Fun facts about forex industry
1. Not many people are aware that forex trading dates back to ancient times. The first currency transaction can be traced back to the Talmudic writings. Money changers were people who used to help others change their currency, while taking a commission for their services.
2. Did you know that the GBP/USD currency pair is known as the Cable in the forex market? Amused? The reason why the pair is called the Cable is that before the advent of satellites and fibre optics, the London and New York Stock Exchanges were connected via a giant steel cable that ran under the Atlantic.
3. Another interesting fact about forex is the way the traders are categorised. Traders are categorised into bulls – or those who are optimistic and believe the market will go up – and bears – the downbeat ones, expecting the markets to fall. The names are derived from the fact that a bull strikes upwards and a bear swipes downwards.
4. Nearly 90% of forex trading is speculative trading.
5. I am sure most people think that the US is the center of forex trading, since maximum transactions involve the US dollar. That is not true. In reality, 41% of all forex transactions occur in the UK, with only 19% taking place in the US. So, the London Stock Exchange is the trading hub for forex deals.
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Did you know that Perseverance rover will have MARS HELICOPTER, Ingenuity, attached to its belly?
It is a technology demonstration to test powered flight on another world for the first time.
Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover
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Dalia Bagdziunaite on NeurotechnologiesNeuroconsultant // Researcher // Behavioral Strategist // Educator3 months ago
Did you know that It used to take 1,5 hours to set up the electroencephalograph and today it takes only 10 min? EEG was used to foresee & study epilepsy as it tracks the electrical activity in our brain and transforms it into the different brainwaves reflecting our states. Today portable EEG provides a possibility to study human behavior outside the lab to better understand consumers, design solutions, ercognimics or architecture impact!
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Rūta Simanaitytė on Interested in chemistry studies? 👨🏼🔬Master’s degree 👩🏻🔬| Working in 👩🏻💻| Ultimate 🐕 ❤️3 months ago
Did you know that only about 30% of the plastic gets turned into new plastic after recycling. It’s better than none, but it’s not so efficient as you might think.
This engineered enzyme can convert 90% plastic to its starting material.
Also, bigger part of the PET bottles are melt down in grey or black material and most of the companies don’t want to use it.
(Black should be the new black. )
‘A huge step forward.’ Mutant enzyme could vastly improve recycling of plastic bottles
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Did you know that a round shape the same size as a square shape will look visually smaller? Or that the same colour applied to a larger object will appear darker than on a smaller one? Also - what is centered vertically, visually might not look so, depending on the surrounding elements. All of this visual confusion arises from the ways our brains interpret sizes and alignment, so the next time your icons seem misaligned, or different sizes, remember - it might be your brain tricking you.
Optical Effects in User Interfaces: An Illustrated Guide
Wild gourmet dinner experience
While most of us love relaxing walks in the woods, still many don’t know what are the surrounding plants or other greens..
While on the contrary, Lithuanians are famous for bringing mushroom picking next level, but did you know that now is a prime time to gather all those fresh spring goods?
It may seem that foraging is a risky thing if you aren't educated in which plants are edible and which are poisonous, so here’s a link to start with everything about now in season spruce tips and recipes to try https://foragerchef.com/spruce-tips/
Spruce Tips
Danielius VisockasSoftware Engineer @ Qoorio; Burger geek; Sound processing
This is a gem! Thank you!
Enock Peter Lauwo on Traveling in TanzaniaExperienced Tour Guide and Safari organizer in Tanzania2 months ago
Hello, dear qooriors!
I am pleased to join this human-to-human learning community. I live in Arusha, Tanzania, and I organize wild safaris in my country. I will be sharing a few facts & insights from a wild & beautiful Tanzania.
Did you know that the largest African land mammal elephant (Loxodonta Loxodonta) has a very good sense of smell, good memory, however poor eyesight? They spent 18 hours a day eating. The group is led by an oldest cow known as the matriarch. They live 60 years to 70 in captivity.
The photo below is the one I recently took in Serengeti National Park.
Rūta SimanaitytėMaster’s degree 👩🏻🔬| Working in 👩🏻💻| Ultimate 🐕 ❤️
I’m very qoorios to learn more about Tanzania 🐘
This is a beautiful octopus changing colours, shapes and texture of its skin.
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But... Did you know that octopuses are colour blind?
