5 Essential skills of an Entrepreneur (Or Intrapreneur) in 2019

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July 19, 2019

5 Essential skills of an Entrepreneur (Or Intrapreneur) in 2019

In today’s fast-paced digital economy, innovation is everything. Whether you’re an entrepreneur building a startup from scratch or an “intrapreneur” innovating within an established company, the ability to develop a new idea from concept to successful execution can open up exciting – and lucrative – career opportunities.

Becoming a successful entrepreneur (or intrapreneur) requires a specific skillset that can be cultivated through the right education. Read on to learn about five of the most essential skills you need. And, if you want to develop them in a self-paced and 100% online setting, the fully online MSc in Innovation and Entrepreneurship (MSIE) degree offered by HEC Paris and Coursera makes a world-class education in these skills more accessible than ever.

1.Creatitivity

Step one to entrepreneurship is having a good idea. Like a great artist, a successful entrepreneur interprets the world through a creative lens, seeing opportunity where others don’t. Many college students had access to the internet in the early 2000s, but it took a certain mindset to see the potential for creating a social network like Facebook that would make it easy for billions of people worldwide to connect with each other (and with ads).

But unlike conventional wisdom that says great artists are “born, not made,” a creative business mindset can be taught. The MSIE includes “Boosting Creativity” as a fundamental course, helping every student boost their own creativity. The course also spotlights the importance of helping consumers tap into their own creative abilities, which itself can turn into massive business opportunities – just ask the founders of Instagram.

2. People skills

The myth of the lone entrepreneur is powerful in the popular consciousness, but it’s also misleading. While we all know Mark Zuckerberg’s name, the truth is that he built Facebook along with a team of cofounders, and the company could not have become what it is today without being able to bring in and integrate new team members and tens of thousands of employees.

LinkedIn analysis shows that “soft” people skills are the biggest skills gap – and thus the most valuable skills – in today’s workplace. And even though the MSIE is fully online, the program gives students plenty of opportunities to develop people skills through courses like “Team Working,” practical team projects, and mentoring sessions with faculty members and business leaders.

3. Organization

Here’s another mythbuster: founding a startup isn’t a freewheeling escape from the structures of a conventional, established company. If anything, building a company from scratch – and managing it as it grows – makes excellent organizational skills even more essential for an entrepreneur. It’s also crucial for intrapreneurs, who must learn to navigate an existing organization in their quest to nurture innovation from within.

This kind of organizational intelligence is one of the core skills developed in the MSIE program. It’s a big part of courses like “Strategic Management of Innovation” and “Managing the Performance of a Growing Enterprise,” and it’s placed front-and-center in “Organizing for Innovation,” which shows students how organizational structures are established, develop, and change through the life of an innovative venture.

4. Financial Know-How

Money is the lifeblood of any company, but it’s especially important for startups and other innovative businesses that can live or die based on how they balance their revenues, burn rate, and fundraising. The fact is, you can’t always wait until you can afford to hire a CFO. Successful entrepreneurs often need to be able to navigate these challenges themself from the early days of a company.

As the #2 ranked business school in all of Europe, HEC Paris provides its MSIE students with a terrific foundation in these critical financial skills. In particular, the “Entrepreneurial Finance” course gives students the fundamentals of financial modeling and strategy, and “Private Equity and Venture Capital” will help you make the right corporate financing decisions for your business.

5. Passion

As important as financing is, a successful entrepreneurial venture is ultimately fueled by passion. An entrepreneur’s passion sustains them during the inevitable challenges of growing a business, and it provides a foundation for a purposeful mission that inspires their team as well as a loyal base of customers.

Working with passion, as well as harnessing the passion of others, is the focus of courses like “Social Entrepreneurship and Changemaking” and “Marketing Through Social Media.” And every MSIE student’s degree culminates with a final pitch for their business idea before a jury of HEC professors and seasoned entrepreneurs, giving them a chance to practice turning their passion into fundraising success.

Want to build these essential skills and launch the next phase of your entrepreneurial (or intrapreneurial) career? The MSIE in Innovation and Entrepreneurship (MSIE) from HEC Paris is a 100% online degree for professionals in interested in product innovation and business development.

Comment on Secrets of the Trade | Creative Market by bingeek

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July 18, 2019

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Comment on Secrets of the Trade | Creative Market by bingeek

Have you ever heard of a little gem of a website called Creative Market? It’s a market place similar to Etsy where designers and illustrators can sell their mouse made digital work. Creative Market is one of our favorite resources here at Designer Blogs. It’s one of our first go-to places for gorgeous typefaces and textures, but you can also find an endless number of design resources there. If you are a designer, Creative Market is definitely something you need to check out. If you are non-designer, Creative Market is still a must check out. But don’t say I didn’t warn you. It will suck you in a fill you with all sorts of crazy inspiration.

Here’s a little look-see at some of the amazing goods for sale there:

Product Mockups

1 / 2 / 3 / 4

Not a photographer but still want amazing photos to feature something you’ve digitally created? Check out their amazing assortment of mockups to give your products a professional look.

Photos

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8

We shared with you in this post the 4 best places to find free photos for your blog. However, if you can’t find what you are looking for there, Creative Market should definitely be your next stop because you’ll find an endless array of gorgeous photography.

Or maybe you are looking for just the right framed photo to add to an empty wall in your home. Hello…Creative Market! Get on it!

