Author: gordon

You might know PARC. This is the lab that Steve Jobs walked into and was inspired to make the Mac what it is today. Inside this lab lots of things in the industry were developed:

1. Laser printers and page description language.
2. Tablet PCs (the first prototype is sitting in a display there).
3. Ethernet (first piece of ethernet is still in the wall here, and is seen in one of the interviews below).
4. Object oriented programming.
5. The modern personal computer with graphical user interface.
6. Very-large-scale-integration for semiconductors.

Among other things, which are detailed on Wikipedia.

So, when PARC says “come on over for a tour” you drop everything and go.

While there I met with several people to get a taste of what they are working on now. Visiting here is like visiting Jerusalem (home of the first church). It’s where everything seemed to start and is still filled with brilliant people. For instance, in part IV of my tour you’ll meet Richard Chow. Some of his achievements include architecting Yahoo!’s click-fraud protection system and delivering the Security and DRM components for Motorola’s first Java-based phone platform.

PART ONE: Future of Networking. See the first Ethernet cable in the wall, and learn about Content Centric Networking. Here, Teresa Lunt, Vice President and Director of the Computing Science Laboratory research organization, and Nacho Solis, researcher, tell me how networks are changing.

Anyway, let’s get started.

PART TWO: How Ethnographic research leads to new business ideas. Here we meet Victoria Bellotti who manages PARC’s Socio-Technical and Interaction Research team at PARC where she also developed PARC’s Opportunity Discovery research targeting methods and program. Victoria studies people to understand their practices, problems, and requirements for future technology, and also designs and analyzes human-centered systems — focusing on user experience.

PART THREE: Ubiquitous Computing research (and some historic networking equipment). Kurt Partridge is a researcher in PARC’s ubiquitous computing area. His research interests include context awareness, activity modeling, location modeling, wearable computing, and using users’ natural behaviors to simplify human-computer interaction. He received a Ph. D. in Computer Science from the University of Washington in 2005. Here we talk about what happens when computers are everywhere, which enables the Internet of Things.

PART FOUR: Keeping our Cloud Computing Safe. Richard Chow is interested in systems security, fraud detection, and privacy. Some of his achievements include architecting Yahoo!’s click-fraud protection system and delivering the Security and DRM components for Motorola’s first Java-based phone platform.

Here Richard talks to me about what he’s working on and how he’s developing new techniques to keep our data private and secure. Interesting conversation!

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this little tour around PARC.

By the way, recently Malcolm Gladwell wrote about PARC’s role in computing’s development. He got several things wrong, PARC’s managers say, and they wrote a rebuttal on their blog about how the lab innovates and why it plays a key role in Silicon Valley even today.

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CONGRATULATIONS!

Congratulations to the winners of the Aspen Institute’s 2011 Business & Society International MBA Case Competition!

• First Place: Wilfrid Laurier University, School of Business and Economics (Canada)
• Second Place: Villanova University, Villanova School of Business (United States)
• Third Place: ESADE Business School (Spain)
• Fourth Place: Baylor University, Hankamer School of Business (United States)
• Fifth Place: IESA (Venezuela)

The 2011 competition introduced an innovative case study produced by the Yale School of Management that asked students to take on the role of consultants advising Trina Solar, a China-based company, on expanding its presence within the United States. Many strategic decisions must be made against a turbulent political environment. Solar installations require government subsidies to make the energy economically viable, so tracking these subsidies and encouraging their continuation is of crucial importance. In addition, Chinese companies like Trina had to anticipate U.S.-China trade relations that could change the economics of trade or lead to outright bans on importation. If you are a faculty member interested in accessing an inspection copy of this year’s case study, please contact us.

You are invited to view the written submissions of the five finalist teams submitted for Round One of the 2011 competition, as well as their PowerPoint presentations crafted for Round Three, the Finals, in New York City:

• Wilfrid Laurier: Round One | Round Three
• Villanova: Round One | Round Three
• ESADE: Round One | Round Three
• Baylor: Round One | Round Three
• IESA: Round One | Round Three

Pictures from the 2011 Finals will be available shortly on this website.

Thanks to all of our partnering schools, dedicated judges, and generous sponsors for making this year’s competition a great success!

There is so much excitement around this year’s competition, and rightfully so – you are joining more than a thousand students from 25 outstanding business schools who will tackle a brand new case study challenging you to innovate at the intersection of corporate profits and environmental, social, and ethical issues. You are stepping into a difficult real-life business decision, not unlike the multi-dimensional challenges that you’ll be responsible for addressing as a business leader of a new generation.

This program offers a meaningful opportunity for reflection on the significant and positive influence that business can have on society. Plus, you’ll be competing for one of the largest case competition prize pools in existence.

There’s a lot of information contained in these pages, and much more coming in the next few weeks. We suggest you begin this experience by learning more about the history of the competition by looking under the “About” tab above.