😵
How does an animal that perfectly matches its vivid surroundings NOT see colour?
🐙
A lot of researchers are trying to solve this mystery and for the scientists were able to prove that octopus skin is sensitive to light with no brain function.
Basically they see instantly with their skin!
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Not only octopus can see with their skin, but also their pupils might be able to see colour while their eyes are colour blind.
Mind blowing, isn't it?
https://news.berkeley.edu/2016/07/05/weird-pupils-let-octopuses-see-their-colorful-gardens/
Amazing Octopus Color Transformation | National Geographic
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The art of UI animation is subtle. It’s easy to over do it but when executed with care, attention and only done where it makes sense it can greatly help your users understand and navigate the interface.
Did you know?
- Numerous researches show that an optimal lenght of UI animation is between 200ms and 500ms
- Since on websites people are used to an almost instant opening of web pages, the animations should be accordingly shorter, about 150ms to 200ms
- Bounce and motion blur are two of the most unnecassary overused elements of animation. Both should only be used in rare cases when it really makes sense
- Use decelerating downwards easing curve (starts fast and slows down) for elements coming into the screen
- Use accelerating upward easing curve (starts slow and speeds up) for elements moving out of screen
More tips and great visual aid to help better understand UI animation https://uxdesign.cc/the-ultimate-guide-to-proper-use-of-animation-in-ux-10bd98614fa9
The ultimate guide to proper use of animation in UX
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Gabija Grušaitė on Creative writing & publishingAuthor of Stasys Šaltoka, Co-Founder of Qoorio & Vieta4 months ago
Wild times call for wild books. Since Mr. President has a certain obsession with post office, I thought, it might be a good time to read “Post office” by Bukowski.
If the rent is due and you have no idea what to do, this is The Book 📖
It explores the depth of desperation and provides a glimpse of hope that people are able to withstand just about anything. Even a dull and mind-numbing shifts in post office. And still manage to become the world famous writer.
Hate your job? 🙄 Bukowski did hate his for sure! But in the end, it was worth it as he succeeded in writing an awesome ode to all the most horrible jobs in the planet.
Enjoy with nice stiff drink and let me know what you think 🍺🍷
Please comment 👇👇👇to let me know what kind of books you are looking for or request a Talk in my profile 👌
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"Your picture depends on what is in it, which has nothing to do with technology. That is the last thing you should worry about." - Annie Leibovitz
🌿
Yesterday I finished a Masterclass photography course taught by Annie Leibovitz and it was very inspirational to say the least!
🍃
The part that resonated with me the most is the fact that Annie herself states that she is not a technical photographer, she always focuses on her subject and concept.
🌵
The three main three things I'm taking from this class are:
🔸1 - It is very important to look back at your work from time to time and reflect. What changed? What did you learn? How did your work improve?
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🔸2 - Photography in itself is an art of looking, observing, understanding. Especially in taking portraits, getting to know the person you are taking a picture of is key! Think of what that person means to you and how you want to capture him/her.
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🔸3 - Shooting with natural light and photographing people who are close to you is a great way to experiment and learn the fundamentals. The family pictures that you take can potentially become your strongest works.
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The class is definitely worth checking out if you are more interested in how to see rather than what gear to use. Annie is so charming and artistic, hearing her story can be very powerful!
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Markus Seppam on Books that have influenced my life the mostPerformance Marketing Specialist | Google and FB ads11 days ago
What are you afraid to do but know you should?
Everyone has fears. Some have more than others.
I have always had many fears in my life: fear of failure, embarrasing myself, etc...
One mindset that has really helped me to face fears is this:
“Feel the fear and do it anyway!”
Because, what we fear doing most, is usually what we most need to do!
I was terrified of taking a sales job at 19 years old, but I knew that was something that would be most beneficial for me in that moment to grow as a person.
I remember my first day at the job. I got only 2-3 hours of sleep the night before because I was so anxious and excited at the same time. And then making that first sales approach - I was afraid, but I still did it and it actually went pretty well. And as they say, the more you face your fears, the easier it gets.
So next time you feel fear. Remember: “Feel the fear and do it anyway!”
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I had many people contacting me on Qoorio, mostly first-time tech entrepreneurs, and they often struggle with a situation I want to speak about.
Founders come up with a great idea, have a lot of enthusiasm, implement the minimal viable product, launch it to the market, and nothing happens.