Patterns + Textures

1 / 2 / 3 / 4

The patterns and textures at Creative Market are all designed by independent creators so there are all sorts of unique styles and options to choose from.

GRAPHICS + ILLUSTRATIONS

1 / 2 / 3 / 4

You can find a wide assortment of amazing graphics and illustrations for digital scrapbooking, card making, prints for your home, etc.

FONTS

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8

This s only a sampling of the serious gorgeous fonts they sell. The best part is that all of their fonts are very affordably priced, so you won’t break the bank trying to establish a diverse font collection.

Licenses

Creative Market now offers two licenses: Standard & Extended, so be sure to purchase the correct license at check-out based on your needs. Learn more about their licenses here.

Seriously, take 5 minutes right now and go check Creative Market out!

Comment on How to Resize Blogger Photos Automatically by Jagadish Prasad B

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July 18, 2019

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How to Resize Blogger Photos Automatically

Today I want to share with you a fun little trick for automatically resizing your Blogger photos to fill the full width of your post area. Blogger offers several tools for resizing post images easily. I’ll get to my little trick in a second, but first I want to explain how to use the Blogger tools for uploading and resizing your photos for those that don’t already know.

To use the Blogger resizing options, simply create a new post, add a photo, and then click on your uploaded photo to open the sizing and positioning options.

How to Resize Blogger Photos Automatically

You can set the photo size to small, medium, large, x-large, or to its original size. You can also set the justification to left, center, or right. I recommend centering your photos and using the x-large setting (if you don’t use the trick below) so your photos can be seen in all their glory. The only draw back to using this option is that the x-large size sizes images to 640px, which means if you have a post area that is wider than 640px, the photo will still look a little small. That is where my fancy little trick comes into play, so let’s get to it!

STEP 1: RESIZE YOUR PHOTO

Resizing your blog photos is an important step regardless of whether or not you plan to use this photo sizing trick. This tutorial will still work on photos uploaded in their original size but because uploading original sized photos slows your site WAY DOWN, it is not recommended. The larger the image size, the slower it will load on your site…so trust me, just don’t do it!

Most blogs have a post area width somewhere between 600px-750px, so sizing your photos to 800px wide should work well on most blogs. You’ll want your image to be sized a little larger than your post width with this tutorial because it’s easier to bring an image down in size than it is to bring a small image up in size. Enlarging a small image will cause it to become pixelated and the quality will be low. So to keep things looking good, I recommend sizing your images to around 800px wide with this tutorial.

I use Photoshop to resize my images, but if you don’t have Photoshop, Pixlr is a free service you can use to do this. Here’s how to easily resize a photo using Pixlr:

How to Resize Blogger Photos Automatically

1) Hop over to Pixlr, scroll down and click “Launch Web App” under the Pixlr Editor option.

How to Resize Blogger Photos Automatically

2) Click “Open Image from Computer” and find the image you want to use from your computer.

3) Your image will appear and will be ready to be edited. At the bottom of the image you’ll see the current image size. My sample image is currently 4000px wide, which is WAY too large to be uploaded to a blog. So let’s change it to the recommended 800px wide. In the top navigation bar, click “Image” and then “Image size…”

4) Change the image width to 800 pixels. The height of the image will automatically adjust to keep the proper proportions. Click “OK.”

5) Now you just need to save the resized image, so go to “File” and then “Save.” Rename the file (if needed) and then click “OK.” Find the folder on your computer where you’d like to save the image and click “Save.” You’re now ready for the next step.

STEP 2: ADD A LITTLE CSS

Now that your image is sized correctly you’ll need to add a little coding to achieve the automatic re-sizing. Don’t worry, you don’t need any coding experience for this.

1) First open up your Blogger dashboard and go to “Theme” and then “Customize.”

How to Resize Blogger Photos Automatically

2) Click “Advanced” and then scroll down and click on “Add CSS” and copy/paste the following code into the white box:

.post-body img { max-width: 100%; max-height: auto; display: block; margin: auto; }

It should look like this:

How to Resize Blogger Photos Automatically

Note: the above code will only change the images you have set to “Original Size.” If you want ALL of your images to be sized to the full post width regardless of the Blogger re-sizing options you have them set to, add this CSS instead:

.post-body img { width:100%; height:100%; display: block; }

Now click “Apply to Blog” to save your changes.

STEP 3: ADD A PHOTO TO A POST

Now just add a photo to a post like described in the beginning of this tutorial and make sure the photo is set to “Original Size” and your photo will now nicely fill the full width of your post area once you hit “Publish.” This trick will also apply to all previously posted photos as long as the photos are set to “Original Size.” If not, then you’ll want to use the second code option above.

How to Resize Blogger Photos Automatically

Oh so big and pretty!

How to Resize Blogger Photos Automatically

Please leave any questions you may have in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer them. Otherwise, enjoy your lovely automatically resized photos!

Comment on 15 Essential Things to Do to Make a Blog Post Successful by Lavonne

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July 18, 2019

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Comment on 15 Essential Things to Do to Make a Blog Post Successful by Lavonne

Question: What is a blog post called that nobody ever sees?
Answer: A huge waste of your time!

Don’t be someone who wastes time creating blog posts nobody ever sees. Creating successful blog posts takes time and requires you to do certain things to get your posts noticed. Blog posts don’t magically become successful without conscientious effort. If you want your impressively crafted posts seen and loved by the world, then keep reading because this post is for you.

