Day 29. June 23, 2007
The final full day has arrived. After breakfast, we gathered in Rm 222 at Owen for the final assignment: Teams were asked to develop the marketing campaign for Accelerator 2008, based upon their experiences this year.
The overview session was led by Jeff Schwartzenberg and Yvonne Martin-Kidd of Owen. They provided each of the teams with CDs of pictures, cameras and story board materials. The teams have from 9 AM until 2 PM to develop their strategies. Then, each team will present their idea to the judging panel for the "best concept" for 2008.
Throughout the day, the team developed tag lines, concept for marketing in 2008, and ways to reach students beyond Vanderbilt. At 2:30, the teams presented their plan.
At 4:00 PM, we broke to allow everyone to get dressed for the final dinner. Our reception began at the Country Music Hall of Fame at 6:00 PM. We hosted over 150 people for dinner: Accelerator participants, Coaches, Family members, Facult members, and Corporate representatives. At 7:00 PM, we began our formal dinner - and presented certificates to each participant as well as a lucite momento of the Accelerator 2007 experience. The finale of the evening was a video of the various Corporate partners giving their feedback to the Accelerator participants - it was exhilarating.
I so enjoyed spending time with each of these young men and women this evening and their families. The opportunity to celebrate their accomplishment was just fantastic.
Tomorrow, we debrief and do feedback.
