurs are happy with the local produce, and they don’t really need approvals from the European Union. Neither do they need certifications to call their Indian whisky as whisky.
Image Credits

Lessons from the Flat World

2011-03-22T20:50:00.000+09:00

I had a great time while going through Thomas Friedman's - The World is Flat. You can find more about the book here.
This presentation interprets a section of one of the most fascinating sections from the book, where Friedman talks about theories to prevent wars.

Lessons from the Flat World

View more presentations from Debasish Patra

Selling Time

2011-03-22T20:49:00.000+09:00

While we grew up, we were taught to be punctual, to wake up early and do things on time. Time matters to us. When someone tells us that they care for our time, we feel special. We feel respected. Time has always been valued.

Businesses understand this very well too.For example look at filling stations, & how much fast service is appreciated. Or even ATMs that churn out cash when & where you want it. The dry-cleaner who gives the fastest service while maintaining quality is king. Fast food chains rock, serving record number of customers per day. All of this happens quick, and customer needs are met almost immediately. We love it when our trains & flights are on time.

So its clear, a service/product saving time for us is always is appreciated & preferred.

INDIGO

The lost cost airline segment is booming in India. This segment has brought in affordable flying for the people. So, an airline trying to stand-out in this domain, cannot just offer the cheap fares. The whole segment offers the cheapest fares. While one airline pushes the fact that they offer hot-indian-meals on board, Indigo has hit the nail right. Indigo vouches & takes pride in the fact that, they offer on-time performances. And this message does break the clutter from other low cost airlines. This TVC exactly tells us that - On time is actually a wonderful thing. Great concept & superb execution. Check out for the air-hostesses moving on the conveyor belt shot!

TATA PHOTON PLUS

Like most other domains, internet service providers all have the same message. We have seen people flying - swoosh through sheets of paper in office, super-hero tactics to video gaming like actions. Okay we get it, your internet speed is the fastest. Tata Photon Plus, I believe takes a step further from the usual approach of speed. They are talking about the after effect of speed. The message is - Get Speed, Get Time. How true! The TVC shows people finishing work early because of faster speeds. And they find more time to be with family & friends. The focus here is on people's time, which is beautiful. No fast downloads, no video data plans. The message is amazingly simple & builds a connection.

Selling Time is tough, because it is on the simplest commodities out there. Package it well & be honest, and yes you can sell time.

WHY YOU NEED PRESENATIONS - 10 REASONS

2011-03-22T20:45:00.005+09:00

Chances of you having seen an overhead projector and transparent sheets are pretty mild. I happened to use them back in school, when that was the only way to present to an audience.
Although a pen & paper work fine to get to the point, you'll miss the flair, style & poise that presentations offer you. Get out there, and present to kill! Now that these overhead projects are long dead and buried, let me give you 10 reasons on why you need presentations.

1. Presentations are the only way to present. Well almost.

Be it in a boardroom, a sales meeting or even a classroom. There is no way you can escape this. The most accepted and effective way to share your ideas is through – A Presentation.

2. The Presentation becomes your co-speaker.

The presentation is going to supplement and support your talk, through every slide. Exactly like a co-speaker, the presentation will coordinate each step with you.

3. Because Excel sheets suck.

You can’t really put up excel sheets up on the screen to prove your point. Crunching numbers in boxes is ugly and chances are your audience is going to hate you for this. So, a presentation is the only answer.

4. You can organize your facts, data & points well.

Presentations help you make graphs, tables and more importantly use images, which ever way you want to. You will have the liberty to effectively organize and present you facts & data effortlessly.

5. Your first slide creates curiosity & an impression, even before you speak.

A captivating image or a one-liner on the opening slide can captivate the minds of your audience ever before you speak. And that I tell you is half the battle won.

6. You don’t need to memorize your talk word-by-word.

You now never need to memorize each line of your talk. The presentation will guide you, in order. So, you can stress on every point and not miss anything. The best part being, your presentation will go exactly as planned.

7. Because eyes see better than your ears hear.

(Okay, I made that up) But the point is, visual communication is far better than verbal. Eyes are more receptive and absorb information at a faster rate. And what appeals to the eyes, is understood and memorized instantly.

8. You are not Barrack Obama or Steve Jobs.

Your audience will not really enjoy looking at you all the time, unless you are Obama or Jobs. They will need some stimulating visuals & graphics to focus on.

9. Your audience is online too.

If you thought the audience for the talk is limited to the six rows of people sitting in the auditorium, you are wrong. The web can help you drastically widen your reach. Sites like Slideshare among others help you topresent!

10. Sharing & saving is easier.

Needless to say presentations can be shared, saved & edited whenever you feel like.

If you’ve got a few more reasons, hit the comment box below!