Customers are not using their product or service as much as they initially thought. They start doubting themselves and their vision. Enthusiasm is replaced with a fear of failure. Fear increases levels of stress, decision-making process gets impaired, and focus on quick fixes increases.
Time goes by, reality does not change, there is little significant change in traction of their products or services. This sometimes turns to a doom cycle, which leads to a shut down of the business, even if it was the most brilliant idea. I have seen that multiple times as an outsider. I have experienced that as an insider.
Well, the thing is that it is very rare to release an MVP and get it to work immediately. I was lucky in my previous company (Vinted) that this happened. However, this is not the case for Qoorio, and it is a huge learning for all of us.
We released the first MVP in July 2019, we got some controversial feedback. Apple was rejecting our app because they assumed we are a paid companionship app. It turned out that the first page of the app had profiles of women and prices meeting them for their knowledge. Our principal engineer was freaking out and thought the business is a done deal. We received a lot of attention from local PR as being a paid celebrity dating app. It started as one celebrity announced that they are happy to meet their fans for money.
On the other hand, there was a handful number of people who understood our concept and tried it multiple times. And were very happy with the experience. We learned that those were our target people – intellectual individuals, willing to learn from each other.
Time was passing by, but the group of people using our app was not increasing as much as we anticipated. Feedback was consistent: service is unique and refreshing. So why is it not growing organically? Something was clearly missing in our understanding, which could unlock the growth. We spoke to different users and looked at the data. We realized that most meetings happened among people who already trusted open humans in advance but did not necessarily know them personally. There was little interest in profiles of people they didn't know earlier, so they could not trust them.
How to trust somebody you don't know that you can learn from them something you don't know, yet looking for? We came up with the second iteration of the product. We improved profiles of open humans so they can specify the topics they are happy to share about with the rest of the community.
This improved the situation, we noticed that people who didn't know each other in advance started contacting each other. However, the positive impact was far below what we were looking for.
How to create a feeling of trust close to somebody you know well of a stranger you find on Qoorio? We realized that having topics is not enough. Often they are quite broad and general and do not necessarily create a feeling we want to create. I would say they solve 2% of what we want to solve. However, they are not enough to create an intellectual and emotional portrait of somebody one can trust.
That's why we are not working hard on the third iteration of Qoorio. In addition to having topics in profiles, we are creating new tools to share an unlimited number of insights for any topic. We believe that this will be a better way to open humans to express their portraits of knowledge & personality.
Are we done with it? Not at all, we are only halfway. Is this going to be the answer to our vision' human to human learning network'? I don't think so. I believe it is a never-ending journey. However, this journey gives us valuable feedback from our users about what to build and what to not build.
Thank you, everyone, who is the part of Qoorio! Please let me know in your comments:
- what do you like about Qoorio?
- what you don't like about Qoorio?
- what do you think is the most critical one thing we should do next?
Stay qoorios!
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8 comments1 shared
Egle Dapkeviciutecreator of geriprojektai.lt l seeker of creativity and deeper understanding
I would love Qoorio to have a shadowing feature. I’ve noticed that sometimes I see the whole picture but don’t know all the details and vice versa. Many times I don’t know what are the right questions to ask or I’m not there yet. Shadowing someone's work / project and being able to see the process a person takes from beginning to end would save me so much time putting all puzzle pieces together. Or if I already think that I know, would also give me a new fresh approach how to do it differently.
Lina Kvizikevičiūtė on Digital marketing / Performance campaignsDigital Marketing | PPC | Google & Facebook ads spec3 months ago
LinkedIn ads. Should I give it a try? 🤔
I used to launch LinkedIn ads quite a lot, but working in-house (or in a client side as people from the agencies used to say) gave me a new perspective. I started from new page again. So what should you know about LinkedIn ads before testing them out?
🔸LinkedIn is a great platform to reach professionals. You can target them by their company size, company industry, job title, job experience, education, etc.
🔸However, such specific targeting comes with a price. Usually CPC is much higher that on the other platforms. This is why budget on LinkedIn is important to keep. Experts advise to have a certain budget for testing the platform (200-300€) and then after measuring results, you can decide to stay there or to move.
