Nur Ahmad Furlong

Blog

  • WordPress Meetup#3 Planning Gains momentum

    It’s officially the first event I’ve been involved in organising in the blogging community and it’s been a great experience thus far. There’s been alot of interest as well as sponsorship and speaking offers which makes my task alot easier.

    What we need now is to get the message out there and get people to register!. Herewith the details thus far.

    I’ve secured the Bandwidth Barn as a venue and have set the date for Wednesday 28th May. Bandwidth Barn, 125 Buitengracht Street, Cape Town (map). Buitengracht street runs just bewteen Cape Town City Centre and Bo Kaap. There’s a Euro Scooter Shop just below it and it’s opposite a building with a Huge O painted on it.
    Date & Time:

    Wednesday 28 May 2008, 4pm – 7pm (feel free to come an hour early & stay an hour later if you’re a wordpress freak)
    Speakers

    * Mark Bloomfield – WordPress as a CMS
    * Johann Botha – WordPress Security
    * Rafiq Phillips – SEO for wordpress
    * Adriaan Pienaar – Topic to be confirmed

    more speakers requested
    Sponsors Secured

    * FrogFoot Networks – Domain & Hosting, the new domain with fresh installation of WP & a media wiki should be up in the next few days.
    * Adii – Premium WordPress Theme as a prize
    * Red-Button – 50 mb per person for the event

    Sponsors Negotiating

    T-Shirt sponsorships being negotiated (more sponsors required!) We’ll be putting a list of logos or urls of the T-shirt sponsors on the t-shirts so hop on board. if anyone knows of a good place we can get the T-shirts printed let us know.

    We’re looking for a few people to chip in for Yellow Llama’s flight costs, he’s covering most of it but as I asked him to come down to Cape Town to speak I thought it might help if we helped him out a little.
    Sponsors Required

    * Snacks – Sponsorship required
    * Looking for someone to sponsor copies of wordpress for dummies
    * Projector Needed for the Presentations
    * Additional T-Shirt sponsors

    Marketing

    I’ve been talking to a few people in my own capacity about the event, but need to rest of the community’s involvement in getting some interest going, sharing some ideas and preparing topics etc. Sharing your pics of previous events and blogging about the upcoming one will be much appreciated.

    All you online social networking junkies out there are requested to work your magic with getting the message for the meet out there and drumming up some interest.

  • VeloCITI session 2 – the value of Value Propositions

    After investigating our values in VeloCITI session 1, we’ve moved on to crafting our Unique Selling Proposition or Value Proposition so we have a clear and impactful way of conveying the essence of what our businesses are all about.

    It’s sometimes referred to as the elevator pitch, you only have a few seconds to convey to someone what you do in a way which uncovers it’s unique characteristics while still being clear enough for them to perfectly understand what you’re saying.

    David Murray of Cape Venture Partners hosted an excellent half day session with us taking us through the nuts & bolts of value propositions. We also focused on company names and how these impact the way the market perceives the company.

    Describing your company in 10 words:

    If you had just ten words with which to describe why people should buy your company‘s product or service, what would you say?

    10 words are very few, especially when there’s so much we want to say to those who ask us that all important question: “So, what is it that YOU do?”. Many times we are faced with this question, not only from business people, but sometimes from our family members and friends. If we are stuck for simple words to describe what we do,chances are we haven’t Mastered the art of selling our businesses yet.

    So What exactly is a Value Proposition?

    Otherwise known as USP or Unique Selling Point/Proposition,it’s a condensed, yet simple and easy to understand expression of what your business is all about.

    • It has to be Unique, Different and that uniqueness has to be attractive enough to matter.
    • It has to be clear and easy to comprehend with as little jargon if any at all.
    • It has to matter to the customer or potential customer
    • It has to be a solution to an existing problem. In other words there must be real(or perceived) value in what you are offering or no-one will be willing to pay for it.
    • It has to be different in some way to what your competitors are saying in order to make you stand out and be more attractive to the potential customer.

    (more…)

  • A night at the SA Blog Awards

    So, my visit to the SA Blog awards proved to be quite strange, interesting, confusing and thought provoking. I knew I was kidding myself into thinking it wouldn’t run into a booze-up, that being the most frustrating part for me as the smell of alcohol in the air kept me outside on the Balcony for the short stay.

    UCT Tennis Club – Good Venue

    The Venue was great when I arrived, it’s a really nice place to have a meetup or event with a nice atmosphere, view of the City over the treetops with the mountain behind you.

    Greening the blog awards

    Having stodels as a sponsor would probably not been been so cool not too long ago, but I found it really great that part of the prizes were actually trees. Not sure how much Carbon emissions those trees would actually offset but it’s the thought that counts I suppose.

    Met Some Interesting People

    I bumped into a few people some I knew and hadn’t seen for years, some I had only seen online or on twitter, others who are regular show at events of this nature and a few interesting people I met on the night.

    Chatting to Shane Dryden of ideate briefly was rather interesting and thought provoking, in fact the conversations I had, generally centred around how self glorifying the whole concepts of blogging and blog awards can be. I thought about this a bit and investigated my own intention for trying to build an online profile as a blogger.

    Tim from Quirk was kind enough to bring me a glass of ice and a coke, knowing I don’t drink Alcohol, he’s an all round great guy and does a great job at making people feel at home.

    So Why do we do this thing called Blogging?

