Category: Industry Tips

The 2022 Sydney Film Festival Has Just Announced Its Full 2022 Lineup

Posted on by geqadmin

Sydney Film Festival’s full program is officially here! You can now explore over 200+ films from June 8-19, with cinema from around the world sure to captivate, delight, and shock.   

Catch Australian and International films and documentaries directed by and starring women across our entire program. Watch incredible Australian films such as THE SWEETNESS, nominated for a Documentary Australia award, and SERIOUSLY RED, directed by Gracie Otto in her feature-length debut. Don’t miss the Europe! Voices of Women in Film program strand, dedicated to women directors and their stories. Watch LOVING HIGHSMITH, BLUE MOON, and GIRL PICTURE, only in the cinema, only at SFF. 

You can explore the program and book your tickets via this link. 

Don’t miss the Europe! Voices of Women program via this link.

Five Prominent Social Media Platforms Every Entrepreneur Needs To Invest In

Posted on by krissy

If you are planning to launch a small business or you’ve started one just recently and you haven’t utilised the power of social media because you think it’s for teens only – then you’re definitely missing out! You have probably encountered a load of information explaining how you can use social media to promote your business which makes sense because social media is a powerful money-making machine as long as it’s utilised the right way. It doesn’t really matter if you think social media is for kids, bottom line, EVERYONE is on social media and it’s free communication.

Although there are millions of social media users all throughout the world, it is quite easy to get carried away by the number. Looking for the right social media sites to get your business promoted and maximize its potential is important to the success of a business, and it is the part where you should be concentrating your efforts.

What will your business gain from engaging in social media?

Social media is all about engaging through sharing, which means, in business, it’s targeting your services, your product range, or your articles at engaging a possible client base or customer. With millions of users worldwide, social media is covering every topic range that you would be able to think of.

Along with engaging a prospective client base and customer, social media also plays a big relevance to SEO. Social media has been a unique format because it is helping you promote your content directly to your audience, which in turn, would generate traffic through people who share your content with others, and through search engine optimization.

The most prominent social media sites and their uses:

Below are six of the most prominent and significant social media sites that you need to utilise right now if you want your business to succeed.

1. YouTube  – This site is about showcasing videos to a large range of audiences. It is being utilized by businesses at all times to sell products and services. While YouTube is owned by Google, videos have a tendency of featuring prominently on the search engine results. You are even given the chance to utilize the YouTube ads for making a secondary stream of income.

2. Facebook – This social media site has been predominantly built for sharing. These can be articles, products, or services. It is for sharing your content with as many people as possible.

3. Twitter – It is about sharing news on any subject. You should not let the word “news” make you feel as if it does not apply to products. Twitter is good for new stock ready to be sold, new product launches, and other press releases.

4. Linkedin – For the newbies out there who haven’t heard of LinkedIn before, it’s a social network that is designed for career and business professionals to connect with each other. Unlike Facebook wherein, you can ask to be a friend of anyone you like, LinkedIn is not about numbers, it’s about quality, not quantity. It’s about building strategic relationships and connecting with people that are relevant to your business.

5. Instagram – This social media site is good to use when it comes to showcasing visual products. If your business is selling something on the web, make sure you post on Instagram and as many bookmarking sites as you can find. Instagram has been around now for a while, and it doesn’t just end there. It keeps growing. More than 500 million people have an Instagram account, and 300 million of these users are actively using the platform daily. This is great news for social media marketers.

Are You Oversharing?? Here’s Why Posting Photos On Social Media Can Be Dangerous!

Posted on by krissy

Are you oversharing? The pictures you post online reveal more than you might expect.

As some COVID-19 restrictions get lifted, people are spending more time in social places and are very eager to showcase their life outside home online. Visited your favorite restaurant for the first time after lockdown? Better post a picture of the memorable event! At least, that’s what the majority do.

However, not many think of the dangerous outcomes of posting on social media. According to BrandWatch, 3.2 billion images and 720,000 hours of video footage are shared daily, making those people perfect targets for thieves and cybercriminals.

“People share information about themselves in exchange for positive reactions or when they need to vent. However, every picture we post may set off an incident of cybercrime,” says Daniel Markuson, a digital privacy expert at NordVPN.

While most social media users know they shouldn’t reveal their home address, current location, or phone number on Facebook, many still share entertaining photos or social plans. Such information might seem innocent to share, and potential threats tend to be overlooked.

Are you oversharing?

Since vacation season is upon us and everybody hopes for less strict COVID-19 rules, the expert has made a list of the most common mistakes. If you make at least one of them, have no doubt that you can become a target for hackers frequenting the dark web.