🔸LinkedIn ads are NOT that localised. If your content, website, visual are not from the official LinkedIn languages, it will be banned. LinkedIn ads hackers say you can try to reupload it for manual review and get it approved after many times but imho it is a grey area. Consider this before launching ads. In my experience, this point gets people disappointed.
What have I learned when I have launched LinkedIn ads recently?
Not all markets are ready for LinkedIn advertising.
Once in Lithuania, it was easy-breezy. It got a real struggle in Estonia. Leads did not understand that they left their contact details. I got some interesting requests from marketers in Estonia as well. They've never seen LinkedIn ads in action before so asked me how to launch them🤯 What was obvious for me as a marketer, brought me back to a starting point again.
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Deividas Celencevičius on Why are we afraid of change in life or work?Growth Product Owner 🔸 Vinted2 months ago
How the comfort zone is ruining your life?
🔸 #4 insight: Comfort zone
This is so known topic that I even doubted to write it. But the more I think about it, the more I understand how close and yet so far this topic is for me.
We all know that there are two groups for all the physical things we can do in our life:
- Inside the comfort zone: takes little or no effort to do, feels comfortable, no mental resistance. For example, for most of the people driving is completely in their comfort zone. They drive to work, shop, home. And since driving is so easy, at one point or another, your brain went and subconsciously placed it inside the comfort zone, so you don’t really think about doing it before you do it, it’s just something you do.
- Outside. Okay, how about going for a run? A lot harder, isn’t it? It’s more physically strenuous, requires more preparation, it makes you lose your breath or sweat, and if you haven’t ran for a while, you’ll probably be really sore the next day. And because you know running is physically strenuous and hard to do, your brain placed it outside the comfort zone. The further outside the comfort zone something is, the more mental resistance there is in the way of doing that thing.
Zone also always shrinking, if you don’t do anything about it. Unless you venture at least a little bit beyond the borders of the comfort zone, it will get smaller and harder to escape. And this is something that most people have experienced in their lives, whether they are aware of it or not.
In my own life this happens all the time, like when I was 18 and got my driving licence, I was so excited at that point, driving was so easy to me and felt very good about it. But since I had no car, lived in the city centre, my brain moved it outside the comfort zone and now I’m really afraid to do it. Of course, brain generates to me all necessary arguments: eco friendly, avoiding traffic jams, walking is good for you. In reality, I’m just staying away from what’s outside my comfort zone now.
This gets even more serious. You know that phrase “Men aren’t taking their health seriously”? I look at myself and I see that I feel more comfortable being sick, suffer pain than go to a doctor. This is because my brain tells me “this is something common, this will stop one day, think of all that wasted time, it will cost a lot, they can’t help anyway” instead of fixing situation I'm in.
Today my back was injured while playing volleyball. I was laying on my back at home in deep pain and wishing it would stop. Then, I started coughing. It made my back pain even worse, like needles crossing me with every cough. Then I realised I was coughing for 2 years already. This is not something new, it just wasn’t in the circle of something easily achievable.
I was so angry on this whole situation that my brain just wanted to cut it all now. Do something! And I did. Today I registered to check my back, my knees and elbows that were in pain from playing 5 times a week. And my coughing. And wrote this post that I was doubting about.
Manpreet Kaur on Daily rambles from my brainAd maker and a pretty good listener
Edited about 2 months ago
6 things I did regularly during the MCO and CMCO period to stay sane.
a) Learned how to cook. Can't believe it took a forced measure to stay at home to actually learn how to make my mum's cooking. Excellent mother-daughter bonding time and they get a helping hand too which reduces their stress of cooking everyday.
b) Binge watch stand up comedy and rom com movies and series on Netflix. I was very much intrigued and impressed by spanish based shows as they had a strong independent and women empowerment based storylines which was refreshing. No topic was a taboo for them be it same sex relationships, sex before marriage, never feeling the pressure of being married as a woman which I think a lot women today need as inspiration to focus solely on themselves.
c) Went on long drives in my car. We are not chickens meant to stay cooped up at home. Just get in your car and go for a long drive with your fav music on. You will feel 100% again :)
d) Regularly scheduled zoom night hang outs with colleagues and friends. This gives you something to look forward to on a weekly basis while checking in on each other and keeping each other sane.
e) This one is my favourite. Use the time at home to mask and love your skin. Put on a face mask while you're working. Your skin will love you and your mood will be lifted with the results.
f) Gardening and plant shopping. I know almost everyone on my social feed has taken this up as a hobby but the reason is very clear. Plants are pretty, provide oxygen and they are highly therapeutic :)
Justė Jonutytė on Art marketContemporary Art Market Expert; Founder @TemaProjects & @OurTravelAffair3 months ago
Yesterday I attended my first ever virtual art fair. Over 200 selected galleries set up their virtual 'booths' for the first virtual edition of Frieze New York, which opened for arts professionals and collectors on May 6th, and will launch to the public later today.
