A little after 8am, Jenny and I had made it to the conference. We were not late…but we were not early either. We had about enough time to grab our bagels and muffins before making our way into the ball room for the conference. We were not the only ones late though. Apparently, they had the night on the town event of the previous years conference on Saturday night. I can see the reason why that was better then Friday’s night. I heard several people talking about how they had not made it back in until 5 in the morning.
(8:30-9:00)
Morning announcements were again given by Catherine Leslie. The greeting was uneventful.
(9:00-10:30)
Next on the docket was the corporate panel. This was apparently fantastic at last year’s convention. This year…not so much. There were four panelists. One was from Boeing and prided herself about not being an engineer. This is fine. But she took 20 minutes to explain who she was and had a bad tendency to dominate the conversation of the panelist. It was agreed by everyone I talked to that she drug the panel down into boredom. Her intro alone caused the panel to start off on the wrong foot and it never seemed to recover until the end of the discussion.
(10:30-1:30)
Exposition – Career Fair – Roaming Lunch
This point was a good time for everyone to go around meet more people as well as meet all the corporate people with booths. Of course this is also the time that we gathered up all the SWAG. There was a lot of good SWAG too! I was again able to meet with a lot of group and talk to them. This is where I was able to get to really know the folks from North Carolina State University. They turned out to be the best people, imo, that we met the entire trip…not that I am biased…
(3:30-5:00)
Breakout Sessions
Cross Cultural Engineering
Notes:
Cross cultural relations are like talking shop. Being able to relate to them with day to day issues.
People have a tendency to try things and ideas coming people that they trust, therefore you must build relationships.
On your first visit to an area, you should relax and get to know the people. Don’t do big projects, instead focus on small projects that can be completed while you are there. This will allow you to accomplish tasks and build trust with the people there.
Approach Cross Cultural Engineering in a manner that you are there to learn and serve.
Remember the saying that “One finger cant lift a stone” meaning you have to have people from different areas of knowledge to complete a task.
Key Things:
1. Adaptability, patience…be open to alternative you don’t understand.
2. Learn their culture such as saying hello in their language.
3. Establish a Co-Learning Style. Show that the locals have something to teach you.
4. Couldn’t Write quick enough
Ways to figure out people’s way of thinking…
Free Listing
Tell people to list 7 animals.
For Americans…Cat and Dog will usually show up first.
A population of 2% - 4% will show what 100% of the population will say 90% of the time…
UC Net – creates a scatter plot giving a visual of the most common alternatives as well as showing the outliers.
Not really sure what I was going with here but I wrote down that shadowing is another form of surveying…which technically is true I suppose. Just doesn’t seem as sophisticated at the other methods.
Final Thoughts for the breakout session:
All of you who want to go to the developing world to do good….Dont. But if you do go, go as a servant and not a master.
The message board where people posted meeting spots and random other semi-important pieces of news...except for one guy...named Steven Burns...I am convinced he was responsible for a majority of the...what should I call it...spam...yeah that is good. He wrote on the board at least 2 or 3 times where his name was attached. His messages went such as, "Steven Burns - Call me!" (btw no phone number attached) or with this gem "EWB Now with MORE Steven Burns", and also "Where can I find more Steven Burns?". Needless to say the guy probably has a little bit of a self induced narcissism. It did amuse me enough that I needed to spend this much time on him. So...Thank you Steven Burns.
(5:45-10:00)
Awards Banquet and Cultural Dancing
When we first arrived, we were greeted by Thomas Frey; Executive Director, Senior Futurist, DaVinci Institute. Perhaps a bit on the side of being a self-proclaimed futurist rather than a realistic one as some of the things he was saying seemed extreme. I did enjoy his talk as he covered a wide number of topics during his talks. I enjoy listening to people who actually dare to dream what will be tomorrow and in turn tell others. Now how in the world you get paid to do this is beyond me. I don’t see how you get paid to basically watch the science channel all day and then give talks on that information. Seems like a cool job.
He believed the Romans did not advance further because of their numbering system...made a pretty good case for it.
Afterwards, the waiters seemingly appeared out of nowhere with salads. While we ate, the waiters continually brought us more food. Again, they fed us chicken and some sort of mashed up rice pilaf dish. It was of course very good and I have not ate this much since my trip on a cruise ship back in 07’ I believe.
Afterwards, a group of African dancers and Mexican tap dancers performed for us. It was very good. I will attempt to get the videos up for those that are interested.
Yes there is a video of me doing this...and no...I do not have possession of it right now...honestly...so I wont put it up. lol
They were balancing a lit candle on their head the entire time during their first dance...that alone was amazing enough for me.
Close up of said candle....I am sure she loved the flash from my camera...
They tap danced with no music to keep a beat. Very impressive.
The North Carolina people that I went out on the town with later that night and Jenny.
Our failed attempt at jumping and being on camera...Sarah has a better picture of us. (She is the other girl in the picture)
I finally made it back home at about 1:30 the next morning. Turned out to be a very good day considering the rough start.
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