Talk, Discuss, Learn, Act - Welcome Social Learners!

Most often a travel to south Indian has truly made me realize the way to eat from plantain leaves and how to only use your fingers and not the entire palm in the process of doing so!!

Nearly every eatery that we stopped by, offered us food on the leaves and I was amazed at how dhoti clad men with their pristine white shirts managed to polish off their meals by licking their fingers and yet not spilling one drip of rasam or sambhar on them, it is a tact and one that involves a lot of looking into, studying the way food is eaten and practicing it a few times till you get it right.

As I ventured into this adventure I realized I had to primarily unlearn to be conscious, to be quick with my reflexes (involving mixing and slurping down the served food) and also multi-task by keeping up the conversation with my friends and use my inactive hand to gulp water, refuse more helpings and water down my meal with the sweet kheer. But a few messy stained dresses and unfinished meals down the lane I’m now quite a pro….what got me thinking in this process is that be it in an organization, or an area of personal interest the only thing that pushes you forward is the will to learn socially and adapt accordingly.

Many a time’s experience is our private store house of knowledge that we have accumulated through years, exactly in the same manner that the eating off plantain leaf is discussed. Experience helps practice information and successful practice leads us to become experts in that field. Where experience fails we try to quiz around through social media circles like Google and YouTube to come up with answers and in the process we still continue to Learn. Discussions with our peer groups or sharing hours of debates over a cup of tea have been culture signs that we as a race love to exchange ideas, learn from other views and yet grow in our knowledge.

What technology has done is empowering this very knowledge with discipline, now wisdom is reined and what an ocean of it is available to dip our pails in! Social media has given us the choice to seek beyond our limited familiarity and explore the answers that could be still expanding our probabilities. Google can throw up very relevant information to the slightest of doubts born by you, LinkedIn and Face Book help us maintain ties that earlier would require extensive travel and expenses, yet they also help us leverage  them in ways unknown to us till now.

So that brings us back to square one, learn we have to and if we complain or grumble the world will not stop to ask why not?, instead we have to learn to learn  to keep pace by attempting the new and trying out ways in which we can up the quotient of our learning experiences.

At AttendByVideo.com we attempt to learn newer experiences while sharing them across the globe and also fuelling personal growth in the process. It is true that only education can guide us to a brighter more knowledgeable world. Join us in empowering knowledge, share, innovate and spread the good word.

Learning –A new curve on the face of change

Life has its way of surprising us with its quests and the way we deal with situations that spring upon us unexpectedly. Most of the times we look up to what we have gained and the learning in itself often brings’ a smile on our face as more often than not wisdom is a fascinating name!

Back then in our time we had no Facebook to keep us in touch with our friends and no iPads or iPods’ but that didn’t take away the fact that we kept in touch with our friends who mattered, no matter how far. Perhaps not as frequently but we sure did ok, so did we thrive by making our own music with old tins and drums but we enjoyed our jam out anyways. The only meaning I could see out of this was that we could ride a cycle fearlessly on the road more often than the children of this age can, but then we also learnt than when we invested in people we gained lifelong relationships.

Speed that is what this age relates to, everything be a relationship professional or friendly has its own orbit of focus and that is remarkable. We did enjoy schooling and old words of wisdom passed down as folklores but then the world is much more than only stories, learning in this age is so much more stimulating, exciting and above all enthralling. The children of today have to know all about their world and probably of some other worlds and their stories of evolution as well, so the way they have lapped up information in terms of newsletters, through internet and social networking is amazing! But the question that lies uneasy on the shoulders is, “Is it really enough?” How much can be relied on the information amassed, the mind will always question once shown multiple probabilities that would there be one more alternative.

It is in the nature of curiosity that we attempt to dwell further to seek answers, perhaps a method where experts could team up and answer the required question, a solution that could be more personified & steeped in the progress to attain the correct answer and finally that elusive key in the ocean of uncertainty that will free the mind from all inquiry. Yes, the advent of time and the facelift of change is here perhaps learning just got a makeover and how! AttendByVideo.com has made that probability come alive for fishing the right answer by connecting to that useful expert whose exclusivity is now accessible to all. Sure we have come a full circle from dealing with playing truant at schools to actually challenge an entire school of thought!!!


Here one such free session for you all reader : 

Setting & Achieving Goals - Roadmap to Success

http://www.attendbyvideo.com/topic/5110-Setting-Achieving-Goals-Roadmap-to-Success

Dump Incompetence, Embrace Aptitude

"As you probably know, all the good product names have been trademarked by companies who are competent."
"Competent? How are we going to compete with that?"
        - Dogbert and Wally (Dilbert Comics)

That quote on the Dilbert series stands absolutely true, no one can compete against competence and so the need of the hour in a knowledge marketplace is truly only competence. So how does one come to recognize it or better still give up years of inability to pursue knowledge with higher gains?