In this post, I’ll be sharing 15 essential things to do before and after you publish a post that will give your blog posts the absolute best chance of becoming successful. Our Weekly Post Planner printable (example at bottom of post) from our FREE Ultimate Blog Planner includes these steps so you can make sure each post you create is at the top of its game.

Before You Publish the Post

1. Write an Attention-Grabbing Post Title

Your post title is what is going to sell your content to the world, so it’s essential that it is well thought out and effectively written. Blog post titles should be focused and yet descriptive. Your post title should describe in one short, powerful phrase the overall message of your post. For tips on writing attention grabbing post titles and for 48 post title templates that really work, be sure to check out:

6 Tips for Writing Attention Grabbing Post Titles

2. Add sections and Headings

The first thing most readers do when first landing on a post is they quickly scan the post to see if it looks interesting and/or contains the information they need. Putting up a single wall of unorganized text is going to make it very difficult for your readers to find what they need. Sections and headings divide your post into easily readable paragraphs. Adding headings, subheadings, bullets, lists, quotes & images are all things that add interest and organization to your post. Adding headings and subheadings that contain your focus keyword is also an important step in making your post SEO-fabulous.

3. Add Tags & Categories

Adding tags and categories to your posts adds structure to your blog and makes it easier for your readers to find specific content. Categories are like the table of contents or chapters of your blog. They are the broad topics you want to write about. While categories are broad, tags are very specific. If categories serve as the table of contents, tags are like the index or keywords of your site. For more information about tags vs. categories and to learn how to add them to each of your posts, be sure to visit the following post:

Categories vs. Tags – What’s the Difference?

4. Add Alt Text to Images

Adding alt text to your images is not only important for SEO, but it’s also important for Pinterest. What you add as your alt text, is what Pinterest will automatically pull as the description for the photo when someone pins your image to Pinterest, so make it descriptive and enticing. You can even add a call to action! For detailed instructions on how to add alt text to your images in WordPress or in Blogger, you can visit this post:

SEO Quick Tip: How to Title & Size Post Images

5. Add a Featured Image (WordPress)

Your featured image is like the cover of a book and is the image that will be used to represent your post on social media, recent post suggestion boxes, Bloglovin’, StumbleUpon, etc. Your featured image can either be an image straight from your post or you can create a separate image to upload as your featured image. It’s best to use vertical images with text on them as they draw more attention in feeds.

To add a featured image to a post in WordPress, navigate in your dashboard to Posts > Add New. Then scroll down the screen until you find the Featured Image box on the right sidebar of your screen. Click the Set featured image link. Upload the image you wish you use from your computer or you can select a photo from your media library. Then click the blue Set featured image button and that will set your selected image as your featured image.

Adding a featured image is essential when creating a new blog post

6. Deep Link to Old Posts

Adding links to older posts within a new post not only provides your readers with further reading about a given topic but also keeps people on your site longer. I’ve deep linked to older posts several times throughout this post. I’ve done this as a way of offering additional information and tutorials rather than repeating all of the information and tutorials contained in those posts here. Deep linking also helps increase your site’s page views because it encourages readers to visit more pages. This results in them spending more time on your site.

7. Proofread

I’ll be honest here. I hate proofreading! It takes time to read and re-read a post (especially a long one like this one), but it is so essential! If you are anything like me, you can proofread a post ten times, publish and then a few days later still find errors. I’m sure you’ll even find some in this post…ha! One tool that has helped me a ton when writing posts is a tool called Grammarly. Grammarly is a browser extension that will help you find and then fix common grammatical errors. As you are creating your post, it automatically underlines anything you need to take a second look at. It is constantly helping me find and fix errors within my posts that I would have otherwise overlooked. I highly recommend using this tool to help you perfect your posts.

8. SEO Optimize the Post

Search Engine Optimization (aka SEO) is essential if you want your post to be noticed by search engines. Search engines help drive traffic to your website and are a powerful means of growing your site. SEO optimizing your posts is an absolute must do if you want your posts to be successful. In our post How to Unlock Yoast SEO to Grow Your Traffic, we break down exactly how to go about optimizing each of your posts, so be sure to check that out if you haven’t already. I also recommend you check out these posts for additional SEO tips:

SEO Quick Tip: Titling & Sizing Images
SEO Quick Tip: Page Titles & Descriptions

9. Add a Call To Action

Adding a call to action means that you add something at the end of your post that gets your readers to act. It might be something as simple as ending your post with a question that motivates your readers to leave a comment. Or maybe you could offer a related freebie that helps you gain new email subscribers. Another idea would be to leave your readers with some type of challenge and then encourage them to return and share in a comment their experience fulfilling the challenge. When readers act on a post, they will remember that post far longer than a post without a call to action. Creating posts your readers remember means they will be far more likely to return to your site in the future.

After You Publish the Post

10. Promote Your Post on Social Media

Have you ever heard of the 80/20 rule? It’s said that you should spend 20% of your time writing new content and 80% promoting it. After you hit publish it’s important to get your post in front of as many eyes as possible. Social media is the best tool for doing this, so be sure to share your post on all of your social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google +, Stumbleupon, etc.