You share your location. You post pictures with location tags of your whereabouts, letting everyone on the internet know where you are and where you live. If you’re on a trip, and the only one guarding your property is your neighbor’s cat, rest assured that criminals will consider breaking in.

You share your address. You take pictures of your house, allowing others to figure out where exactly you live and what items you own. Sharing where you live can do more harm than you think. A Japanese pop star posted a selfie with a reflection of a train station on her eyeball. This minor detail helped a stalker trace her location and sexually assault her.

You vent or rant on social media. Pressure at work, family duties, and social tensions might result in a burning need to vent. Never do that online: what gets on the internet stays there forever. Personal feelings should be shared with close circles rather than publicly.

You post images that contain minors. Even high-profile parents like Pink and Gwyneth Patrow have given up posting pictures of their children. This is not only because of the hateful comments they receive, but also because kids are often mocked at school for being featured in their parents’ snaps.

You share your intimate pictures. This is a classic —  engaging in sexting and sharing nudes. The number of image-related crimes grew by a triple-digit during the pandemic, as people engaged in intimate conversations more than usual. As a result, NordVPN’s recent survey revealed that as many as 36% of Brits are highly worried about their stored personal pictures being made public.

You have all the trending social media apps on your device. Choose a few. Do you really need Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, and all the other social media apps? These applications have access to your gallery, location, and contacts, meaning they collect and store your data, which might not always be that innocent.

You never turn off Wi-Fi on your mobile device. Your phone is continuously scanning for trusted Wi-Fi networks. Once you get close to your home or work, your device automatically connects to the network it finds. This is convenient, but, along with these constant joining requests, your phone gives out a lot of valuable information about you. There are tools that collect the names of all nearby Wi-Fi hotspots, including your home network. This data is then sent to public websites like Wigle.net, which create heatmaps of Wi-Fi hotspots. Anyone can find your home address — even a non-techie stalker from your college or office.

You use your work device for personal needs. Are you guilty of browsing X-rated content, looking for a new job, or shopping online on your work computer? It is very likely that your boss or the tech guy will know about it. Your internet service provider keeps logs of where you go and what pages you visit. Keep your personal matters on your personal devices. And use a VPN to keep your private affairs really private.

You use the same password or its variations for multiple accounts. If you use the same password on multiple platforms, you are making it easier for hackers to get to your private accounts. Additionally, don’t risk it by using the most popular passwords of 2020, as identified by NordPass’s research. For example, ‘123456’ has been breached more than 23 million times and takes a second to crack. Among others are ‘picture1′, ‘password’, ‘senha’, ‘qwerty’, ‘abc123′, ‘Million2′, ‘iloveyou’, ‘password1′, and others.

You never check the background of the picture you are about to post. The last piece of advice is to simply follow common sense. Surely,  anyone can make a mistake, just like Lisa Kudrow, who accidentally posted a picture containing a post-it note with her passwords. Consider the internet a public space — everyone can see you both from the good angles and the bad.

“Besides cyber threats, it’s fun to post photos and let everyone know you’re having a cocktail at a nearby bar, but that sends a clear signal to burglars that your home is empty,” Daniel Markuson adds. “Even the people who feel sufficiently educated about online privacy still reveal their personal details online. Millennials especially tend to post their social activities online.”

ABOUT NORDVPN

NordVPN is the world’s most advanced VPN service provider used by over 14 million internet users worldwide. NordVPN provides double VPN encryption, malware blocking, and Onion Over VPN. The product is very user-friendly, offers one of the best prices on the market, has over 5,000 servers in 60 countries worldwide, and is P2P-friendly. One of the key features of NordVPN is the zero-log policy. For more information: nordvpn.com.

Photo by Kampus Production from Pexels

Top 5 Social Media Platforms Every Entrepreneur Needs To Invest In 2022

Posted on by krissy

If you are planning to launch a small business or you’ve started one just recently and you haven’t utilised the power of social media because you think it’s for teens only – then you’re definitely missing out! You have probably encountered a load of information explaining how you can use social media to promote your business which makes sense because social media is a powerful money-making machine as long as it’s utilised the right way. It doesn’t really matter if you think social media is for kids, bottom line, EVERYONE is on social media and it’s free communication.

Although there are millions of social media users all throughout the world, it is quite easy to get carried away by the number. Looking for the right social media sites to get your business promoted and maximize its potential is important to the success of a business, and it is the part where you should be concentrating your efforts.

What will your business gain from engaging in social media?

Social media is all about engaging through sharing, which means, in business, it’s targeting your services, your product range, or your articles at engaging a possible client base or customer. With millions of users worldwide, social media is covering every topic range that you would be able to think of.

