Making Sure your Meetings are Productive and Effective
Meetings are something that all managers and leaders need to be able to plan, organize, run and follow up on. When I was a project engineer, I had to run lots of meetings and had training in effective meetings at a couple different companies. Ive attended good meetings, and really bad meetings. In education, many meetings seem to be a complete waste of time, or the entire faculty is at a meeting that only affects a small number. Meetings are expensive - you have to take into consideration the time and salaries during the meeting and the fact that people arent doing other work. Make your meetings effective - have a clear objective and keep them short and to the point.
These key points are great for anyone running a meeting.
Keys to Effective Meetings
1. Define purposes of meeting - why are you meeting? What is the objective of the meeting? Also, does this meeting have to be face-to-face, or can it be virtual, via email, Google Docs, etc. Do we need to meet as a group or could certain people deal with issues?
2. Develop agenda - what are the key points that need to be addressed. Who needs to be at the meeting? What tasks need to be assigned during the meeting? What is the time frame for the meeting?
Use this checklist when preparing for your meetings:
Source: A Checklist for Planning Your Next Big Meeting | HBR
3. Distribute agenda prior to meeting - this gives attendees a chance to prepare any materials or information prior to the meeting and to be prepared. This also keeps meetings moving faster. The agenda can be emailed, shared as a Google Doc, or posted online.
4. Arrive and start on time - the person running the meeting should be there early and ready to go. Have extra copies of agenda available. Start on time and stick to the schedule.
5. One speaker at a time - follow rules. One person talks at a time, no side conversations.
6. Review agenda and set priorities - what is the top priority to be addressed at the meeting? What needs to be accomplished?
7. Stick to agenda - items not on the agenda should be held to the end or put off to a later meeting.
8. Assign task responsibilities - make sure people know what they are responsible for and where to go for support. Give them resources and help to accomplish their tasks.
9. Establish target dates - when do things need to be done by? When is the next meeting? When will follow ups be done?
10. Summarize agreements - summarize what was accomplished, decided, and agreed upon.
11. Close at or before agreed time - do not run over unless absolutely necessary. Things can be discussed online or at a later meeting.
12. Keep a written record of meeting - assign a secretary and keep notes of the meeting including attendees, agenda, what was discussed, tasks assignments, and follow up information.
13. Edit and distribute minutes promptly - minutes should be distributed within 24-48 hours of a meeting.
14. Encourage completion of tasks - remind persons of task assignments and due dates and offer them help and support.
15. Put unfinished business on agenda for next meeting. - Unfinished business should be addressed at the beginning of next meeting.
Meetings should not be something people dread attending. They should be where things get discussed, accomplished, and decided. Follow these key points and your meetings will be more effective.
In this tutorial youll learn how to leverage the power of particle flow and Afterburn to create a great looking burning asteroid in 3ds Max.
1. Particle Flow Setup
Step 1
Open 3ds Max. Go to Particle Systems and create a PF Source icon in the perspective viewport by clicking and dragging.
Step 2
With the Rotatetool selected (E), rotate the PF Source icon vertically 90 degrees, or enter a value of 90 degrees in the Y axis field.
Step 3
With the PF Source icon selected, click on the Modify panel button to open its parameters. Here set the values for Length and Width to 0, and change the Viewport% value to 100.
Step 4
Click on the Particle View button (or press 6 on the keyboard) to open the Particle View window.
Step 5
Click on the Birth operator and change the Emit Start and Emit Stopvalues to -100 and 100 respectively. Set the Amount value to 500.
Step 6
Go to the Speed operator and change its Divergence value to 6.0. This will make the particles spread out a bit.
2. After Burn Setup
Step 1
Now it’s time to use the After Burnsystem. Press 8 on the keyboard to open the Environment and Effects window. Inside the Atmospherepanel, click on the Add button. This opens the Add Atmospheric Effect sub-window. Here select After Burn and then click on OK.
Step 2
You can see AfterBurnand the FusionWorks Renderer have been added into thelist.
Step 3
Now create a standard Target Spot light and position it in the scene (Create > Lights > Standard LIghts > Target Spotlight).
Step 4
Turn on the Shadow option and choose AB Shadow Map from the drop-down menu.
Step 5
Now click on After Burn in the Environment and Effects window to open the AfterBurn Manager.
Step 6
First click on the Pick Particles/ Daemons icon and then select the PF Source icon in the viewport. This adds the PF Source into the list. Then turn on the Show in Viewport icon to see the shape of the actual AfterBurn particles in the viewport.
Step 7
Now click on the Pick Lights icon and then press the H key to open the Pick Object window. Here select the spot light (Spot001) and then click on the Pick button. You will then see the spotlight added to the Source Lights list.