About Me

2011-03-22T20:44:00.007+09:00

Social Media Enthusiast. Scotch Connoisseur. Rookie GIMP Artist. Presentations Specialist. A marathon runner in the making.

Formally known as Debasish Patra - I love food, free downloads & Erich Segal. I was 19 three years ago. Academically I'm an Electrical Engineer, who never did justice to his subject other than plugging his cell-phone charger. I have co-founded Live More Inc., an alternative life solutions company when I was 20. I have worked in the domains of personal branding, advertising, eco-tourism and community development.
I have been blogging since about five years from now. I write on ~~anything~~ advertising, making & delivering presentations, social media and sometimes on movies, scotch & books. And when the moon says - I'm blue, I write fiction too. I love to design & appreciate good design. Being an entrepreneur at heart - ideas & startups (read here) excite me.
Currently I work for a social utility company where I strive to make online advertising better.
You can find me on facebook & linkedin. I tweet & make presentations too. You'll find my resume here.

A Brief History of Eating – I (wedding receptions)

2011-03-17T03:55:00.010+09:00

Being a total foodie, (food connoisseur sounds more sophisticated) I’m open to tasting & eating all kinds of food anywhere & everywhere.

Wedding reception parties are always a great place to eat. But hello, we are not shameless food connoisseurs. Courtesy calls need to be dealt on a priority basis. Wish the couple, pass on the bouquet and you are all set for the mission.

When it comes to weddings, (Indian weddings are grand in any case) it is not just about the eating, but also getting the plates, gathering the food and maybe reaching a table. Although this does sound simple, each exercise demands clever crowd navigation & negotiation skills.

Let’s start by picking a plate. If you have some gentlemanly traits like me, you are not the first person to actually inaugurate the stack of plates by picking one. Hopefully by the time you move to pick your plate, there should be a sizable number of people buzzing around the plates table. The smartest ones in the crowd avoid papads, different salads, pickles & dahi-vadas and head straight for the main course. But then if you still feel its early, starters always come to the rescue. A few spoons of soup, a plate of freshly tandoor-ed tikkas can do wonders to your appetite. If you look a little more closely, you should find appetizer plates regularly being sent to the special guests to the tables around the bartender.

If you are still safe and no kid has spilled water or (even better) gravy on you, you should now be standing in the queue at the main-course counter with a plate in hand. The issue with these counters is that, there is always a steady push-cum- nudge from the aunty standing right behind in the line. In the process of hurriedly filling up your plates because of the nudges, you don’t get enough time to inspect & know the food you are being served.

In about the next ten minutes you are pushed again, but this time to get out of the line. A first look to your overtly stuffed plate looks dismal. Innocently to avoid the risk of missing an item, you actually brought everything from the thirty-two items that was being served.

There is absolutely nothing wrong in this. But when gravies get mixed up, paneer & meat balls exchange places to survive not falling from the plate – your plate becomes understandably ugly. The papad who was picked up about half an hour back is soaked and drowned in the debris of dal-makhni & jeera-rice. A few experts argue that taking only a few items on the plate and not filling up every square inch is advisable for enjoying the food. At the pretext of acting decent if you just take a few items, you would soon realise that you need a second helping of so many items. Getting that second serving is a mammoth task, considering navigation issues in swarming crowds around roomali rotis to fish cutlets. Gradually the focus shifts from enjoying food to eating everything accessible and possible.

The wedding I attended yesterday had a guest list of more than a thousand people. There were just two mutton serving counters. So while sets of five hundred people each, tried to follow the fastest way to the mutton counter for a second serving, there was some polite chaos, stamping and silent nods of heads to the waiter to serve more.

While you are doing the fine juggling act between the plate, spoon, fork and the napkin while standing (and eating), there may be sudden bursts of people passing and elbowing you. Add to this the innumerable ‘namaskars’ & ‘Good evenings’ you need to do to people around you. Trust me you can never get a table to sit down and eat, even if you stood first in your class as a kid.

The struggle doesn’t just get over in the main course. Desserts are the ultimate crowd pullers. Ice creams, sweets, jalebis dipped in rabri are the best things you can eat in a wedding party. This goes on to prove that all struggles lead us to sweeter things in life. Don’t be shy; go on for the sixth cup of ice-cream!

Image Credits

On why Inception is giving me sleepless nights.

2011-03-11T03:17:00.009+09:00

For the benefit of making you feel more intelligent, I’m going to make a few assumptions now.

1. 1. You have seen Inception. Yes, the movie, which you so confidently downloaded from Torrent or copied from your friend. If you have been lucky, you managed to watch it at a multiplex.

2. 2. You understand that people sometimes get dreams when they sleep. You also understand that people can get dreams in their dreams & also dreams in their dreams of the first dream.

Now that you feel smarter after the two assumptions, let’s make a little glossary to make sure things look complicated enough.

LEVEL 1 (L1) – The dream that happens when you are sleeping.