Along with engaging a prospective client base and customer, social media also plays a big relevance to SEO. Social media has been a unique format because it is helping you promote your content directly to your audience, which in turn, would generate traffic through people who share your content with others, and through search engine optimization.

The most prominent social media sites and their uses:

Below are six of the most prominent and significant social media sites that you need to utilise right now if you want your business to succeed.

1. YouTube  – This site is about showcasing videos to a large range of audiences. It is being utilized by businesses at all times to sell products and services. While YouTube is owned by Google, videos have a tendency of featuring prominently on the search engine results. You are even given the chance to utilize the YouTube ads for making a secondary stream of income.

2. Facebook – This social media site has been predominantly built for sharing. These can be articles, products, or services. It is for sharing your content with as many people as possible.

3. Twitter – It is about sharing news on any subject. You should not let the word “news” make you feel as if it does not apply to products. Twitter is good for new stock ready to be sold, new product launches, and other press releases.

4. Linkedin – For the newbies out there who haven’t heard of LinkedIn before, it’s a social network that is designed for career and business professionals to connect with each other. Unlike Facebook wherein, you can ask to be a friend of anyone you like, LinkedIn is not about numbers, it’s about quality, not quantity. It’s about building strategic relationships and connecting with people that are relevant to your business.

5. Instagram – This social media site is good to use when it comes to showcasing visual products. If your business is selling something on the web, make sure you post on Instagram and as many bookmarking sites as you can find. Instagram has been around now for a while, and it doesn’t just end there. It keeps growing. More than 500 million people have an Instagram account, and 300 million of these users are actively using the platform daily. This is great news for social media marketers.

Photo by picjumbo.com from Pexels

Top 5 Qualities Of Highly Successful People

Posted on by krissy

Did you know that most successful people share 5 traits that make them unique and successful?

One of the most powerful rags-to-riches stories is that of none other than Chris Gardner the founder of Gardner Rich & Company. His life was made into a film ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ starring Will Smith back in 2006 and he’s a multi-millionaire stockbroker and motivational speaker, who was once homeless and is now reportedly worth $60 million.

The reality of life is that every success comes with rejection, if you’re not failing at all then you’re not trying hard enough. It’s the massive hunger that’ll get you from where you are now to where you feel you should be. Chris Gardner had the massive hunger to keep moving forward for his son, at all odds, finally becoming a stockbroker and eventually becoming a multi-millionaire. Here’s the rub: there’s no one path to success. However, there are certain traits that highly successful people have in common that contribute to their ability to succeed when others seem to fail. Below are 5 examples:

They’re willing to do whatever it takes

Chris Gardner was pretty much homeless and bankrupt back in his early days but he was able to turn his life around because he was prepared to put forth the work. Dedication and hard work are equally as important as talent and brainpower. It’s doing whatever you’re doing extraordinarily well, if you want to be successful then you need have to put 110% into everything you do, doing something half-hearted will never get you anywhere. Unfortunately, not everyone has the dedication to follow through with their passion – if you want something bad enough then you need to go out there and get it.

They don’t take failure personally

It’s quite standard to receive failure and negative criticisms on your journey to success. If you’re not failing at all then it simply means that you’re not trying hard enough. No matter how many times you fail, you can’t look at your failures as a reflection of yourself. Failure is simply a stepping stone to success, if you’re failing a lot then that means it’s going to be much sweeter when success finally comes.

They are prepared to take risks

Have you heard of the saying “high-risk high reward?” If you want to be successful one day then you need to be prepared to take risks. If you’re not prepared to bite the bullet and take calculated risks then you will never reach your full potential. Sometimes you just have to go “all in” if you want to achieve success.

They are prepared to learn from their mistakes

Most people who are highly successful had to go through insane hardship to get to where they are. If you are prepared to accept success then you must also be prepared to accept failure and mistakes – they go hand in hand. You need to be able to accept accountability and learn from your mistakes and move on to bigger and better things.

They are always ready for a change

The only thing permanent in life is change so if you are unable to adapt when the changes come then you’ll never be successful in life. You have to bear in mind that life is tough and it can throw you plenty of curve balls so your ability to adapt to change will set you apart from other people.

In conclusion

Success comes in a number of ways and forms. The interesting thing is that most successful people have very similar traits. Successful people also set realistic goals for themselves so that they know they can achieve them and they have a way of somehow measuring their success. How do you stack up against this list?

Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko from Pexels

3 Benefits And Challenges Of Cultural Diversity In The Workplace

Posted on by krissy

Multiculturalism is the bread and butter of Australia, especially when it comes to the workforce. According to the 2016 Consensus, 45% of Australians reported having a least one parent born overseas, and 19% of the population is born overseas; it only logical to have the workforce accommodate the growing melting pot that we have.

Having a culturally diverse team in the workplace means an inhibition to tackle a project from different perspectives, knowledge, and experiences. Chances are hiring staff from different backgrounds can be good for business.

Countless studies have reinforced the importance of having a culturally rich workplace. These are three key benefits that motivate a workplace to be culturally diverse.

  1. Enhance business performance and productivity.

According to Deloitte and the Human Rights Commission, fostering an inclusive and culturally diverse workforce will significantly improve business performance and productivity. When employees work with someone who has the same background as them, it gives them a sense of familiarity.

  • Employees’ ability to innovate increased by 83 percent.
  • Responding to changing customers needs to be increased by 31 percent.
  • Team collaboration increased by 42 percent.
  • There also find that employees likely to stay at work because they feel more included, which decreases the attendance rate.

As a result of having a culturally rich office, the 2017 McKinsey report, companies that have fostered a solid ethnic and cultural diversity in their executive teams were 33% more likely to bring in business than companies with homogenous teams.

  1. Thinking Innovatively by breaking language barriers

Reports have concluded that if cultural diversity initiatives are appropriately implemented, innovative thinking amongst staff members becomes more collaborative.

By the staff of different backgrounds, they can understand the intercultural differences and help decipher the dynamic between the company and their clients. As a result, overcoming language barriers by hiring staff with diverse backgrounds is viewed favourably by a client with the same background.

As for innovation, reports have shown that CALD workforces perform better on brainstorming solutions and ideas. Due to the diverse ways of thinking, experience, and perspectives from ethnic groups, they identify cultural nuances from an ethnic audience.

It’s also worth noting that as the world becomes increasingly globalised, there is a need for a company to establish an international presence, which means there is an advantage for CALD staff who bridge into Australia’s neighbouring trade partners in Asia.

  1. Promotes team morale, health, and wellbeing.

Although being a multicultural country, Australia has its fair share of racial discrimination. It’s never fun to be a token of an ethnic or racial group. It will lead to further ostracisation if the individual feels there are surrounded by the majority Anglo-Celtic workmates.

There is solid evidence to suggest that racism can be debilitating for a person of colour’s mental and physical health. Anxiety, depression, stress, and poor quality of life ensues if there is no sense of belonging when it comes to the workplace.

People who faced racial discrimination regularly are also more likely to be overweight or obese or engage in destructive habits (i.e. smoking).

When cultural diversity initiatives are correctly done, a multicultural workplace is beneficial as it maximises profits, efficiently solves problems by tapping into intercultural communication, and improving the overall team’s morale.

5 Tips To Manage Your Mental Health and Well-Being During The COVID-19 Outbreak

Posted on by geqadmin

The world has certainly been turned upside down over the last couple of months. These unprecedented times have tested people and the impact of the pandemic will be seen for a long time. This has, however, given people a good opportunity to get to grips with their physical and mental wellness. If you are someone who exercises regularly then you will understand how important it is to a human being’s stability. Our emotional status is often very closely linked with our physical state.

Think about it, if you have a stressful day at work it is compounded by any physical ailment you may be experiencing. Stress is exponentially increased when we are out of balance with our bodies and the current situation has led to a lot of stress going around. We need to make sure that we are keeping tabs on our physical and mental well-being. This article will give you 5 tips to maintaining yourself during a pandemic and hopefully teach you to deal with stress a lot easier.

Here are 5 steps to get you going throughout the day:

Step 1: Wake up and make your bed.

Step 2: Eat a well-balanced breakfast.

Step 3: Take a moment to plan your day (without using your phone or technology).

Step 4: Pick a time to put on your exercise shoes and do it.

Step 5: Put on your shoes.

You do not have to be lifting weight or going for 2 hour runs every day. Simple exercises with simple movements can have a massive impact on your health and mental state. A good rule of thumb is that you should aim for half an hour of exercise every day. Regular exercise has proven to increase your brains ability to process serotonin and norepinephrine. These are the hormones in your brain that manage your ability to deal with stress. Simple exercise and getting the blood flowing can have a tremendous impact on your mood and stress levels. Another vital impact of exercise is that it will give you more energy. It may seem like a contradiction but the more energy you use, the more you actually have. If you spend all day on the couch your body will become accustomed to that lifestyle and you will find it harder and harder to get up and get going. During a pandemic, it is absolutely crucial that you keep your energy levels up because it is hard enough to deal with lockdown in a normal state, doing it while feeling tired and lethargic is much harder. Give yourself the boost you need by training your body and your mind.