Don’t be afraid to share your post multiple times on each social platform during the week. If you only post about it once, only a small percentage of your followers will see it, so posting about it a few times in different ways and/or using varying images, will allow it to be seen by more eyes. It can be hard to keep up with social media posting so I recommend checking out these tools that will do it for you automatically:

Facebook & Twitter: Meet Edgar | Buffer | Hootsuite
Instagram: Later | Tailwind

11. Pin & Repin Your Post to Pinterest

Pinterest is a HUGE traffic source for most blogs. For Designer Blogs, it’s our #1 traffic source! Using Pinterest is key to getting your post in front of A LOT of eyes. Over the course of few days, pin your post to relevant boards on your Pinterest account. You will also want to share your post on any group boards you might be a part of.

Using a Pinterest scheduling tool like Tailwind, Ahalogy, or BoardBooster will make your life a ton easier as you can use them to schedule your post to several boards over the course of a couple of days rather than having to remember to do it manually. A few months after you publish your post, don’t be afraid to repin your post again to several boards on your account. This will keep it in front of your follower’s eyes and in constant rotation.

12. Link It Within Old Posts

Another way to get your post in front of more eyes is to go through all of your existing posts and link your new post within related posts. You can do this by editing the content to include information and a link to your new post or if you don’t want to spend time editing content, you can simply mention the post at the bottom of a related paragraph similar to the following example:

Related: How to Make Money Blogging

Like mentioned previously, deep linking to other posts within your site is a great way to give your posts more exposure and increase your page views.

13. Reply to Comments

Be sure to take the time to reply to any comments that may come in. Replying to comments builds a rapport with your readers and helps them feel valued. Answering questions your readers may have will not only be beneficial to the reader asking the question, but to future readers as well.

14. Mention the post in an email to your subscribers

Your email subscribers are some of your biggest fans! They’ve subscribed to you because they love the content you produce. However, rather than bombarding your subscribers with emails every time you publish a new post, consider sending out a weekly roundup of the week’s posts, events or news. Your subscribers have subscribed to you because they are excited to hear and learn more from you, so don’t be afraid to share your posts with your most enthusiastic fans.

15. Study Your Analytics for the Post

Studying your analytics is a great way to learn which posts your readers are loving and which posts aren’t quite working for you. After publishing a post if you find that after a few months it hasn’t performed well, try re-promoting it, changing the title to something more click-worthy, and/or improving the images used within the post. All of these things can help breathe new life into your posts. Learn more about how to read Google Analytics here:

How to Read Google Analytics

WEEKLY POST PLANNER

Our Weekly Post Planner, which you can download for free with The Ultimate Blog Planner, is a great tool for making sure you’ve covered each of the items listed above. All you have to do is join our email list and you’ll receive the Weekly Post Planner in addition to 26 other amazing blog planner pages that will help you organize and grow your blog like a boss! Click the button below for the free download.

Comment on Free June Wallpaper by errika acevedo

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July 18, 2019

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gracias

Comment on Why Building a Mailing List Should Be Your Top Priority by Wendy Jennings

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July 18, 2019

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Comment on Why Building a Mailing List Should Be Your Top Priority by Wendy Jennings

Today we are starting a three week, three part series on the importance of having a mailing list and why failing to have one is a HUGE mistake. In this series we’ll discuss:

Part 1: Why building a mailing list should be your top priority. (today)
Part 2: How to create a mailing list and add mailing list opt-in boxes to your site.
Part 3: How to dramatically increase mailing list subscribers and target your dream audience.

There are endless excuses why people don’t have a mailing list. My excuse was always that I just didn’t have the time (can you relate?). I’m a full-time stay-at-home mom that runs a full-time business on less than part-time hours. Cramming everything this business requires of me into just a few hours a day has always been a struggle. I’ve had to learn how to really prioritize my time and, as a result, building a mailing list has always ended up on the back burner.

Well, five months ago, my hubby and I adopted a beautiful baby girl who has significant medical needs, so it has limited the time I’ve been able to dedicate to Designer Blogs even further. I found it necessary to really step back and evaluate how to make the best use of my decreased work time. Since I have a very capable team of top notch designers I felt the best use of my time would be for me to step completely away from designing and finally focus my attention on email marketing, this blog, and building a better brand.

That shift in focus has made all the difference in the world for Designer Blogs! Five months ago our email list was non-existent, which meant we had zero subscribers. None, zilch, nada! Since focusing on building our email list, we’ve gone from 0 to 10,000+ subscribers in just five months (I’ll teach you how we did this in part 3) and our list continues to grow by several hundred each week! Our sales and traffic have dramatically increased and I’m now banging my head against the wall for not focusing on building our mailing list sooner!

If you want to grow your business or blog, you absolutely MUST make building your email list your top priority. It needs to be an even bigger priority than building your fan base on social media.

Here’s why:

1) Email is less competitive than social media

Think about how many emails you get in an average day. Maybe 50 to 100? Now think about how many social media updates appear in your various feeds each day. Several hundreds to thousands! You have a far higher likelihood of having people see, open, and click on your email newsletter than you do having them see updates you post on social media. It’s a lot easier to ignore a status update than it is to ignore an email in your inbox.

2) Email is far more personal and reliable

People may not be looking at your blog or website every day, but they do check their email numerous times a day. As fabulous as your site probably is, it’s still not as important to people as their inboxes. Having a mailing list helps you connect and build a personal relationship with your readers on an ongoing basis, which in turn, builds trust.

3) You own your email list

You have no ownership over social media, which means they can change their policies and the reach your status updates have at any time (take Facebook for example). Having people on your email list keeps you in control and your exposure to your subscribers completely in your hands.

