Today I will talk about two rules for taking good photographs. It will also help you choose good images for your PPTs. I came across these in this useful book on film making. 1. Head Room Rule The space between the head and the top border (in an image). Here is an example: In this image, the head room is almost zero. The hairs have got marginally cut. Let us look at another image: The head room is very small in this image. The Head Room Rule states that the head room in your photo should be minimal. This is important if you want to capture emotions properly. A larger head room will make the face smaller and hence the emotions will not get properly captured. See the image below. The action is captured but not the emotion. 2. Lead Room Rule Lead Room is nothing but  looking room . You need to give a lot of room in the direction in which the person is looking. In case of a moving vehicle, the space needs to be given in front of the vehicle (in the direction th...

I came across this nice looking chart in an article I read on a website. Normally, our charts in PowerPoint don't look so cool. They have the default blue and maroon color. How do we make this kind of chart easily in PowerPoint? Watch this slide deck and follow the 6 simple steps. Difficulty in viewing? Click here to see it on slideshare . Create professional looking charts in 6 steps from Vivek Singh

Google has launched its new font Noto . The font is available across multiple languages. The reason for trying this new font will not be its looks but its utility. If you have multiple languages in the same page, you can use Noto fonts for all such languages. Noto English, Noto Chinese, Noto Tamil and so on instead of installing and using different type of font for each language. To know more about serif and sans serif fonts click here . Go ahead, try this new font. Click here to download.

I wrote my 500th post last week. That's a big milestone for me. In this post, I try to present the crux of my five and a half years of blogging. What follows is the best 66 tips you will ever read on making a presentation and giving a talk. Benefit from it. Planning Your Presentation 1. You have to tell a story to your audience. Stories are memorable and stories appeal to people. Ask not what information I have to share. Instead ask, what story should I tell? 2. Appeal to emotions. Most presentations are too logical but all decisions are based on emotions. 3. Every argument needs; Ethos, Pathos and Logos (Aristotle). Ethos is credibility, pathos is emotions and logos is logic. You need all the three to convince someone. Most presentations lack emotions. 4. Our brain loves novelty. Teach people something new. 5. If your audience remembers only one thing, what would it be? Try to come up with your main message in less than 140 characters. This will force you to think ...

When a chart is presented to you, remember to ask the following questions to yourself and the presenter. #1 What is the key take-away from this chart? Ask the presenter on what is her central finding. Why is she presenting the chart and what does she intend to conclude from this? #2 What is the source of data? It is important to know the source of data. This makes the claim credible and believable. I recently received a chart from a TV channel claiming they are the No. 1 channel. In small prints below were the words... In female audience 25 years + in select income classes. It was also mentioned that the channel was No. 1 between 9pm to 10pm between Monday and Wednesdays.  You get the point :) #3 What is the x and y-axis (vertical and horizontal axis)? You need to check if the x-axis and y-axis are labelled. What is being measured on these axes and where does the measurement start. If the vertical x-axis does not start at zero, you can suspect something is wrong. ...

Film making is a difficult job. Hundreds of new movies are released every year and only a small fraction of them succeed. Few weeks back I came across a book on movie making . The author has given a simple answer to what makes a story good. He says: In order to create a great story we need... 1. Great Characters, 2. Great Conflict, and 3. Great Expectations If you are writing a story, create great characters. They can be interesting because of their looks, habits or nature. Look at any good movie, and you will find interesting characters. The joker in The Dark Knight. Mr. Gru in Despicable Me. Minions in Despicable Me. The characters cannot be completely ordinary. There has to be something unique about them. The second element is a conflict. Your characters need to face a big challenge or obstacle. In Despicable Me, Mr. Gru has to steal the moon. Finally, great characters + great conflict = great expectations.  In The Dark Knight Rises, the Batman has ...