While the virtual fair experience did not fully replace the experience of attending the physical art fair for me (I missed professional meetings, public and parallel programmes of the fair, and the experience of physically seeing the works, to name just a few ), I found many advantages of the virtual edition. Here are some of my top ones:
• MARKET TRANSPARENCY - unlike in the physical art fair, all the prices of the artworks are readily available without having to inquire, which can be an invaluable resource for emerging collectors just starting to navigate the art market.
• EFFECTIVE SEARCH CAPABILITY - as an emerging collector, you may, for example, start your search for works with a price bracket for under $10K, or explore artworks in your favourite medium (say, photography or installation), simply saving so much time.
• EXTENDED DURATION OF THE FAIR- private & public preview combined, the virtual fair will last for 10 days, about twice the duration of a physical art fair, giving the opportunity for longer research and extra time to come back to the works and make a more informed decision on what to purchase.
Not to mention all the time and money we're saving as we don't need to fly and stay in New York for several days. Register for Frieze online viewing room and let me know what's your experience of attending the virtual art fair!
https://www.galeriemagazine.com/frieze-new-york-online/
How Frieze New York's Online-Only Edition Signals the Future of Fairs - Galerie
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Marius Čiuželis on Traditional & Alternative investmentsInvestor / Advisor / Social Entrepreneurabout 2 months ago
7 investment lessons from Mom. Part 2.
4) If Everyone Jumped Off The Cliff – Would You Do It Too?
At one point or another, we have all tried with our Mom’s what every other kid has tried to since the beginning of time – the use of “peer pressure.” I figured if she wouldn’t let me do what I wanted, then surely she would bend to the will of the imaginary masses. She never did.
“Peer pressure” is one of the biggest mistakes investors repeatedly make when investing. Chasing the latest “hot stocks” or “investment fads” that are already overvalued and are running up on speculative fervor almost always end in disappointment.
In the financial markets, investors get sucked into buying stocks that have already moved significantly off their lows because they are afraid of “missing out.” This is speculating, gambling, guessing, hoping, praying – anything but investing. Generally, by the time the media begins featuring a particular investment, individuals have already missed the major part of the move. By that point, the probabilities of a decline began to outweigh the possibility of further rewards.
It is a well-known fact that the market works in what is called a “herd mentality.” Historically, investors all tend to run in one direction at one time until that direction falters, the “herd” then turns and runs in the opposite direction. This continues to the detriment of investor’s returns over long periods and this is also generally why investors wind up buying high and selling low. In order to be a long-term successful investor, you have to understand the “herd mentality” and use it to your benefit – which means getting out from in front of the herd before you are trampled.
So, before you chase a stock that has already moved 100% or more – try and figure out where the herd may move to next and “place your bets there.” This takes discipline, patience and a lot of homework – but you will be well rewarded for you efforts in the end.
5) Don’t Talk To Strangers
This is just good solid advice all the way around. Turn on the television, anytime of the day or night, and it is the“Stranger’s Parade of Malicious Intent”. I don’t know if it is just me, or the fact the media only broadcast news that reveals the very depths of human sickness and depravity, but sometimes I have to wonder if we are not due for a planetary cleansing through divine intervention.
Back to investing – getting your stock tips from strangers is a sure way to lose money in the stock market. Your investing homework should NOT consist of a daily regimen of financial media, followed by a dose of taxi driver tips, capped off with a financial advisor’s sales pitch.
In order to be successful in the long-run, you must understand the principals of investing and the catalysts which will make that investment profitable in the future. Remember, when you invest into a company you are buying a piece of that company and its business plan. You are placing your hard earned dollars into the belief the individuals managing the company have your best interests at heart. The hope is they will operate in such a manner as to make your investment more valuable so that it may be sold to someone else for a profit.