4) Your mailing list is directly aligned to revenue

You need to consider every person you acquire on your email list a potential customer. Marketing to them over and over again will build their trust and will (hopefully) eventually turn them into paying customers. Whether you realize it or not, your email list serves as a direct reflection of the energy and success of your business or blog.

Hands down, building a targeted email list is THE most important thing you can do to grow a successful blog or business. Don’t put it on the back burner like I did. Put it at the top of your priority list and I promise you’ll start seeing the same amazing results we have.

In part 2, I’ll teach exactly how to get a mailing list set up and opt-ins placed on your site so you can start growing your list fast! In part 3, I’ll teach you how to dramatically increase your mailing list subscribers and target your dream audience.

Speaking of mailing lists, why don’t you take a second to join ours below and you’ll receive our Ultimate Blog Planner Kit absolutely FREE!

We wanna to hear from you! What has been your excuse for not setting up a mailing list? Or, if you already have one set up, what successes have you seen from it? Let us know!

GUEST POST: Who Benefits More From Peer Feedback: The Giver or the Receiver?

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July 18, 2019

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GUEST POST: Who Benefits More From Peer Feedback: The Giver or the Receiver?

Li, Liu, and Steckelberg (2010) looked at undergraduate education students who completed a Webquest project and gave peer feedback before revising for a final submission (3). They found that, once the quality of the initial submission was controlled for, those who gave better feedback produced better final products than those who gave poor feedback. However, there was no link between the quality of feedback students received and the quality of the final projects. This is an interesting finding teachers can share with their students, to help improve engagement in peer review activities.

One final interesting study is by Cho and Cho (2011), who categorized comments students gave their peers for an undergraduate physics lab report, to determine how the types of comments given and received influenced writing improvement, and how pre-existing writing skill and qualities of initial drafts influence the types of comments given (4). Comments were categorized by evaluation (whether they identified a strength or weakness in the writing) and scope (surface features, micro-meaning, and macro-meaning).

When students commented more on the strength of macro-meaning and the weakness of micro-meaning, their revised drafts improved more. Effects of received comments were limited to a negative impact from strength comments on surface features, reinforcing the results from Li, Liu, and Steckelberg (2010).

Cho and Cho’s most interesting finding is that stronger initial drafts elicited more strength comments and weaker initial drafts more weakness comments. While this is an obvious finding, it gets me thinking about how the assignments being peer reviewed can influence which writing features are focused on. Sample writing can be chosen that would invite comments on both strengths and weaknesses, as well as contain common errors that can be discussed as a class.

In general, students who give feedback do just as well or even better than students who only receive feedback. Depending on the needs of a class, then, a revision workshop like that done by Graner can be used in lieu of peer review activities, and students will still gain the same benefits they would from participating in peer feedback. This avoids problems caused by students coming to class without a first draft, managing many peer review discussions, and varying qualities of feedback given.

It also helps address issues of students being reluctant to give critical comments to their peers, or reluctant to receive critical feedback. One student from the Chanski and Ellis study (2017) shared that “It is easier to cut apart and criticize someone else’s writing than to hear it about your own. By focusing on someone else’s flaws you begin to see similarities between your writing and theirs making it easier for you to accept your own flaws.”

Giving feedback also puts students in a more active role than receiving feedback, allows them to see other ways of approaching a task, and puts them into the role of reader, gaining distance from their writing that allows them to look at it with a more critical eye (2).

Dylan Wiliam asserts that the purpose of feedback is to change the student, not the work, to improve their performance on tasks they have not yet attempted. By being focused on the feedback they give, rather than the feedback they receive, the student becomes responsible for identifying more general guidelines for writing and applying them to their work, rather than simply following instructions for fixing errors specific to their writing. This could help with transfer of skills to other writing tasks.

How The Times Analyzed the Migrant Center Airstrike

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July 18, 2019

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How The Times Analyzed the Migrant Center Airstrike

Times Insider explains who we are and what we do, and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together.

When Dataminr, a social media monitoring service, alerted our team on the evening of July 2 to Twitter reports of an airstrike on a migrant detention center in Tajoura, Libya, outside Tripoli, our Visual Investigations unit scrambled to find out more.

Initially, though we had been monitoring the renewed civil war in the area, it seemed too outrageous that a migrant center would be bombed. But if it were true, it would be a big deal, possibly a war crime, and the consequences to people held in the center could be catastrophic.

It was the middle of the night in Libya. How could we verify those claims quickly?

Here are some of the steps we took.

First, we wanted to know where this happened. We searched Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat using the Arabic spelling of Tajoura. Pictures of wounded African refugees and migrants being treated in a medical facility were being shared by Libyan local media accounts.

One picture of the alleged airstrike stood out. Evan Hill, an Arabic-speaking reporter on our team, verified that the logo painted on the building belonged to the Directorate for Combating Illegal Migration, an agency of the United Nations-backed Government of National Accord in Libya. These visual clues suggested the terrible reports were true.

We searched YouTube and Facebook for archival videos of the facility, and found this one of a party with migrants to which the D.C.I.M. invited representatives of various embassies in Libya, including those of Bangladesh and Pakistan.

The video allowed us to confirm the location of the center in Tajoura by comparing the details of the facility to old satellite imagery on Google Earth. We quickly marked the visual details with colored boxes to share the location confirmation on Slack. This method of determining the exact place where a photo or video is taken, called “geolocation,” is a key verification practice for our unit.