Within the current set up discontent will be shown by dysfunctional processes, many a times what you hear is an answer that will never lead to a solution.  The common excuse being “That’s how we have been doing”, rather than “Maybe there is a better way of approach”.

Some pointers to that would be vague objectives and arbitrary deadlines, meaningless solutions from ineffective management, unintended consequence: worsening morale.

Where as in an enlightened and open knowledge place you get to choose your skills matched and honed by the subject expert that you evaluate and choose. Your satisfaction can only shine in a more enlightened environment, as here the emphasis is on permitting the seekers to achieve excellence, and on providing them with appropriate techniques and tools. In effect, the systems are subordinated to the seekers, as their feedback is valuable and so is their contentment.

Sometimes we invest in knowledge bases that are more data gathering stations rather than facilitating knowledge transfer, so the quest for choosing your expert never arises. As the people writing the documents never exactly understand what knowledge seekers really want or looking for as solution.  Are the content producers the real experts? Do most seekers even know who the experts are? The typical result: knowledge pushed out in this way is not very valuable and certainly not to those with the best skills and knowledge.

So how exactly does an expert get chosen from a multitude? We would expect that if the rules which an expert has acquired from years of experience could be extracted and programmed, the resulting program would exhibit expertise. Again this infers that: “The matters that set experts apart from beginners, are symbolic, inferential, and rooted in experiential knowledge. Experts build up a repertory of working rules of thumb, or "heuristics," that, combined with book knowledge, make them expert practitioners.”

We would like to invite all subject matter experts out here on AttendByVideo.com , to expand their horizons of learning and sharing.

Making of Knowledge MarketPlace!

Calvin:  Sometimes when I'm talking, my words can't keep up with my thoughts.  I wonder why we think faster than we speak.
Hobbes:  Probably so we can think twice.
~Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes

Knowledge worth of many successful organizations lies in the fact, that they have competitive edge on account of the few talented individuals dispersed at different level.

Even within organizations, for workers, executives, managers the common knowledge base is easily accessible but the unique proposition lies in the special understanding of that innate knowledge that is rarely if ever discussed with Diasporas.

And that is the very reason why certain companies have an edge over other, either in certain geographical areas or for that matter responding to critical situations, probably because the former has realized “the Mantra”. There is great significance of seamless flow of information and knowledge sharing across subsidiaries or across geographies or across hierarchies. Every individual has his own knowledge base and if seen as the larger picture many such knowledgeable individuals are scattered across cultures, hierarchy  within an organization, meaning neither the organization nor the individual  can completely exploit the limit to which this knowledge can grow and even lead the organization to greater heights.

This means that the knowledge hangs in limbo; or rather knowledge exists but is diffused, especially in a diverse organization. Imagine interactions amongst such talented coworkers across geographies could yield a huge power and such a large scale interaction would dwarf the significance and reliability on a select few individuals and rather distribute the sense of achievement across the organization. Many businesses have been satisfied at passing knowledge down the line through phones or faxes, but perhaps with the advent of communications in the past decade many leading organizations, academics and professional training groups have come to believe that the future lies only in the hands of those who can manage knowledge.

From this we can quite simply imply that be it a huge organization or small setup, information is there for all to know but knowledge that is the context in which that information has to be used effectively and that insight that can be gained by only sharing awareness through a common platform. So far the large organizations with vast pool of resources and investments have been able to tap this need. Those in phase of growth not able to keep aside that budget have been constrained.

Skype, Gtalk are tools for individual interactive video sessions but we would like to post few open questions for your thought: How does a small- medium size organization have focused group knowledge sharing sessions breaking location boundaries? How can an entrepreneur set up have interactive communication with subject matter experts of other geographies? And if so, how to connect? Which social media has a power to connect likeminded organizations and individual experts?

Looking forward to hear your opinions:

WORKING TOWARDS EXPANDING MENTAL BOUNDARIES!

Everyone knows Oprah Winfrey! Her story of triumph coming from a socially lower community to being the most admired celebrities is what aspirational stories are made of! From dust to throne, one thing that stood apart through her years of pursuing her dreams was her self- belief.

“It doesn't matter who you are, where you come from. The ability to triumph begins with you. Always.”-Oprah Winfrey

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGf85-bQmEQ&feature=fvsr

What are the things that instill self belief? It is indeed easy to believe in our limitations, but do they really exist? People often talk of things they would love to have or rather they would have acquired or could have achieved, but could not on the account of reasons that swing widely between physical, economical, technical, financial or any such obstacles that come in the way.

