I am excited to share that I won the International Speech category competition of PTM toastmaster club yesterday i.e. March 10, 2012.

I am new to the club, joined it 6 months back, able to won this important competition while competing with senior toastmasters.

So with this, I will be competing now Area 51 Contest on coming Friday at Pak Shama Auditorium. There will be 5 contestants.

At this moment, I want to thanks Mr. Nisar Rana, Mr. Abid Hussani, Mr. Bashir, Mr. Asghar Ali Khan for their continuous support.

And would like to special thanks to Mr. Azimuddin who is my mentor at Toastmaster. His continuous support, motivation always help me. He has guided me on the Area contest.

With GOD will, if I succeed on the Area Contest level, then will qualify for the Division level which will be of Qatar Division.

There were 4 contestants yesterday. Ms. Muniza Qureshi was the runner up, while others 2 were Mr. Arif Qureshi & Mr. Asghar Ali Khan.

Wish me good luck for the coming Area Contest.
Happy Toastmastering

This post is a follow up comment to @Jordan Kurzweil published on TechCrunch (Print is Dead! Long Live Print?)

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I have been working on SharePoint from 2004, but i came across very few SharePoint Public Internet site like Food Connection Pakistan especially UI Design.

The site is too cool, extremely professional design, with extremely good sense of user behavior. And why it shouldn’t be as its developed by Maventor i.e. Rai Umair — The SharePoint Master.

Thumbs up to FC Pakistan & Rai Umair on such cool piece of art.

Like this infographic? Get more content marketing tips from Copyblogger. This article is a Guest post. Views expressed in this article are those of the author and may or may not be the views of From The Pulpit and DiscoMaulvi. To submit content for From The Pulpit, please email FromThePulpit [at] MuhammadAly [dot] Com. Filed [...]

Product2Brand’s social media training courses will give you hands-on, practical tuition for making the most of your blog and social networking such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. You will learn the pitfalls of using Social Media and things not to do as well as best practice for spreading your message and engaging your clients within a cohesive social media strategy. The Social Media training is led by marketing and internet marketing professionals with real-world experience of implementing Social Media campaigns for business.

Package1: Four hour taster set up sessions
Price per person at Product2Brand
Price per person at client’s premises *(Clients use their own pc – min No 5)

On completion of this taster session delegates will have:
A basic overview of social mediaSet up a Twitter account and have a basic overviewSet up LinkedIn account and have a basic overviewSet up Facebook account and have a basic overview

———————————————————————————
Package2: One day social media basics session
Price per person at Product2Brand
Price per person at clients’ premises *(Clients use their own pc – min No delegates 5)

On completion of this basic social media session delegates will:
Understand how to engage clients using Social Media
Know how to spread their messages effectively using Twitter, LinkedIn, FaceBook and YouTube
Be able to monitor Social Media campaigns

Introduction to Social Media
What is social media?
Overview of the latest developments and trends

Blogging
What is a blog and why blog?
Overview of blogging
Making your blog socially compatible
YouTube – how to embed YouTube video
Social Media platforms – how to make the best use of them

Twitter
Profiling a Twitter account
Retweets, hashtags and lists
Managing and enhancing Twitter with apps & tools

LinkedIn
Your profile
How to build connections
Using groups to drive traffic and access your markets
Getting recommendations

Facebook
How to use Facebook to aid your business?
Developing a Facebook profile
Setting up a group vs. setting up a page
Facebook apps to share content

Monitoring your Social Media Performance
Where are the people you want to reach?
What are people saying about you?
Analytics and stats tools

Course Pre-requisites
Prior to attending this training course you should have:
A good understanding of the web
Remote access to e-mail – you will be setting up new accounts during the course.
Twitter, LinkedIn & Facebook accounts already set up

Package3: Two days – Social media strategy and advanced setup session
Price per person per day at Product2Brand
Price per person per day at clients’ premises* (Clients use their own pc – min No delegates 5)