We also found a Facebook live stream from the location showing bodies being taken out of the center. “A lot of damage, and a big massacre,” the narrator said in Arabic. Soon after, an official Facebook page of the D.C.I.M. posted harrowing photos of the damage and victims’ remains.

So within an hour or two we were able to confirm where the airstrike happened and analyze the visual evidence. We consulted with our Middle East editor, Herbert Buchsbaum, and sent an overnight briefing to Declan Walsh, our Cairo bureau chief, who, in the morning, interviewed sources in Libya and wrote a detailed story on the attack.

Once that initial news article was published, we began a deeper, longer-term investigation, one that would end up revealing a bigger story.

Maxar Technologies provided a new high-resolution satellite image of the area captured the morning after the attack. A curious detail sent us down a new path of inquiry: The image showed another, smaller airstrike to a building less than 100 yards from the detention area.

In a news interview filmed the night before, one witness to the attack said that, before the detention area was hit, an airstrike hit a weapons area “where we work.”

Could we verify his claim? And could the weapons depot be the building with the small hole in its roof?

Working with Sally Hayden and Sara Creta, two freelance journalists who have been documenting the dire conditions in Tajoura and at other Libyan detention centers, we spoke with witnesses to the attack and former Tajoura detainees.

Several other sources confirmed the presence of the weapons depot, and sent us photos of detainees wearing military fatigues standing next to or washing trucks mounted with heavy machine guns. Some migrants told us they were conscripted to fight with a pro-government militia that ran the compound.

CreditProvided to The Times

Using visual clues such as the distinct gate, reference photos and satellite imagery, we were able to confirm that this military vehicle was inside the weapons depot. In a similar way, using photos from its Facebook page, we were able to confirm that a pro-government militia known as the Katiba al-Dhaman, or Security Brigade, was active on the compound.

Could it have been this weapons depot that was targeted on July 2? We scoured Libyan media to find out more, and stumbled upon a set of photos claiming to show the weapons depot after the airstrike.

In one of these photos, Thomas Gibbons-Neff, a Times reporter and former Marine, recognized a Soviet-made anti-aircraft gun amid the tangled remains of a burned-out pickup truck. Sunlight can be seen coming through a hole in the ceiling — the very same hole that sparked our interest in the first place.

Then we obtained surveillance camera footage from the compound showing the whole sequence of events. This confirmed the reports that the weapons depot was bombed first, at 11:28 p.m.

As smoke and debris spill out, people appear to flee. In WhatsApp voice messages, witnesses told us that people inside the detention center tried to escape but were stopped by guards who shot at the windows and told them to go back inside.

Eleven minutes later, at 11:39 p.m., an airstrike directly hit the detention center. More than 100 people were confined inside. At least 53 were killed, the U.N. said, and many others were wounded.

The next day, a spokesperson for Gen. Khalifa Hifter, the military strongman who launched an offensive on Tripoli in April, confirmed that his forces had hit the depot in an airstrike and blamed the militias loyal to the United Nations-backed government in Tripoli for using migrants and refugees as human shields.

A spokesperson for the U.N. Refugee Agency, which supports migrants and refugees detained in Libya, told us that 3,800 people are currently being held at centers like Tajoura in active conflict zones. The agency said that despite its pleas to European and other countries to move the people to safety, Italy is the only one that recently relocated refugees from Libya.

In the days before publication, we tried to get a comment from the European Commission, but its press officers declined to respond. On July 3, the European foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, issued a statement saying that the European Union had sought to evacuate migrants and refugees from the front lines.

On July 9, two days before we published our investigation, the Libyan authorities running the Tajoura detention center released the surviving detainees. With the U.N. unable to house them, hundreds set off down the road, onto the streets of an active conflict zone. A week later, migrants and refugees are back at square one, sitting ducks at a military facility, as a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees official said the Tajoura detention center was being “refilled” again.

Answering basic journalism questions like “where” and “when” can be hard when there is no immediate access to the incident location. But a wide array of digital tools and methods — such as satellite imagery, social media posts and geolocation — allowed The Times’s Visual Investigations unit to prove some key claims and disprove others, and uncover new information about this potential war crime.

Reporting was contributed by Evan Hill, Sally Hayden, Haley Willis, Sara Creta, Husen Gdora, Barbara Marcolini and Thomas Gibbons-Neff.

Follow the @ReaderCenter on Twitter for more coverage highlighting your perspectives and experiences and for insight into how we work.

Gender in the Workplace Study

By

onlinefreecourse

-

July 18, 2019

0

Over the past three months, we have been reaching out to learning system vendors throughout the world, seeking to find information on the number of female executives at their companies and whether or not they had a leadership development program, and if so, what are the breakdowns?

This post covers what will be included in the study, what are some early takeaways, when the report will be published, and some additional information.

Background

The question to why investigate this, why look only at learning systems, and why now, is multi-fold.

There has never been a research study on gender in the workforce in the e-learning industry, and because the learning system drives the largest amount of revenue in the industry, I choose to focus on that segment first.

I wanted the research to not just be focused on one specific country, rather to go global and see if there are trends based on where in the world, the learning system was located.

Additionally, I wanted it to be a multi-layered study, not just a bunch of data, but really a deep dive.

Diversity is not part of the study, and there is a specific reason on why that is. Many countries do not collect any sort of data in terms of breakdowns of race. As a result, vendors in those countries themselves do not collect or keep track of such data. France for example is one such country. Thus, presenting a diversity breakout across say the U.S. and UK, as the only two, wouldn’t provide a balanced study, when vendors in other countries are following their respective countries mandates.