LEVEL 2 (L2) – The dream that happens within a dream. It’s like dreaming again in L1.

LEVEL 3 (L3) – The dream that happens inside the dream of a dream. It’s like dreaming again in L2.

We are not talking about L4 now, so let’s get started then!

I’m mostly cool with dreams that happen in L1. They are harmless and are fun. The role players or rather my projections are old acquaintances, movie stars, friends and sometimes a humongous size of audience in an auditorium. My L1 has simple plots, short and sweet dreams. L1 is safe because when you wake up, you come back to reality, your own world. There is no funny business involved here.

What I’m scared of is L2. Not only is it dangerous, the consequences of getting caught in that level is also eerily scary. Imagine you are dreaming in a dream. What if you wake up from your second dream to your first dream? And then you start believing that the first dream (L1) is your reality and you start living in that state. Ultimately you are actually sleeping in the real world, but you would never realise that. And you are caught up in your dream and you strongly believe that, that dreamy world is your reality. But in the actual real world, you are still sleeping and you gradually slip into coma.

L3 is crazy. Here you are dreaming in a dream while being inside a dream. The major issue here is that, what if you wake up from a dream to another dream? Then you start believing that, that dream you woke up in, is the real world. You need to practically wake up thrice to come to reality. But in reality you are still sleeping and have not woken up. The fact being that, you have woken up in any of the mid-levels and you have comfortable started believing that your current world is your real world.

The reason Inception scares me is that, I don’t want to get caught forever L2 or even the dreaded L3. I want to have simple dreams and I want to wake up to a real world, in between my sheets and at home.

Hoping for a good night’s sleep.

Thank you Miss. Abhu, for editing the post, without even seeing the movie.

Mugging up & puking: The Exam Story.

2011-02-13T03:19:00.011+09:00

Cinderella was happy - she played all day, ate fresh pizzas to kill hunger and had a bunch of friends who also played all day and ate fresh pizzas.

In between playing & eating, Cinderella and company also took out time to check cute princes, and occasionally hit the pub. Cinderella used to drop one of her stilettos in the pub every single time, hoping to get lucky in case some wealthy prince finds it and looks for her. Her step mom and sisters were missing from the story-plot, so she had a gala time clubbing and sometimes going to college.

Then one fine semester, when the weather was just perfect for an outing, something bad happened. An omen perhaps.

She felt the winds of change in the air. One poor fellow even cursed that may be it is – Exam time. The poor fellow was immediately scoffed & sent off to prevent the bad omen. By then the semester was already cursed and an exam was scheduled in the next couple of days.

Helpless Cinderella had to spend most of her gold coins on photocopying class-notes and thus the pizzas started getting smaller and losing cheese. Chain drinking of coffee made her azure eyes pop out amidst her new dark circles. She and her friends painfully stuck to 12-hour long routines of mugging up over and over again. Amidst headaches, equations, diagrams and sleeplessness she went numb. But the mugging up never stopped.

She crammed the derivations, numbers from photocopied notes into her head, once surrounded by pretty curls. During quick snacks & gulping coffee she would dream of a prince coming and rescuing her. When the dream got over, she went back to more of mugging up.

Cinderella & co, had to go through this gruelling time once every semester. The painful cycle had mugging up for a week followed immediately by another week of puking in the exams. The time was tough and mentally challenging, but like all bad things she knew it was not forever. Amidst heaps of photocopied notes, sometimes Cinderella would blank out. She would dream and hope for better times with princes, sandals and pubs.

Hopefully one day a prince would find one of her several intentionally dropped sandals, find her and take her away in the pumpkin buggy.

Image Credits Deviantart

Team India, World Cup & Advertisers.

2011-01-30T14:29:00.005+09:00

If you are still not getting the drift, I’m talking about cricket. With less than a month left for the mammoth exercise to begin, entire breeds of people are already working to pump-up the markets. I would rather refrain from talking about their performances & fitness, and focus on the hype and impact.

I believe the advertisers are quite optimistic and ambitious about India winning the world cup. And somehow I feel, this made-up doses of positivity coated with ambitions are rubbing off to the Indian Team also. Ultimately everybody is optimistic & happy – BBCI, critics, coaches, columnists, players & of course the advertisers.

And this makes perfect business sense. The longer the team spends in the event, longer are the campaigns and their effectiveness.

A direct comparison to the world cup winning squad in 1983 is obvious and perhaps is the oldest trick in the book. Convincing the nation that this team is the best combination ever, year after year is also a neat approach. And it works. Touching that emotional chord of this cricket obsessed nation is by far the most recommended approach for any marketer.

So now, a potato chips company along 20 grams of fat-free chips in a glossy packet also sells hope. Yes, the same hope which makes a young boy dream about winning the lucky draw to watch the finals at the stadium or even shake hands with the Indian captain.