On completion delegates will:
Understand how to develop their own social media strategy
Understand how to develop a social media map
Be able to set up accounts in Ning and other selected social media
Be able to use some more useful tools such as Ping, Hoot and Social Oomph

Day one – Understanding what social media strategy is and how to link it to your marketing and business strategy
Review your existing marketing strategy
Consider your marketing strategy in the context of the web2, digital marketing, SEO, PPC and social media landscape
Niche marketing via Social Media networks
Exploring Groups and Meta Groups
Develop your social media marketing objectives and strategy
Build a social media map relevant to you your strategy

Day two – Creating your own social network
Integrated web services
Social Networks and Business
Social media analytics and measurement
Services provided by Yahoo, Google and OpenID
Set up LinkedIn groups, Facebook ads, Twitter lists and other tools, Ning groups and other social media
Use of Ping, Hoot, Social Oomph and other Twitter tools

Course Pre-requisites
Prior to attending this Social Media Training course delegates should have:
A good understanding of the web
Remote access to e-mail – you will be setting up new accounts during the course.
Twitter, LinkedIn & Facebook accounts already set up

Contact us on our Website or on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter

Microsoft Gulf has announced a competition on online Microsoft Virtual Academy. They announced this before the Qatar Microsoft Open Door 2012.

I also joined the website and passed some exam. Few days after i received email from Natasha Zaza that i was among the top 5 students in Qatar. At that time i was at 5th position, but after some exam i popped up to 4th position.

Microsoft was due to give some gifts for the top position holder but at the spot, we came to know that due to some Government policies they cannot give gift. Anyway it was a nice experience overall.

The internet is wonderful. There is no question about that.

However, thanks to a random comment on my blog contact page, I have come across this link:

http://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles.html

I would recommend a view, and a read of the comments underneath as well if possible. It comes with subtitles and everything, so hopefully it should not be a problem.

I was also asked my comments on the matter.

I grew up in Pakistan, and it is almost common knowledge that most you are told there is what you are ‘supposed to know’ rather than ‘entitled’ to know. History has been written by the rulers of the country, religion has been mixed with culture, and culture has been made this big thing, and aah well, I better not start.

So, yeah. In a weird way, I am used to being presented filtered information. Luckily perhaps, I have also learnt to notice the signs, and possibly filter the information out, and look at false information as a cynic.

Does that mean all this is correct? Of course not. It isn’t. Does it restrict our quest to gain knowledge? Yes it does. Is it fair? Of course not!

What to do about it though? I most probably don’t have the answer to that, but it is sometimes easier than we think it is.

Keep your eyes open. Make sure you have more than one source. Be open to different ideas. Be a sceptic. Question everything. I know it is a lot more effort, but hey, the internet is controlled by the same people all other media are controlled by. It may seem more open and honest, but hey, internet is what created all those old pervert men pretending to be innocent girls on chat rooms. Internet gave lying a new platform. And sadly, it is around us. And then there are the internet trolls, the people who are intent on blindly making everyone sharing the same opinion as them, or be condemned to internet hell.

A disappointing verdict, I am afraid, but hey, this is how things are. Be careful of what you absorb. And be safe!

Let’s be honest, a big block of text simply isn’t as interesting as a cool video. As someone in her mid-twenties, I know that my generation is YouTube crazy and video game insane, but this fascination with video is only going to get more intense as the years continue. As a former High School English teacher, I think I know this better than anyone. Do you think my students read the books I gave them? Or do you think they watched the movie? Their test scores would say the latter.

People are getting tired of the traditional article, so many blog editors are doing everything they can to keep the way they relay information exciting. Many have decided that video blogging is the way to go, and although the idea is somewhat new, all the evidence supports its success. For those who are unfamiliar, video blogging is a blog that uses videos as its primary mode of content delivery. The content is generally similar to the content you would find in an article on a blog, but it’s shown through a video.

