SUNDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2007 - LAUNCH OF LEARNING 2007

 

You Want Us To Do What?

Even though this post is going up on Monday morning, October 22nd, this was a post based on notes I took last night while meeting the Champlain students and watching them up on stage with Elliott Masie for the official launch of Learning 2007.  First of all, they did impressively well up in front of 2000 professionals.   Certainly, they are a credit to their school and a reminder as to exactly why most companies hire students straight from college.  I can't imagine what it must have been like to suddenly have Elliott invite you up in front of 2000 people to discuss this project, but it certainly was impressive from where I sat.

 

By the way, if anyone has any pictures of that interview, I would really appreciate it if you could post them on this page.  Just send an email to dflanagan@kpmg.com if you need any help in making updates to these posts.

 

The energy, intelligence, and enthusiasm of our four adventurers is quite obvious.  You can see their individual photos in the summary post here.

 

After their interview, the "Champlain Four" were immediately back to work on their project.  If you stop by the area where they are working -- just across the hall from Coronado L and in front of the "North Registration" space -- you'll see them busily working on design ideas and their plan of implementation.  They have flowchart pages hanging up everywhere, their "Champlain College Gaming Design Lab" sign hanging up, and, perhaps most importantly, candy and snacks in a far corner to help keep energy levels high.

 

I can see that one of their great challenges will be to handle the steady flow of conference attendees who are stopping by to visit and ask questions.  And that is not unlike the real corporate world, where you have clients seeking regular updates, daily meetings, and a hundred other distractions hitting you even while you are expected to hold firm on project deadlines that you've either committed to at the outset or been given.  Learning to balance multiple priorities and channel constant distractions is part of the process.

 

At 9:30, after the session launch, all the attendees filed out to either have fun, catch up on work email, grab a bite to eat, or go watch as much of the rest of "Desperate Housewives" as they could catch.  But the Champlain Four kept busy, working until about 11:30 and finally logging off so they could walk around a bit and just explore the conference center grounds.

 

What they did not expect was that their introduction that evening would give them a sort of celebrity status.  So, wherever they went, attendees stopped to say hello, chat with them, and ask questions. 

 

Does this add to the pressure; knowing that 2000+ people are watching everything you're doing?  I think I'll ask when I get the chance.

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