Good luck!

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2011 Competition11.21.10

Information about the 2011 Competition will be posted shortly!

Congratulations!05.05.10

Congratulations to the winners of the Aspen Institute’s 2010 Business & Society International MBA Case Competition!

• First Place: The Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University
• Second Place: Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame
• Third Place: Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University
• Fourth Place: University of Jyväskylä, School of Business and Economics
• Fifth Place: Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management

The 2010 Competition introduced a newly commissioned case study written by Professor Oana Branzei for Ivey Publishing that asked students to take on the role of consultants preparing a strategic sustainability plan for The Tata Group, an India-based, multinational conglomerate. Free inspection copies of this case study will be made available to registered faculty of Caseplace.org.

Pictures from the final round of competition in New York City will be posted shortly on the Media page of this website.

Thank you to all 2010 participating schools and partnering companies for making this year’s Competition a great success – we look forward to 2011!

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VIA Speakerwiki: As an agent at Premiere Speakers Bureau, I spent years helping develop amazing speaking talent like Ron Clark and Keni Thomas at the early stages of their speaking career. Getting recognized (and paid!) by the top speakers bureaus can be hard work — let’s break this down.

1. Hackers, Neo-Nazis and Daddy’s Girls.
Quick survey. Do you have any experience with the following:

a) Being targeted by a massive FBI manhunt

b) Spreading neo-nazi hate propaganda

c) Having a famous daddy or mommy

d) None of the above

Did you pick D? Good, because we need to clear up a major misconception. You don’t have to be famous to get booked by speakers bureaus. On the contrary, the majority of speakers are people you’ve never probably heard of — folks like Scott Klososky and Ed Rigsbee — they may not be famous, but they have good content and most importantly they know how the bureau system works.

2. Pitching the Pitchmen
When I was at Premiere we received hundreds of “drop-ins” and slick 4-color brochures every month. The truth is that we live in a digital economy and most promotional packages go straight to the trash. While most speaking agents are not nearly as scary as Ari Gold, they’re still absurdly busy, so it’s important to engage them on their terms — and that means email. Here are a few tips:

DO…

• List your ONE biggest accomplishment and ONE target audience in the subject line. “I’ve climbed Mount Everest twice and have spoken to 143 boy scout groups.”
• Include a link to a video that includes your very best material (3 minutes max)
• Include a link to a high-resolution jpeg headshot.
• Include your specific fee schedule and commission rate (typically 20-30%).
• Include a SHORT biographical sketch. (Under 500 words)
• Include a bullet point list of notable groups you’ve spoken to.
• Be factual. (more on this below)

DON’T…

• Send an introductory email. Lay everything on the table right up front.
• Be long winded.
• Use superlatives. Anyone claiming to be “World’s greatest speaker on ” almost never is. Agents have a very sharp B.S. filter — you want to avoid setting it off.
• Be overly friendly. Relationships take time to build and if you force it you just sound desperate and creepy.
• Send more than one follow-up email. Take the hint. The quickest path to an agent’s SPAM box is badgering him/her with questions like, “Did you have a chance to look over my material?” 

Pretty simple, eh? The best email also happens to be the simplest email. Nevertheless, as an agent I saw VERY few emails that followed these guidelines. You simply wouldn’t believe how many emails I get that don’t even include a video. How am I supposed to pitch you to event planners without a video?! Am I taking crazy pills? C’mon!

Want a sample email template that’s proven to work? Just   this article and I’ll send you an email template that you can fill in with your own information and send out to speakers bureaus!

3. SHOW ME THE MONEEEEEEYYYYY

One of the biggest mistake speakers make is thinking that lowering your fee or increasing commission increases bookings — it almost never does. Let’s do a little “agency math” to learn why.

Let’s assume your fee is $5,000 — if your standard commission is 20% then you would net $4,000 while the bureau receives $1,000. The problem is that the agent that is actually pitching you might receive as little as 10% of that commission. Which means that in this scenario if you increase your commission from 20% to 30% the agent only makes $50 more — hardly enough to make it worthwhile.

What this also means is that if your fee is less than $3,000 (or even $5,000) it’s simply not worth the agencies time to work with you. Competing on price is a game you lose just by playing.

So how DO you get their attention? Well, a lot of people don’t like to talk about it, but one of the single most important things you can do is offer incentives directly to the agents. Here are tactics that haven proven to work:

• Karyn Buxman has offered agents a FREE IPAD on your next booking!
• For years Cary Mullen and Vince Poscente have hosted an annual all-expenses-paid ski trip to Banff, Canada for agents that have booked them the most in the preceding year. Bonus points for coming up an idea that relates to their speaking topic!
• Book Scott Klososky and win a sweet kindle (watch the video of the drawing)
• It doesn’t have to be expensive either. Vicki Hitzges sends out brownies after every successful speech. HITZGES BROWNIES have quite the cult following.

woohoo

wow!