Friday, February 18, 2011

Execution


It all comes down to this. Six months of intensive training for one day. Interestingly, that's the same schedule runners use to prepare for a marathon. Presentations are going on all over the Nugget, and the atmosphere is electric.

Boise State's Design Build Team, coached by CM department chair Tony Songer, made an elegant case for their proposal. Each speaker was poised, personable and, most importantly, knowledgeable about his part of the package. From sophisticated animations and graphs to off-the-cuff solutions, they made their way confidently through the presentation and Q&A to the handshakes at the end. There's no way to know how they'll stack up against their eight challengers, but Tony and the other faculty and students in attendance were proud to be wearing the same logo.


Earlier in the day on another floor, the Marine Team and coach Bill Mincks were up against a tough panel of industry experts. Tony explained that of the construction categories in the competition, Marine is one of the most specialized and complex. Because of the unusual working environment, it requires a lot more safeguards and hypothetical thinking.


Despite some difficult questions, the team members supported each other through each challenge, justifying their plans with authority. They completed several practice problems before coming to Reno for the real thing, but nothing compares to being under the hot lights and gazes of people who know the subject matter through and through. There is no way to fake it, and Boise State's Marine Team never did. We'll have to see how things shake out in the awards ceremony tomorrow, but the team delivered. It's a Bronco thing.


No comments:

Post a Comment