Step 8
Go to the Particle Shapeparameters and change the Sphere Radiusvalue to 10.0, and set the Var % (variation percentage) value to 10.0. Then click on the AFC icon and set the Hi Value to 40.0.
Step 9
In the Colors rollout, click on the Color 1icon and change the color values from light grey to dark grey going from left to right.
Step 10
Right Click on the Ambient Color box and choose Key Mode.
You can change the key color values as shown in the following image.
Step 11
Go to the Renderingparameters and turn on the Self Shadows, Shadow Cast and Shadow Receive options.
Step 12
Now render the scene and see how it looks. It looks impressive, but we need to add some more detail.
Step 13
Go to Helpers > After Burn Daemons > Explode and draw an explode icon in the viewport.
Step 14
Click on the Pick Particles/ Daemons icon and pick the Explode daemon.
Step 15
Change the Color of the Explode to match whats shown in the following image.
Step 16
Render the scene to see the difference the Explode daemon has made.
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Step 17
Increase the Multiplier value and render again to see how it looks.
Conclusion
There is no definite method or values to get the desired result. All you need to do is play with the parameters and their values until your get the results youre after. So keep experimenting with the Multiplier, Level, Scale and Amount values to achieve the desired result.
This is the outcome I got after playing with the values. I hope you guys liked the tutorial.
This figure is 3.5 inches tall, I think. I prefer them without color, actually!
Heres a great post by Chad Lidell who is one of the lead designers and minds behind Disney Infinity. He addressed a lot of things that have annoyed me in the news Ive read about the game. Our goal has been quality and experience all the way so that when people reduce what were doing to "a Skylanders clone" its painful.
He took the above photo and Im glad he did: without the paint you see how much care we put into the sculptures of the toys. I was just one of many artists that worked on Jack Sparrow, and I can promise that there isnt a millimeter of these toys that wasnt deliberated over and redesigned a hundred times until it was perfect. Hopefully I can show some of the concept progress and other sculpts soon.
Here is my quick step by step guide to start making some money online. This works but the only kicker is that YOU have to DO the work.
It doesnt take long, just try it...
Step 1 - Find a topic that people are interested in
Check out google.com/trends or http://www.amazon.com/ to see what type of information people are buying.
Step 2 - Find out the problems people have in this topic
You could check out forums related to the topic. Just go to Google.com and type in topic + forum.
Step 3 - Find a product that will solve the problem
The easiest way would be to visit clickbank.com and look for products related to your topic. Look for products with high gravity.
Step 4 - Get Keywords - Longtail keywords - 5 of them
Use Googles keyword tool. Just visit Google.com and type in keyword tool and you will see the link.
Keyword - Golf longtail keyword - how can I improve my golf swing
I think you see what I mean. Longtail keywords will have much less competition in the search engines.
Step 5 - Write 5 articles
Write 5 articles with the longtail keyword in the title. Dont try to sell the product, just give information about it.
Step 6 - Submit the articles
Submit each article to ezinearticles.com
Step 7 - Get a blog
Use blogger.com and try to make a blog with the keywords in the title. Then, after your articles have been approved by ezinearticles.com and posted to the directory, post all of your articles on your blog and put a link back to the article url.
For example, here is a link to one of my ezinearticles.com articles that has already been approved and is viewable - best internet based business
Step 8 - Get a squidoo lens
Do the same thing you did with the blog.
Step 9 - Submit your articles to more article directories with a link back to your ezinearticles.com article.
Step 10 - Rinse and repeat for any number for products or keywords. If you have the time go ahead and find 10 longtail keywords and write 10 articles.
Making your Ubuntu 7 10 Desktop look like MAC OS X Leopard
Making your Ubuntu 7.10 Desktop look like MAC OS X Leopard
READ THE UPDATED VERSION OF THIS ARTICLE FOR UBUNTU 8.04 HERE
MAC OS has been traditionally known for their impressive graphical interface and stability . Now even though i have been an avid Linux follower over the past 9 years I have been using Linux , still i find my self attracted to MAC OS . Now even though these days its possible to run Hackintosh on normal Intel hardware , but still its not stable and well there are hardware compatibility issues . So well other alternative to using MAC OS is either to purchase MAC hardware(which would be naturally expensive) and run full fledged MAC OS or you could tweak and customize your Ubuntu desktop to look more like MAC OS X .
In this tutorial i describe step by step how to make your ubuntu desktop look more like MAC OS X Leopard :) .