What will be presented in the report

1. The data

Clearly the big item here – the data will come all various sizes of companies, from start-ups to the biggest names in the industry, and thus very large employee base. If the learning system is owned by a larger parent company, then the data is of the entire entity, although there were a couple that just noted themselves (which is fine).

Specific numbers were captured, so if someone responded with a percentile, we went back to get actual numbers. In the final study, the data is aggregated. There a couple of exceptions, and it is only noted in the study, with the vendor’s permission. For example, there are a few systems where the top execs are all women. It is extremely rare, but it exists.

2. Interviews

I conducted interviews with several female executives from various vendors, located throughout the world. In the final report, their company of course is noted, along with themselves. Everything is intertwined, so this won’t be just here is the person, here are their responses. I selected the companies based on multiple factors, which will be listed in the study as part of an addendum.

3. Data from other sources. To gain a better understanding, data needs to be collected and presented that covers not just our industry, but other industries as well. Certain industries were selected, that cross-over our space. These industries include technology.

Data was also collected based on latest Labor reports from various countries. There are countries which do not have specific breakdowns, so a sample of countries were selected. Again, methodology will be noted.

One area of data collection, relevant I think in today’s learning system industry, is tied to venture capitalists and private equity firms, and what percentage of companies founded by women receive funding compared to their male counterparts. In today’s post you will find out. The study includes it as well.

The study/report will include additional data including the number of women who founded an e-learning company – this is the only time where e-learning as a whole is brought into the equation. The data breakdowns will be by continent, so Europe, North America and Asia. Other continents did not have sufficient data to present, so that will be something to look out in the future.

4. Hypothesis and Conclusion

As with any research project, the hypothesis, and a conclusion are essential. Both items are presented. I did not do say a literature review – after all, this isn’t a thesis or dissertation.

5. Writing Style

The study is focused and written in a write to the point approach. Similar to the way I write my blog, sans the witty banter. The style is what is referred to as new journalism and is the way I always write (for those wondering).

I leveraged my background in Journalism, and followed that approach, including in the interviewing process. Thus, there wasn’t everyone gets the same question approach with the interviews. Questions were based on the flow of the discussion, upon what the person said or didn’t say, and so forth. This is the best way, in my opinion in conducting an interview.

6. The study will come with a table of contents, and yes a couple of addendums. One addendum will list the vendors who participated in the study. Another will list those who outright declined (and stated as such to us) and those who never responded to our inquiries, despite multiple requests.

When will the study be published

In mid-September of 2019. It will be 100% free and available for download on Findanlms.com. A summary with key findings will be published on this blog, with a link to where the report can be viewed and downloaded.

Quick Takeaways

It is my believe that there is a systemic problem in the learning system space regarding the number of female executives in relation to their male counterparts. Men make up more than just the majority, they make up a staggering high number. This aligns to data that is seen in the tech industry as a whole, and in the Fortune500.

Leadership development programs are no better. The ratios are poor as a whole. A troubling trend because when you think about, how can a learning system target L&D professionals and L&D executives, and yet they themselves either do not have a leadership development program themselves (data to be presented in our report) or that the ratio of male to females is of real concern.

This isn’t to say that every company’s ratio is for the lack of a better word, poor, as there were systems whose ratios were either equal or above average. Some vendors noted that they do not look at gender as a factor in who is placed into a leadership development program. But what we found interesting, is the ratio of male to female executives in those same companies. Those results will be published.

Three Data Points (the report will contain a significantly quite more)

6.6% – Percentage of female CEOs at Fortune 500 companies – (As of June 2019, Fortune magazine).
.09% – Percentage of female CEOs/Managing Directors in the learning system industry, if you subtract the number of women who founded the learning system company, the percentage is significantly lower
7% – Percentage of VC funding that goes to women (Center for Venture Research)

Interesting Tidbits

In conducting background research I found that the top three areas/departments that are overseen by female executives are Human Resources, Marketing and Customer Service. The data in the learning system follows the same pattern. It is rare, although it does exist to find a woman overseeing a department such as Engineering, in the learning system industry.

Many vendors responded to us that they were just about to start a leadership development program. And there were some who do not have a leadership development program.

Participation (as of July 18th) – Overall, the response has been fantastic. It is great to see vendors in the learning system space who wanted to participate in what we believe to be important and relevant in today’s business environment.

The list (More are on their way – based upon feedback from the vendor)

LinkedIn Learning, Cornerstone, Skillsoft/SumTotal, Workday Learning, Cross Knowledge/Wiley, eLogic Learning, Saba, Growth Engineering, Unicorn LMS, Learning Technologies Group (Instilled, PeopleFluent, among others), Degreed, Blackboard, Instructure, Absorb, Axonify, D2L, Agylia, Biz Library, EdCast, UpsideLMS, Coorpacademy, Ethos CE, Eurekos, Fuse, GyrusAim, Cypher Learning (MATRIX, NEO), Neovation Learning System, NETEXAM, Academy of Mine, Skilljar, Unboxed Technology, Learn Amp, WBT Systems, emTrain, Knowledge Anywhere, FirstVenture EdTech, LearnUpon, Brainier LMS, Docebo, Talent LMS (includes eFront and Talent Cards), Udutu, ePath Learning, Learnnovators, HT2 Labs (Curatr, Learning Locker), eCom Scotland, Meridian KSI, Abara, GO1, Learning Pool, Thought Industries

Those who notified us that they declined to participate (okay one)

SAP – Their reasoning was related to time, they didn’t have time to do it (Companies they own include of course themselves, SuccessFactors and SAP Litmos)

Crickets – Hello? Anywhere there? Earth to you..Earth to you..