Videos work great for a few reasons:

Top 5 Benefits to Video Blogging

1. Increase Traffic – Videos are typically more appealing to readers, so more people will want to continually visit your site. You will be able to gain credibility with readers much easier than if you had a piece of text looking identical to every other piece of text on the web. Videos will also improve your marketing efforts because search engines will often features videos at the top of a results page. Although as video blogging becomes more and more popular this may change, it’s currently a great way to increase traffic.
2. Opportunities – You have more opportunities to get your point across to readers if you’re using video. First, videos can help you explain a dry or complicated topic without losing the readers’ attention. Second, videos can show someone how to do something much easier than if they were reading it in an article. This solves the “it’s hard to explain” problem for bloggers.
3. Easy to Create – Many bloggers get nervous about video blogging because they think it is difficult to create. However, creating a video blog is actually quite simple. All you need is a digital video camera or a webcam to start recording. Although the most professional video blogs use software and video editing, most use a basic camera to start. Visit For Bloggers By Bloggers to learn how to upload your video onto your blog.
4. Websites – You can video blog through social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and of course YouTube, so you are not bound to a specific website. This same ideas works for sharing your content. Social networks generally only allow you to link back to your piece of content, but a video can be uploaded virtually anywhere—a Facebook fan page, YouTube, StumbleUpon, etc.
5. Saves Time – Video blogging saves everyone time. You can almost always fit more information into a video than you can into an article, so it’s faster for the reader and the writer. This also goes back to the idea that videos are more appealing to readers. After all, why wouldn’t someone want to save time?

Video blogging would certainly be a big change for most of the blogs on the web, so I advise you to start slow. Create one or two videos per week and see what your readers think before going to an all-video blog. Most blog editors end up creating an entirely new video blog that is separate from their traditional blog. Although it’s a little bit of extra work, I think you will find that it will pay off in the end.

Amanda DiSilvestro is a writer on topics ranging from social media to small business loans. She writes for an online resource that gives advice on topics including 401k limits to small businesses and entrepreneurs for a b2b lead generation company, Resource Nation.

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A must to attend event for developers, IT professionals, in Doha Qatar.

Click here to visit the website

Open Door Qatar 2012

This is something which we are missing at Doha, Qatar.

When i come here, i come with a vision to establish the community development system in Doha. I must say that Microsoft Qatar is quite supportive, and we are working on this agenda.

We had an initial meeting in this regard with Ahmed Khairy, Allay Ahmed Hussain, Islam last week at Costa Coffe.

We are planning to have the user group activity followed by Microsoft Qatar Open Door 2012 in Feb.

So lets roll the ball.

This post was due from last 3 months, and due to my laziness, i didn’t write it yet.

Anyway, when i joined KalSoft Qatar (QDS), this was one of the project which was going on from several months.

Al Sadd Club is one of the most famous club of Qatar, in fact middle east, and with the launch the club is quite renown all around the world, they just won the Asian Cup for Football club, and also secure position in Club WorldCup in Japan, probably this is one of the blessing of the launch of the website

I was lucky to have a wonderful teamwork on this. Initially Adnan Khan worked on this, and then Samim Khan and Haseeb Ali put their best effort. Sibtain did excellent graphics.

The client Ahmed Al Ansari was an excellent person, and we really enjoyed working with him. And Mahmoud Al Batarni was the consultant, he also provide his experienced advise.

At the end , the developed site was an excellent SharePoint 2010 internet implementation, and it was highly appreciated in Qatar. There was a press release to launch the website.

Click here to view the website.

Al Sadd Website

Today i delivered my project 6 speech at Professional Toastmaster Club, meeting at The Next Generation School.

I selected the topic “Prisoner of Thoughts”. I have the idea about the story so developed it by my own. The topic was appreciated by the audience.

The meeting was unique, as it was not arranged in the hotel, like regularly PTM arranged it hotel in Shatir Abbas, however today meeting was arranged at The Next Generations kindergarten school, Doha, Qatar.