Step 1 :- Downloading LeopardX Icon Theme
First you need to download LeopardX theme (hosted on gnome-looks.org) from the following website : -
It will download a file named LeopardX-V2.6.tar.gz , now extract this file using file-roller to any temporary directory that you would use to house the files we would be using for the customization.(In my case its $HOME/Leopard)orif you want to use console application you could use the following command to extract the file to Leopard directory (Make sure you create the directory before doing this step)
For me to extract the file to $HOME/Leopard directory(already created) command would be : -
tar -xvzf LeopardX-V2.6.tar.gz $HOME/Leopard
2. Downloading Mac4Lin GTK Theme Now similarly download Mac4Lin GTK theme from the following website and extract it to the folder created above ($HOME/Leopard)
After downloading the cursor set extract cursors to the directory created in the first step.
4. Combining the Downloaded Files into a Single Theme Package Now after completing the above steps go to the directory( cd $HOME/Leopard for me ) in the Terminal and issue the following command to combine the three theme files into a single .tar.gz archive .
tar cvfz MyTheme.tar.gz LeopardX Mac4Lin_GTK_Aqua_v0.3 Shere_Khan_X/
5. Installing Theme Package Now to install the theme package we have created in the above step , go to (System -> Preferences -> Appearance) and click Install and point to our newly created MyTheme.tar.gz archive.
This should start installing the theme package (Cursors/Icons/Theme) once installation is completed . Chose Custom in theme and click on Customize .You will find a window like this:
Customize Dialog Box
In this window in Icons chose LeopardX , in Controls Mac4Lin_GTK_Aqua_v0.3 , in Window Border Mac4Lin_GTK_Aqua_v0.3 and in Pointers White Cursor .
If you have followed the steps properly the theme and icons should have been installed , and you should be able to see the new theme applied to your default desktop .
6. Changing the Log In Screen / GDM Theme
To change the Log In Screen/GDM Theme download the package from website listed below : http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/OSX+Session+Login?content=68346
After downloading the package , open (System -> Administration -> Log in Window ) and there go to Local and click on Add and point to the downloaded theme package (osx-login.tar.gz) . Now you would find OSX-Login theme listed in the window , select OSX-Login and close the window . Logout and Login again you should find the new theme installed .
Log-in Window allows easy changing of the Login Screen Theme
7. Enabling Compiz-Fusion
IMPORTANT : - Enabling Compiz-Fusion is essential if you want to use Screenlets , Avant Window Manager Properly .
Unlike previous releases of Ubuntu where one had to manually download and install compiz,beryl etc (Compiz Fusion is composite window manager that provides best features of Compiz and Beryl) from Repositories if one wanted to have glitzy visual effects .
Ubuntu 7.10 comes with Compiz Fusion pre-installed and on supported hardware offers a wide array of Visual Effect . Now depending on graphic hardware of computer one could chose from three level of Visual Effect (From System -> Preferences -> Appearance )
None : - This mode causes Ubuntu to use Metacity instead of Compiz Fusion , with no visual effect
Basic : - Has only simple visual effects like shadows , fading windows-menus etc
Advanced : - Recommended for PC with descent graphic hardware , enables effects like wobbly windows, transparency , animated workspace switching etc
Visual Effect Dialog Box
However , compiz-fusion is capable of much more and you can enable more desktop effects /customize compiz by typing the following command in the terminal window : -
After completing above step , you can customize compiz by going to System > Preferences > Advanced Desktop Effects Settings . After installation is over , open Terminal from (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal ) and issue the following command to install emerald which is necessary for using themes in compiz .
sudo apt-get install emerald
After installation is over download MacOS X Emerald theme from this link : http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Mac4Lin+Leopard+Emerald+Theme?content=68409
Now open (System -> Preferences -> Emerald Theme Manager )
After Emerald theme manager opens click on import and point to the downloaded theme package from withing the Theme Manager , you will find Mac4Lin Theme listed select the theme , click on refresh and quit the application .
Emerald Theme Manager
8. Installing Avant Windows Navigator IMPORTANT : - To use AWN Compiz-Fusion should be up and running as mentioned in the step above
Avant Windows Navigator is cool little tool that allows you to have a cute looking dock at the bottom of the screen . Even though AWN is still very buggy, still because it is so feature rich and cool looking you could install it .
Before we begin installing first ensure Software Sources are in order by going to ( System -> Administration -> Software Sources ) go to the Updates and the window should like the image below with in Ubuntu updates box " first , second and fourth option " enabled .
