UPDATES AND LIKES-2

Willful updates are updates where a person on his own furnishes updates. One (Makarand) of my friends always wants to be on the forefront of his socializing world. He wants to draw attention. He is a facebook-savvy person. He never misses an opportunity to put his hand on it. The very famous quote “where there is a will there is a way” aptly suits him. The moment he leaves his home an update would pop us. “On the way to Damaam airport” and few minutes later the next update “At Damaam airport” and then “Ready to board the plane”, “Airborne”, “Just landed at Mumbai Airport”, “At the immigration”, “On the way to home” and finally “At home”

Recently during the Eid vacation he had been to Qatar to visit Sudheendra and Geeta. By default up came a post with a vulture on his hand and the camels by the oasis. One of the benefits is the crew which was travelling with him automatically appeared in the posts they did not have to toil for getting update. He believes that “Idle mind is a devils workshop” and being facebook-savvy is one of the activity that keeps him busy.  He makes sure that this quote works well with his fans and followers. If not from the lap-top then from mobile but they have to like if not comment on his post. After all it is a question of survival in the socializing world. It is not only him but the crew members in the post who get likes and comments. After all it is the tally of likes and comments that matter.

Who doesn’t like to be liked? A benchmark is set to get a numbers of likes. And then starts the game; there are recommendation floating on the facebook, Sir please like it, hello dear please like. In the end, “Thank you all” I achieved this many “Likes”

Some of the facebook account-holders are so obsessed with their post that you see it being repeated over a period of time like the seasons in a year. All posts those get uploaded on the facebook can be broadly categorized into informative, religious, political, well wishing, help seeking, reactions.

One different post that I see often is a picture of oneself and below is written “I like myself”, another one is, if you are a teacher “like this”, if you are a sectarian “like this”, if you are a humanitarian “like this”, if you are a vegetarian “like this”, if you are non-vegetarian “like this”.

The labor pain had started and a lady was about to deliver a baby at a hospital. Finally when she was through, she with a tablet in her hand and the facebook page opened, inquired “Doctor tell me, whether it is a boy or a girl” I want to update my status. Not only did that lady update the status but along with her, her husband, her daughter, her son, and I leave it for you to guess…And don’t forget the likes. It seems, facebook too believes “Idle mind is a devils workshop” and keeps you busy.

UPDATES AND LIKES-1

Two days before writing this blog I received a mail written in Arabic. The only English that I could read was please update your information otherwise your account can be freezed. I took a print out and rushed to the bank. After fifteen minutes when my turn came the person on the other side of the counter said your informations are up to date, you may relax.

We live in an IT (Information Technology) age so much so that we have a graduation, post-graduation and even an MBA in IT.  Side by side the academic educations there are workshops conducted on ethical hacking and after the workshop; to be ethical or unethical is left up to the participants wish and will.

Updating information falls in two categories namely forceful updating and willful updating. The update you are required to furnished in exchange of getting your work done is forceful updating. To get the work done in a government office or a bank you may be demand information about any of the card that follows namely the election commission card, the ration card, the ATM card, ATM cum debit card, the credit card, PAN card, the latest one Adhar card and may be the passport.

Once my friend Rajeev Pillai who works for Hadded got stuck-up updating his profile for he was asked to furnish information he did not have, the system would not move further from the page he was in. In Saudi Arabia one is allowed four marriages. As he started updating his profile, the system asked his first wife’s name, having put the name as he pressed the enter key the next page that appeared asked his second wife’s name; now what to do, he did not have a second wife. He thought it wise to ask his wife. As he put across his question to his wife, she told that she was helping her brother with the same situation. Somehow with dummy character he managed to have four wives and ended the trouble. If you don’t confide in me than also you have to for he has himself confessed this in his Division Conference Humorous Speech. The likes that he received were not virtual likes but were real likes for he stood smiling as he bagged the second place winner.

Providing fake information can reward you and remand you. It is just like tossing a coin. It also matters who is at the receiving end. Rajeev was lucky enough to have the judges at the receiving end who awarded him with a trophy but if the person on the receiving end is either a police man or a judge than things could turn otherwise and your fortune can topsy-turvy into a tragedy.

The order of the day is information, fake or real, you have to provide. It is up to you to decide what to opt and do not forget that the tally of likes will surely be proportional to the decision you make. See you next time with UPDATES AND LIKES-2  

MENTORING TOASTMASTERS

We often come across terms like examiner-examinee, trainer-trainee, assessor-assessee, coacher-coachee & mentor-mentee. In these pair of words the former is the origin of an action and the later is an end to an action. These actions are known as examining, training, assessing, coaching and mentoring respectively.Mentoring is a means of providing help, guidance, and support to other persons who are often younger or less experienced. It is a role rather than a profession. A mentor is a volunteer role model, or a leader who is committed and consistent in his or her helping relationship with the other party who is usually a student or co-worker. Unlike teachers or advisors, mentors often share a personal relationship with their mentees.

In a Toastmasters club the moment a member is inducted, he is formally assigned a mentor. A careful study of the Competent Communication Manual reveals the nature of each project. These projects can be broadly classified into “Planning Project” and “Execution Projects”.

Project:1 Ice Breaker,focuses on “Execution” (A person in the first attempt is required to face the audience), Project:2 Organize your speech, focuses on “Planning” (It needs to have a structure, namely an opening, a body and a conclusion interwoven with appropriate transition), Project:3 Getting to the point, focuses on “Planning” (The project need to have a general purpose and a specific purpose), Project:4 How to say,focuses on “Planning” (It is all about choosing proper words and framing proper and easily understandable sentences), Project:5 Your body speaks, focuses on “Execution” (It is all about of putting eye gesture, facial expression and body movement to use), Project:6 Vocal variety, focuses on “Execution” (It deals with putting voice, volume, pitch and rate to create desired effect), Project:7 Research your topic focuses on “Planning” (It deals with collecting information from different source and aligning them to support your point and opinion), Project:8 Get comfortable with visual aids, focuses on “Execution” (It deals with getting used to handling different visual aids), Project:9 Persuade with power, focuses on both “Planning and Execution” (It deals with analyzing the audience and appealing to their interest using carefully chosen words, logic and emotions through body language and vocal variety), Project:10 Inspire your audience , focuses on both “Planning and Execution” (This project intends to inspire the audience personally, professionally, emotionally, spiritually, in a mood of fellowship and shared interest aided by emotion, drama and stories to move to the next higher level)

Out of the 10 projects 4 projects focuses on planning, 4 on execution and 2 on a mix of planning and execution. The mentor has a broader scope and more freedom to work in the planning projects to help his mentee gain more ground but in the execution project he has limited liberty of just guiding. It all depends on the learning and adapting ability of the mentee. While monitoring the progress of the mentee a mentor in his wisdom should exert more leverage on the planning projects and skillfully guide through the execution projects. In the final two projects he should advise and suggest only where needed and allow his mentee to walk and work alone and erect.

If the mentor on one hand doesn't bother getting bothered while bothering his mentee and if the mentee on the other hand doesn't bother being bothered completing his Competent Communication Manual, I think he is ready to take up the Advance Communication track and complete it hassle-free.