The Toastmaster of the day role was played by Warda Ali Khan. She did a wonderful job in managing time, and kept the audience intact with the meeting.

Then there was project speech one delivered by Miss Nazia. And then i was called to deliver the prepared speech.

I started my speech with a note, that its a coinsedence that today my son also went to a head-start kindergarten for school admission, and i also visited a kindergarten school, not for admission, but for the meeting though

Well my speech was more on the philosophical thought, and i shared an article in which he compared the slavery of 150 years back with the modern slavery. The writer compares it with that the old slavery was to control our body, and get the work done from us. However the current slavery is of controlling mind and thoughts.

The story was quite appreciated by the participants, and then my evaluator Mr. Noman Ali Khan, a seasoned, and senior toastmaster provide his evaluation. Overall he was satisfied with my speech, and provide some improvement areas as well, which i will definitely work on.

I must say thanks to the school administration for providing such a nice venue, and would like to thanks the Teachers as well, as they listened us very carefully, and act a very supportive role.

I hope that I’ll be delivering my next speech project 7 on Feb 11, 2012.

New Year resolutions have never been quite my thing and every year as friends and colleagues have put together their resolutions, I have had my “bah” “humbug” moments – telling them there’s no point in making resolutions that they had no intention of keeping. This year too just before the clock struck midnight heralding the onset of a brand new year, I wondered about the many people who would be wasting their time making resolutions only to break them the very next day.

Then something occurred to me. What if I made resolutions the week after New Year’s? Maybe they wouldn’t be jinxed and there would be a better chance of living up to them. Why make them at all you might ask? There is a loony rationale to it actually. When you focus on what you need to do to improve your personal and work life, your relationships, the way you function as a human being, you actually take the time to stop and think, to highlight in your mind your priorities and ways to better lead your own life and impact the lives of those around you.

So I relaxed on my beanbag, closed my eyes and thought of things I would like to change. Here is a list of 10 resolutions that I came up with.

1. Try and be more patient – God do I need this!

Take a deep breath before reacting in annoyance to anything that happens. There are any number of times one reacts in anger to something someone may have said or done. Regrets are of no use later so might as well ponder before reacting.

2. Focus on a few things, make them happen first and then embark on other activities

Passion and excitement are great but they often lead to total chaos if one is not careful. Balance is important, and the ability to recognize how much one can execute during a given time frame.

3. Get back to blogging more regularly

I enjoy writing/blogging so much but of late I have let life get the better of me – and have neglected my blog. That is just not on. I need to get back to regular blogging. It is one of the things that has kept me sane over the years (yes yes it may be hard to believe but I am quite sane )

4. Take a day off every week

The rollercoaster ride I have been on 24×7 for the past few years has turned me into a workaholic and is beginning to take its toll. Need to take at least a day off every week to unwind, laze, just chill!

5. Save Energy

No no not mine! Energy as in power. Make sure all switches in the house are off when they are not in use, that all lights, fans, ACs in the office are off when the team heads out for lunch or when i go out for meetings. Emphasize on household and office teams of the importance of saving energy.

6. Eat more sensibly

This doesn’t mean I am going on a diet. It only means that I will eat oily or deep fried foods, sweets, etc less often. Concentrate on lunches which comprise of soup and/salads and the day I have a heavier lunch, have the soup/salad for dinner. So eating healthier as often as I can without depriving myself of food I enjoy.

7. Start some sort of regular light exercise

This is to keep the body from rusting and getting squeaky. Needs to keep functioning if I am to do all the things I want to.

8. Start a P@SHA show online

Have been thinking about this for so long. About time I stopped procrastinating and actually did it! This is the year!

9. Document … document … document!

Ensure all initiatives are documented and shared. Blowing your own trumpet (in so far as the organization you work for is concerned) is actually a good thing and is in fact essential good practice.

10. Plod on! Ignore the negativity!

Don’t let the insensitivity and negativity of a few individuals weigh you down. Best to focus on the positive, do what needs to be done and march on.