A mint chewing gum can entitles you scratch card, which again sells hope. This time it is for an autographed bat or even a pair of plastic sunglasses depending upon you luck and how your stars are aligned. The ugliest wars undoubtedly takes place between the telecom & cola cos. Ad-spoofs can be on-air in even less than a week.

The only thing I’m sure about that India is going to party, every time the men in blue walk into the grounds. Claps, cheers & fire-crackers, endless reviews at homes, offices, nukkads & sports bars is what’s coming next. Social Media updates will have a single point agenda – The World cup.

All the best Team India, prove the advertisers right time!

How to talk about books which you have not read.

2011-01-23T16:17:00.003+09:00

With more and more people getting smarter and even decently well-read, it has become increasingly difficult to keep up with everybody. Blame it on free e-books, torrent, and pirated books. It’s now amazingly simple for anybody to become a self-styled expert on any subject by just reading a couple of articles from Wikipedia.

Picture this. A group of suave gentlemen are huddled around deep glasses of single-malt. And the man, who keeps quoting from The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs after every second sip, gets all the attention. So, what are you going to do? Will you just signal the bartender politely for a repeat, or are you going to join in the conversation? It’s a tough call.

Let’s face it. Books are voluminous. So flipping through that voluptuous body, just because your boss or your GF’s best-friend recommended or gifted it, is not really a do-able idea.

Here are some phrases which can keep your conversations going on safely. The two conversational styled book reviews are written to appreciate the book. If you want to thrash the book, try using antonyms in places of adjectives.

FICTION – Oh, I’m absolutely impressed by the intricate details, specifically in the way the writer has presented his illusion-filled world. It seems so real. The beauty of all this, is that the characters just seem so perfect for the environment. The story transition is pleasurably smooth. The protagonist and his character come out quite strongly, almost like an understated force in the plot. Although it does rarely seems like a drag at some places, I think most avid-readers would find the book as impressively intriguing.

NON-FICTION – I strongly believe the book is revolutionary. I mean, it has all the potential to rewrite the way things function around here. Although some of the ideas are quite intellectually stimulating, at the same time some of the concepts can also be labelled as impractical. But the writer definitely takes the reader for a thought provoking journey through his alley of killer reviews and opinions. I strongly recommend the book to each of you. Not just for the medley of next generation ideas and thought processes, but also for the conviction and passion that the writer displays consistently through the book.

All the best, and don’t get caught whatsoever.

Image Credits : Deviantart

The Paperback & the bookmark.

2010-11-24T03:42:00.006+09:00

She stood with her friends on the rack right in front of the entrance. She looked eager and incredibly good. She would make an impressive gift with her crisp fine pages & the expensive looking glossy cover. The book store she lived in looked bright and had dark wooden fixtures. Our protagonist – the paperback was slotted under ‘New Arrivals’. She was the baby of a first time writer. And it was only due to a hyped marketing campaign, the book made it to the coveted top shelf of the store.

All dressed up, she kept on waiting with identical looking friends. She waited for someone to pick her up and take her home. Although a dozen of people did actually pull her out to read a few random lines while running their fingers from cover to cover, she waited for the ultimate customer.

And it happened. The excited paperback was packed off in a brown bag. Her owner was a bespectacled petite young girl, who was compelled to use the free coupon from the book store by a cute-looking-aggressive-salesman. Once home, the slim paper-back sat with pride on the table. She was fairly fresh, smelt brand-new and was just out from the book-store. She sensed freedom.

With emotional chick-lit printed inside-out on all her pages, the paperback became demanding & emotional too. She wanted her to be read, read with a lot of care & passion. She wanted the owner to take her into the hands, look deep into her. She craved for her human touch; she craved for the patient turning of her pages. She wanted her to be recommended by her owner to her friends. To be discussed in parties & to be ‘liked; on Facebook.

And eventually some of the reasonable demands were met. One weekend when our petite young girl had nothing to do, she flipped through the book. Although after the initial few pages, the reading felt like a drag, she braved another twenty pages. The book now clocked page number thirty-one. Our girl before quickly settling for the TV-remote did a wonderful thing. Just before she slammed the book at thirty-one, she managed to slide in an old bookmark there.

The slim paperback welcomed the bookmark with a long hug. The bookmark was a man of experience; he had been in and out from volumes of ugly-fat-encyclopaedias, pirated bestsellers and even stained cook books. The blissful joy he felt with the slim paperback was an alien feeling for him. He drowned in her pages and lay still. The bookmark is now happily settled at page thirty-one.

It has been months, since anybody picked the paperback. She has been waiting again, this time on the table navigating through coffee mugs and endless piles of newspapers. The only good part being, she was not alone. The bookmark was always there. And there was peace and lots of long hugs.

Sometimes she wonders – Maybe life at the bookstore was better.