Software Sources Dialog box
To install add in the following line at the end of file /etc/apt/sources.list by opening the gedit editor with the following command .
gksu gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
and LINE TO ADD : -
deb http://download.tuxfamily.org/syzygy42/ gutsy avant-window-navigator deb-src http://download.tuxfamily.org/syzygy42/ gutsy avant-window-navigator
and after adding the above line issue the following command in the terminal window (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal )
Now we begin installing AWN by issuing the following command in the terminal window :
sudo apt-get install avant-window-navigator-bzr
and , To install additional applets for AWN
sudo apt-get install awn-core-applets-bzr
Now after completing above mentioned steps AWN should be properly installed , To Launch AWN go to (Applications -> Accessories -> Avant Window Navigator )
Now you could customize AWN by choosing to add more applets , configuring 3D effects for AWN etc by going to AWN Manager ( System -> Preferences -> Awn Manager )
Three ScreenShots of AWN Manager , one with Applets Tab opened and other with Themes tab opened
Though the theme which AWN comes with preinstalled is also good , you might like to try this its cool and very Mac like
you could install this theme through AWN Manager .
This is how my AWN Dock looks(with the above theme installed) like : -
AWN-DOCK
9. Installing Screenlets
IMPORTANT : - To use Screenlets Compiz-Fusion should be up and running as mentioned in the step above
Screenlets gives user a collection of impressive widgets that can be placed on desktop this is similar to feature available on Windows Vista and Mac OS X Dashboard , it gives impressive look to the desktop. To install Screenlets type in the following command in the terminal window :
First we need to add repository where the Screenlets binary is located , to do so open gedit with superuser permission by typing the following command in the terminal window :
gksu gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
and add the following line at the bottom of the file :
deb http://download.tuxfamily.org/screenlets gutsy screenlets
Now quit the gedit text editor and type in the following command in the terminal window :
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install screenlets
Now , After the installation is over you can add Widgets/Screenlets on your desktop by going to (System -> Preferences -> Screenlets ) , you will find a dialog box like this from where you could add Screenlets onto the desktop .
Screenlets configuring dialog box
10. Getting MAC OS X Leopard Wallpaper
Finally you can get MAC OS X Leopard wallpaper from the following website : http://appleology.com/images/space-desktop.png
Finally this is how my desktop looks after all the tweaking and installing : -
My Ubuntu Desktop
and
Another screenshot showing Menu in the AWN Dock
Technorati Tags: Ubuntu, Themes, Ubuntu Themes, Mac OS X, Ubuntu Customization, Linux, Desktop Linux, compiz, beryl
Article Written by : Ambuj Varshney (blogambuj@gmail.com) For Desktop on Linux Blog , http://linuxondesktop.blogspot.com (C) 2007 , Ambuj Varshney
I think some of you may have seen the artworks on Fantasy Eyes theme on deviantART, Behance or other design portals. There is also a huge collection of Eyes Fan Club here. Today we shall explore the basics on how we can create such effects in Photoshop.
Image sources from FanPop
Preview of Final Image
We will need a pair of eyes for this tutorial. I have found a beautiful pair from Maria Gao here. Download the image and open up in Photoshop.
Let us start off with glowing the eyes. Make selections around the 2 black eyes with the Elliptical Marquee tool. Go to Select > Modify > Feather. Set the Radius to 20px.
Press Ctrl+C (to copy) and Ctrl+V (to paste). You will get a new layer with just the selected area. Rename this new layer as “Eyes Glow”. Set the Blend Mode of this layer to Screen. Then duplicate the “Eyes Glow” layer for another 3 times and you will get something similar to mine below.
Create a Curves Adjustment Layer. Go to the Green and Blue channels and set the curves to the ones below.
Create a Levels Adjustment Layer and set the values to 20, 0.84, 255.
Create a new layer and name it as “Face Color”. Set the foreground color to #45ADCA. Using the Soft Rounded Brush with size 200px, paint the face below both eyes. Set the Blend Mode of this layer to Soft Light when you are done.
Open up the Brush panel and key in the settings as shown below.
Create a new layer and name it as “Glitter”. Using the Brush tool with size 3px and color #FFFFFF, brush around the bluish area to add the glittering effect. Right-click on the “Glitter” layer and go to Blending Options. Choose Outer Glow with its default settings.
Repeat the earlier step for the border around the big pair of eyes.
This step is really random. You can start designing how you want to add some patterns to the face. For mine, I downloaded the Swirl Curls from CreateSk8. Place the floral patterns around the eyes area.
Merge all the pattern together in a single area. Go to Image > Adjustment > Hue/Saturation. Make the Lightness to -100. This will turn the pattern in to black. Set the Blend Mode of this layer to Soft Light. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Set the Radius to 2px.
Create an Exposure Adjustment Layer and key in the settings below.
Create a Levels Adjustment Layer and set the values to 15, 1, 255.
And there you have it! This is a pretty simple one and I am sure you will do it better than mine with some more tries. Thanks for reading.
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