    Why do we blog? An ex colleague from Design School who I bumped into was speaking to me about having a personal blog which just focuses on personal matters, another guest spoke about only having started his blog that very day and wanting to engage with people as a financial planner by advising them through his new blog. I had conversation with Chris from iMod (a winner in one of the categories) a few months ago about the purpose of Blogging,do we do it for money, for fame, to blow our own trumpets? I think we can all agree we do it for different reasons, though we’re all looking to create value for ourselves in a different way.

    I watched how a few people who were obviously just there to check if they or someone they supported had won or not scrambled out after their categories winner was announced, was quite funny. I never really expected to feature in my category as I know the other players in Design Blogging offer alot more value than I currently do, so no real disappointments for me other than the madness of the event.

    The blogging gang who were at the Blog awards, including myself are definitely living in a world of their own creation, something completely cut off from the rest of society, something most people, including myself a few short months ago, didn’t know a thing about.

    So Why do I blog?

    I love how blogging has brought me into contact with some of the most interesting, intelligent and strange people I have met to date. I love the conversation created by blogging, but I have realised, like with real world conversation, there are genuines and there are those who fake it for the cameras. You can tell when you meet a genuine face to face, when he/she comments on your site, when you email each other or just say hi, and of course, the fakers.

    What I hate about Blogging

    Bloggers who love to comment but are never interested in a real human conversation. I Guess blogging is alot like real life, but with it’s own pros, cons and intricacies.

    So Why do you blog?

  • How can we make WPCPT meetup #3 rock?

    All you wordpress superstars, Planning for wordpress meetup 3 is under way. We can’t do a thing without wordpressy peeps though. Check out the latest post on how we can make the next meetup Rock Big Time.

    We got some ideas to start you off, first off we’d like some feedback if you were at the last one and please send your photos to post on the site as well.

    Head on over to http://wpcapetown.wordpress.com/ and get involved.

  • SA Blog awards ceremony tonight at UCT Tennis Club

    It’s taken a while to reach this point. Tonight the winners of the SA Blog awards will be announced at the UCT Tennis club.

    The 2008 South African blogs awards ceremony will be hosted on Wednesday 2nd April 2008 at Cape town.

    Time: 6:30 for 7pm
    Dress: Smart casual
    Address: UCT Tennis club
    Programme: Formal awards between 7 – 9pm

    RSVP: If you’re planning to attend, please head on over to the SA Blog Awards Wiki and put your name on the list. Also, please indicate whether or not you drink alcohol or not and if you’re a vegetarian.

    I’ve got a new haircut for the event, meaning, all my hair is gone, but I’m not much of a smart casual dresser so will have to go the extra mile to fit into the smart category, I’m usually extra casual as far as I can help it.

    Hope to see some of the more established bloggers in the community there, I’m not expecting to feature really though as I’m a bit of a newbie but it’s great to have received nominations and votes. Competing with Adii is a bit of a bummer in most cases, he’s got an army behind him and has been at this for way longer adding much more value than I do. I reckon he might take the category I’ve been nominated for, (ie – Best Blog about Design) though both of our blogs are not really exclusively about design.

    To those who are attending, I’m looking forward to chatting to each and every one of you so don’t be shy, I’ll try not to be, come over and say hi if you see a bald headed guy with a beard strolling around looking a little lost, that will probably be me :).

    See you all there.

  • 2 eco-friendly bikes from different sides of the tech divide

    The one is a slick, high tech hydrogen cell powered beauty which I would love to get my hands on and the other, a humble, down-to-earth bamboo construction which I wouldn’t mind trying out either.

    Both aim to approach 21st Century transportation in an innovative yet clean way, but don’t expect these to meet each other on the same street.

    bamboobike meets env bike.

    bamboo-bike env-images

    The 2 solutions are suited for the worlds they have been designed for, but both have a similar purpose, provide transport in an environmentally friendly manner.

    Bamboo has a lighter footprint

    Of course the bamboo bike wins the carbon footprint game hands down as it’s a completely sustainable product manufactured from around 70% biodegradable materials available in the locality it will be used in. It’s low-cost, fuel efficient, healthy, and doesn’t need huge production factories and machinery powered by huge energy resources to put together.

    Slick, powerful, clean and extendable

    On the other hand, the env is made for the modern city dweller who wouldn’t be caught dead on a bamboo frame with wheels. It’s slick design is only the beginning.

    The fuel cell is an electrochemical device which produces electricity, water and heat directly from hydrogen and oxygen. The water by-product can be evaporated, drained or even drunk.

    the-core It’s hydrogen powered fuel cell(the core as it is referred to) is at the centre of this sophisticated design. The idea is that the core, as the detachable heart of the env can be used to power just about anything anywhere.

    Back to the Bamboo Bike and it’s many advantages in a not so teched up environment. I can see the Bamboo bike having a much greater impact not only on the environment but on the lives of thousands of people living in sub-economic locations.

    In Africa, very few people can own cars or even motorcycles and people without bicycles have to rely on inadequate and relatively expensive buses. Bicycles are creatively modified to become boda boda taxis.

    Transportation issues on different sides of the economic/tech divide couldn’t be further apart, but it’s good to see that on both sides, practical attempts are being made to find sustainable & efficient solutions.

    I’ve thought of getting myself a bicycle and electro scooter many times and hope I might get a chance in the near future to play my own part in conserving and lightening my footprint in this regard.