Prague - Matt's comments

On Wednesday, February 22nd, we went to Prague.  My wife did a great job summarizing a lot of what we did, so I'll just put in a few comments.

This trip is always a big deal for the students, as they present the results of a consulting project. The students are put into 4 teams and do a project analyzing actual companies. In Prague, they present their results to the executives of the companies.  This is not an experience most college students will ever get - so we get excited about this.  This was on Monday, and both groups did a superb job.  The feedback from the companies was great, and I think the students really gained a lot from the experience.

Before that presentation, me and the students had some other activities that my wife and kids couldn't attend (and hence, didn't comment on in the blog).  All of it was great.  We saw an interesting economist present on life in Prague and the Czech Republic Thursday morning.  On Friday, we visited Avast (they make antivirus software).  That was a surprisingly great presentation.  Who knew an antivirus company could be so entertaining.  The guy handed out prizes when students answered things correctly.  Two students really enjoyed when the person handed they bottles of champagne for their correct answers.  Until SU allows professors to hand out alcohol for correct answers, I'll have to forgo that method to engage my students.  On Friday afternoon we saw an entrepreneur who decided to move to Prague in 1992 to start a business after his MBA.  He figured he'd take one year and if it failed, he'd call it an extra year of education.  Now he's a millionaire wholesaler and he was really good at relaying what he did and why it worked.  Once again, when you find out that you'll be hearing from a middleman, you don't have high hopes.  This gentleman was funny and informative, and both me and the students really enjoyed his talk.

For more on the trip overall, see my wife's post.  I'll soon post on busy schedule after we got back.

All for now.

Addendum: We found out that both of the companies that the students' presented to have implemented recommendations from our students!  This is really awesome.  One of the companies updated their facebook page in a manner consistent with students recommendations while the other has already made website revisions.  It's not often that firms make changes based on a college consulting team - so I'm proud of our students.