This is also the very embodiment of the “Greater Fool Theory,” which states that there will always be someone willing to buy an investment at an ever higher price. However, in the end, there is always someone left “holding the bag”, the trick is making sure that it isn’t you.
Also, you need to be aware that when getting advice from the investment bank experts who tell you about a company that you should buy – they already own it – and most likely they will be the ones selling their shares to you.
6) You Either Need To “Do It” (polite version) Or Get Off The Pot!
When I was growing up I hated to do my homework, which is ironic, since I now do more homework now than I ever dreamed of in my younger days. Since I did not like doing homework – school projects were almost never started until the night before they were due. I was the king of procrastination.
My Mom was always there to help, giving me a hand and an ear full of motherly advice, usually consisting of a lot of“because I told you so…”
I find it interesting that many investors tend to watch stocks for a very long period of time, never acting on their analysis, buy rather idly watching as their instinct proves correct and the stock rises in price.
The investor then feels that he missed his entry point and decides to wait, hoping the stock will go back down one more time so that he can get in. The stock continues to rise, the investor continues to watch becoming more and more frustrated until he finally capitulates on his emotion and buys the investment near the top.
Procrastination, on the way up and on the way down, are harbingers of emotional duress derived from the loss of opportunity or the destruction of capital.
However, if you do your homework and can build a case for the purchase, don’t procrastinate. If you miss your opportunity for the right entry into the position – don’t chase it. Leave it alone and come back another day when the Price Is Right.
7) Don’t Play With It – You’ll Go Blind
Well…do I really need to go into this one? All I know for sure is that I am not blind today. What I will never know for sure is whether she believed it; or if was just meant to scare the hell out of me.
When you invest into the financial markets it is very easy to lose sight of what your intentions were in the first place. Getting caught up in the hype, getting sucked in by the emotions of fear and greed, and generally being confused by the multitude of options available, causes you to lose your focus on the very basic principle that you started with – growing your small pile of money into a much larger one.
Conclusion:
There is obviously a lot more to managing your own portfolio than just the principles that we learned from our Mothers. However, this is a start in the right direction, and if you don’t believe me – just ask your Mother.
Marija MireckaitėPhotographer. Curious person.
I don't know anything about investing, but you truly have a gift of presenting a complicated topic in such an understandable manner. Keep up the amazing insights!
Deividas Celencevičius on Why are we afraid of change in life or work?Growth Product Owner 🔸 Vinted3 months ago
Why are we afraid of change in our work or life?
🔸 #3 insight: Adapt change
We all strive towards outcomes at work, at home and in our communities because we believe they will make us happy. It might be a good job, a loving relationship, money or possessions. It might be better health or spiritual peace of mind. Let's call all of them our lovely "Cheese".
And it can feel wonderful when we eventually get our cheese. Then, we hold to it tightly and dream it will never end.
Yet life is constantly changing and sometimes it blocks (or even undoes) things we expect, feel we deserve or have worked so long and so hard to accomplish. But because we fear starting again, looking foolish or that we might end up somewhere worse, we often don’t want to change when things begin changing around us.
I always felt very confident about changes around and even called it my comfort zone. Yet life kicked my butt recently at work multiple times. I wasn't growing so fast I was used to. Then, it begun:
- I denied it's my problem.
- I was frustrated and started to blame others.
- I held to what was, instead of what simply now is.
- And I wasn't ready to look for a new cheese.
I'm so lucky to be surrounded by emphatic people who felt my frustration. Immediately offered their help and it took me 24 hours to find a new cheese. I'm sharing this with you and hope it will help like it did to me. Maybe not today, tomorrow, or even this year, but knowing this makes us as individuals stronger.
Change is inevitable. Anticipate it, adapt to it, learn to embrace and enjoy it. Do so and you won’t just suffer less stress and unhappiness, you’ll enjoy more success and fulfillment in every part of your life and your work.
🔸 Book that highlights this issue is "Who Moved My Cheese?" by the best-selling author, Dr. Spencer Johnson. I dedicate this to Ingrida Ziliute, who helped me to move on.
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Nerija Skvernelytė on What it takes to manage a team?Head Of Marketing @Qoorio
Edited about 2 months ago
Have a lot of thoughts buzzing in the head, but feel crap at articulating them to your team or others?