Multiple requests were made over a period of three months

Adobe, Oracle, Coursera, Healthstream, OpenEDX, Panopto VLP, Wisetail, Intellium, Schoology, NorthPass, Paradiso Solutions, Pluralsight, Kineo US, Workjam

I can’t say why, because honestly I do not know, why those vendors declined. One vendor Udemy, informed us they would participate, but since then have gone silent. Another said they would consider it, then silence – that vendor is Lessonly.

This isn’t about shaming any of these vendors, but I am very much aware that readers will inquire about this or that vendor not being on the participation list, and thus, the other list of silence and not wanting to participate.

I left out those vendors who we are still in contact with, so your vendor may be on there (if you are unsure, contact me either below in the “comments” or via “LinkedIn” – message me, or via Twitter – DM me or contact me via e-mail.) – I will let you know.

And is it too late to participate? Absolutely not, but data collection ends on July 25th.

Bottom Line

I truly believe that this study is necessary.

That we all need to know, once and for all, where the learning system stands in terms of gender equality at the executive level and in leadership development programs.

Have we progressed from the “Boys network” or have we regressed?

There is only one way to find out.

E-Learning 24/7

How to craft the perfect work email

By

onlinefreecourse

-

July 18, 2019

0

The first email (or ‘e-mail’) was sent by a computer engineer called Ray Tomlinson in 1971, sadly, the content of this message is lost to history. In 2017, 169 billion emails were sent every day, according to Statista.

Many would agree that email writing is an essential skill in today’s working world. And because it’s a skill, it can be developed. So, here’s a few ways to make your messages better.

1. Be brief

People in the modern workplace get a lot of email – so, make it as easy as possible for your recipient and keep it as short as you can. If you have a lengthy or complex message to convey, your email is a good way to set up a meeting or call to address this later.

Your email’s subject line is a great way to summarise your message, helping your reader to understand the context of your email.

Here it’s good to include Why you’re sending the email for example if you have a specific request, or want to invite the reader to something, mention it here. It’s also worth remembering that many emails are viewed on mobile, which can cause trouble with longer subject lines.

Getting down to business after you’ve greeted and thanked your reader can stop you from appearing blunt or rude, but try to get back to the point quickly.

Your final sentence or paragraph should provide some clear next steps, if required – or make it clear to your reader that the conversation can now be concluded. For example: “I look forward to catching up with you in the office on Tuesday” or “I appreciate your advice, I’ll take it from here”

2. Be polite

Unless your email is part of a chain of messages that’s been running for a while, it’s important to greet your recipient correctly. In business email, it’s better to be too polite than too informal (this applies to your greeting and the content of your message).

More formally, you can use ‘Dear’ and the recipient’s surname ‘ i.e ‘Dear Mrs. Smith’. Less formally, you could use a first name where ‘Dear’ may appear too stuffy. For example: ‘Hi John’. Try to avoid a generic ‘Dear Sir’ or ‘Dear Madam’ unless you don’t know your recipient’s name.

Your email’s sign off can be approached much the same way. In a formal email, you can consider closing with something like ‘Very best’, ‘Kind regards’, or ‘Respectfully’. With more informal email, a simple ‘Thanks’ or ‘Best’ may be fine.

Remember, it’s not a trade off between ‘friendly’ and ‘polite’, you can be both!

3. Check it thoroughly

Make sure you check every email thoroughly before you send it – even if you corrected the spelling as you went along. It might also be worth using software to help – Grammarly offers a useful plugin for your internet browser that’s great for checking spelling and grammar.

Now is also a good time to see if:

The email has a clear purpose, with definite next steps for the reader.
There’s anything you can remove that doesn’t support the main purpose of the email.
There are any correctly spelled typos (for example typing ‘no’ instead of ‘not’).

At this point, you could also put your email into a word count tool. You may be surprised by how long it is.

Product Mockups

Photos

Patterns + Textures

GRAPHICS + ILLUSTRATIONS

FONTS

Licenses

STEP 1: RESIZE YOUR PHOTO

STEP 2: ADD A LITTLE CSS

STEP 3: ADD A PHOTO TO A POST

Before You Publish the Post

1. Write an Attention-Grabbing Post Title

2. Add sections and Headings

3. Add Tags & Categories

4. Add Alt Text to Images

5. Add a Featured Image (WordPress)

6. Deep Link to Old Posts

7. Proofread

8. SEO Optimize the Post

9. Add a Call To Action

After You Publish the Post

10. Promote Your Post on Social Media

11. Pin & Repin Your Post to Pinterest

12. Link It Within Old Posts

13. Reply to Comments

14. Mention the post in an email to your subscribers

15. Study Your Analytics for the Post

WEEKLY POST PLANNER

1) Email is less competitive than social media

2) Email is far more personal and reliable

3) You own your email list

4) Your mailing list is directly aligned to revenue

Like this:

Related

1. Be brief

2. Be polite

3. Check it thoroughly

How are you developing your email skills? Does your organisation recognise the importance of clear communication?

Let us know in the comments.

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