But these hurdles are more mental barriers that prove to be harmful for the growth of oneself and obscure vision from reality. Mind is the greatest force that enables us to achieve our dreams and realize our potential to the fullest. Why is that we don’t need to remember to do the simplest of tasks like brushing and flossing our mouth after eating? More so because our subconscious mind has already made a blue print of activities requiring attention to detail and thus we don’t explore the reason to do otherwise.

While training wild elephants, the young rash ones are bound by shackles and made to do lift heavy logs. Such that their mental facilities are so set that even when they mature and grow old and the shackles no longer bind them they rarely break rules as years of habit have programmed their barriers to be more mental than physical.

Mental boundaries are also a great danger to one’s untapped potential. It sounds impossible that someone fired for lacking creativity went on to found one of the most creative and magical places on earth, yet Walt Disney persisted. Once ousted from his own company, getting up and proving himself all over again such that original company had to call him back which he lead to unprecedented heights, yes! all because Steve Jobs persisted. Just because a dream is seemingly improbable, doesn’t mean that you lack the potential to bring it into manifestation. Improbable is not impossible.

AttendByVideo.com we make an honest attempt to look beyond set, rigid and traditional thinking of knowledge exchange. We implore you to use this platform as a way of shedding your inhibitions and gaining reach and being a part of life’s university. 

Experience Education, but Gain knowledge!!!

“The only way a skill is developed—skiing, cooking, writing, critical thinking, or solving problems—is practice: trying something, seeing how well or poorly it works, reflecting on how to do it differently, then trying it again and seeing if it works better.”¹

Source: http://www.ncsu.edu/felder-public/Columns/Active.pdf R.M. Felder and R. Brent,

There is not much of difference between knowledge and education, but still the thin line differentiator between them is pronounced such that it is difficult to ignore. Knowledge relies heavily on real life experiences facts acquired from good education, peers, consultations and extensive reading, whereas education is acquired by attending formal institutions. So, knowledge is self-gained or self-driven and application of these to life makes an individual knowledgeable, whereas education has rules binding it thus at times making learning more rigid and routine. More so as education can never be experienced, while knowledge grows from opening up to opportunities and it builds up with sharing.

Students, in particular, are a community that adheres to strict school timing like eight to four. We are in an era of personalizing time and individualizing it how can we expect students to only acquire expert communication at a set time. Knowledge sharing is more than that, it’s about learning all the time whenever they want and wherever they want. And so is the reason we’re seeing explosive growth in online education.

We all know about knowledge sharing! When it is passive in its approach students are forced to attend classes and listen to lectures that don’t always hold their limited attention but active integrated video learning is totally a new outlook to learning, improving and experiencing one’s thrills with a multitude. 

We at AttendByVideo.com are working towards a away where an individual student is free to pursue his/her specific area of subject for further knowledge gain, opinions with experts out of reach otherwise, it is such a platform to evaluate and discuss opinions, Q&A on the same with global experts and thus pass on healthy traditions to converse experts and constantly improve.

AttendByVideo.com stares at you in the face of future probing one to have better brainstorming and information gathering from subject matter experts. The possibilities for communication are virtually endless we are just exploring one which is untapped so far.

Reference session you can attend for free : Time Management by MMM Training Solutions

Collaborat​ive Working: Global Connect

In January, 2012 WSJ reported that Obama to ‘hang out’ in livevideo chat room. The President of United States, with abundance power and accessto resources is going on Google ‘Hang Out’. Why? Because a TV, Press or OnlineMedia can’t bring interactive access and dialogue with a voter in distant partof USA. Experts state Obama won last election due to his affluent use oftechnology to reach people and spread the message across. Yes, we also believeso.  And he is doing it all again bytapping the power of technology to personally connect.

And so we have reached an age where there is need of relevant‘knowledge exchange’ with power of conversation and power of personal connect.

But question for you and me is how do we know who we need toconnect with, to explore the knowledge we need vis-à-vis who seeks knowledgethat you and I expertise with. Our reach to people is limited: my socialnetwork, my linked-in connections, my local directory search and Google. A needof the day is a collaborative knowledge platform that facilitiesreach to host of professional experts - trainers, business associates,educationalist and more to be able to disseminated at more rapid rates andcollaborate more willingly, freely and most importantly on need basis.

Knowledge growth through the 'window of interactive videolearning' is an enviable at present but not accessible to all. Ability to reachand ability to converse needs to be combined to reach masses. Today, technologyis for all. It is not only Corporates with millions of investments able tobring power of interactive communication over internet. AttendByVideo.com isone such a platform which brings this power to common man with greed to learn,specially learn from experts across globe.