I feel you. It happens to me. ALL.THE.TIME! 🙄
You feel like you have a lot of ideas and have the reasoning why they are great and that you can take over the world with them. But when they come out of your mouth, what you say doesn’t have the same power when you vocalize them. And unfortunately what sounds great in your head just doesn’t translate to anything valuable, impressive or inspiring to your team.
Not all of us are born great orators, but when we have a passion, we can talk hours about it. Meaning, we have a bunch of words and sentences around the topic, but the key is to concentrate the most valuable part of the whole idea into a short pitch.
So…what to do?
Basically you have to practice explaining things to people. Here’s a few tips I from my experience, that I feel helped me a lot:
1️⃣ TREAT IT LIKE A STORY
“It all started, when…” Not everyone operates on the same level of information as you do, so even if it feels stupid and common sense most of the time when working in a team, start with giving a back story to why your topic/suggestion/idea is important. This introduction is a great way for you to keep the flow of your talk, have everyone onboard and not jump into the middle of the story where context might get lost for people that have less information about what you are telling.
2️⃣ HAVE A PLAN
Have the end goal in your head, where you want the listeners to be taken to by your story. Even if what you will be telling or discussing goes all different directions, you will have this powerful lighthouse - the main point that you want to conclude to.
3️⃣ BE PREPARED
if you have time, let’s say - have a meeting about something - do some research and challenge your idea asking WHY it is important to discuss and HOW it could be perceived different than you think. In that case - you will feel solid if you get these questions, will express your opinion more firmly, taking possible doubts into consideration, and increase the chance that conclusions will be made as you expected.
4️⃣ MAKE IT FLOW
Thoughts usually are very chaotic. In our heads, they are random keywords which you roughly know how to combine into this huge concept. Try putting your thoughts into text. When you do this exercise, you will be faced with a challenge of construction - have to write it down so that it has structure, flows nicely and makes sense in general. After doing so, you will have the structure in your head: what is starts from, why it matters, how you propose to approach it and what value will this idea bring to listeners.
🙃 P.S. See what I did here? I think Qoorio insights are a great way to start practising structuring your talks and inspiring your team 😉
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Two days ago I received my first ever accusation for plagiarism. And believe me when I say this - I've probably never felt this anxious during my photography career before. The accusation was false, but how did I get over it?
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Long story short, after I uploaded a picture (at first glance you could easily describe it as a very simple close-up portrait, nothing too special about it) I received two comments from girls saying that there is too much of a resemblance to a fellow Lithuania-based young female photographer. The latter commented as well, with a sarcastic one-word compliment.
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I got shaky and just so shocked. I had been "following" that photographer for a few years on social media, but because of the Instagram algorithm, the last time I saw any of her work was just about two years ago. I opened up her Instagram and saw a big part of her work for the first time.
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Yes, there were some similarities - we both enjoy portraiture, shooting on film, both live in Lithuania, know a lot of the same people, but I felt so lost when I couldn't defend myself. How will I prove that copying ideas of others is totally against my personal and professional beliefs and ethics?
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When dealing with this situation, I went though these steps:
1. The rational mode. Writing honest messages to all the girls, encouriging a discussion. I wanted to be able to tell my side of the story.
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2. The "oh c'mon" mode. After a tiring conversation with one of the girls who wasn't about to change her opinion, I felt defeated. I had never consciously copied, disrespected, stolen ideas, but also didn't have any proof, just my arguments against hers.
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3. The panic mode. Started crying, panicing. Contacted a fellow artist (that I actually met On Qoorio! Shoutout to you, Tara❤️) who listened to me, gave strong advice and helped me to get over it. Made me feel safe and sane.
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4. The Katharsis mode. Finaly talked with the photographer. She acknowledged that our photography is different and that the accusations were not true. Also encouraged me to keep going and to stay strong. I am so thankful for her understanding reaction and I feel deep respect for her as a creator.
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There is no moral to this story, because every case of plagiarism can end differently. The only thing that you can control is how YOU react to it - in this situation I consciously CHOSE to be vulnerable, but honest and truthful.
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And this is the one lesson I want you to take back from my experience - you can't force others to listen to you, to believe you, to understand you. But you can always try, if you feel it is important to you. Lastly, you have control only over yourself.
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You can see the picture below. Tell me what you think in regards to this topic. It is very broad and I am sure there's lots of different sides of the story. Have you ever dealt with something like this? What would you have done differently in this situation?
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