Maintaining a healthy mindset is so important at this time. Everyone is dealing with the pandemic in different ways and you will find that those who are able to cope with the hardships are probably those people who have regular exercise routines. Taking care of your body creates a positive atmosphere and you will find that your mental state improves with each day that you spend on the go. You do not have to become a world-class athlete; you just need to get your body moving. Even a simple walk around the block can have massive effects on your well-being.

How to Get More Facebook Likes & Followers: 5 Tactics That Actually Work

Posted on by geqadmin

Since its inception, Facebook has become one of the most successful social media sites to advertise on. With just under 17% of the population of the planet signed up to Facebook, you can get a much larger audience than any other site to view your posts and engage with your brand. But to make any waves on Facebook, you need Likes and followers. A popular way in recent years to gain Likes is to buy them, but not only is this not authentic, it also doesn’t get your brand noticed by actual potential customers. So how can you get the Facebook Likes that you need, without paying for them?

Here are some killer tips for creating a successful Facebook page for your brand without spending a penny.

Fill out your page

Filling out your page may seem obvious, but a mistake that a lot of people make is not to fill out their pages entirely. You can add plenty of information to your Facebook page including links to other sites that you have, and all the information that a customer needs, and this is what they are looking for. A sparse Facebook page makes it look like you aren’t taking this seriously and may even make them question if you are a legitimate business in the first place.

Use Insights

Facebook insights is free to use and an invaluable tool to use when advertising on the site. You can access this through your business page on Facebook, and what it does is it lets you see what is working for your page. Which posts are seen the most, liked the most, what other pages your followers are interacting with and when. This is useful as you can schedule your posts for when the most people will see it, and also get an idea of the other kinds of things you could do in the future to gain popularity.

Use a great picture and heading

Appearance is everything these days, and even more so on social media. If you don’t already have a recognizable logo, you need to get one. Make your Facebook page look good, and people won’t mind liking and sharing. You can look at similar businesses to yours to see how they did theirs and how you can do better.

Invite likes

Make sure to invite those who like your posts, to like your page. This can be done by using other sites to drive traffic, or in your Facebook settings.

Share relevant content

Users like pages that share other things they want to see. If you can find videos or posts that are related to your area of expertise or your industry, users will find your page more engaging and entertaining, and thus, will interact more with it. Unless you are already an extremely popular brand, users will quickly get bored if you only ever share your own content. This can also help to build relationships with other users and businesses.

Dear beauty Queen: Posing Tips For How to Look Your Best In Photographs

Posted on by geqadmin

Posing can be a struggle both for the model and the photographer. This is because some of the less-experienced models tend to wait for the direction of the photographer before striking a pose. They normally freeze in front of the camera and are mostly clueless about what to do. This situation makes it difficult and troublesome for the photographer to produce good photos.

The preparation for any photoshoot starts even before the photoshoot. You need to be aware of what kind of shoot it is. You can start looking at the related f magazines on the type of pose that they are doing. Not all of the tips here will work for everyone since the right kind of pose will vary in every genre.

1. Your Mirror is Your Friend

Stand in front of your mirror, take a pose and see how you highlight the shape of your body. The mirror is an ideal tool to show you the thing that the camera can produce. Consider the features and things that can be seen depending on the angle. For instance, in case you put your feet closer to the lens, then there is a possibility that your feet will look larger in the photo.

2. Create a Space on Your Limbs and Body

Squashing your limbs closer to your body will make you appear to look fat. Separating your limbs from your body will also create a slimmer appearance. This is a tiny cheat in the modeling world that can make a huge difference.

3. Understand the Light

For instance, in case you raise your arm on the light, it will basically look brighter compared to your face. There is also a possibility that it will cast a shadow on your face and body. A simple way to counteract this is by using your other arm. You may also adjust your arm backward to avoid the casting of the shadow. Having an understanding of how the lighting falls is a basic necessity in modeling. Ask the photographer about the key light and think about how you can work with it.

4. Elongate the Neck

In order to show class, poise, and height, elongating your neck would be a great solution. It is also one of the most difficult things to remember when modeling since this action feels a bit unnatural. Look in front of the mirror and stand in a normal position. Let your face come forward by rolling your shoulder backward. By now you have seen the huge difference in the neck’s width. You may even advance your pose by popping the jaw in front of the camera to create a shadow that will highlight your jawline.

Hopefully, the modeling tips that we provided above can provide some help for our aspiring models. These are just some of the tricks that most professional models wish they knew when they were just starting out.