Closing

Our final week was much like our first — a whirlpool filled with fear — only this time around we were master navigators of the Maelstrom, and were less afraid to sail without a safety net.

Feedback Consolidation

We processed our feedback from the previous week’s dress rehearsal. As a result, we ended up with a bulletproof plan for what technology to use at the Executive Playback. It involved back-up files, back-up computers, live prototypes, faux-live prototypes, as well as interactive and static presentation versions. Our venues kept changing, as they were bound to, so we had to be prepared for it all.

Our content was treated similarly — we set up hidden slides with the additional information that we wouldn’t have time to address in the presentation proper, but that might be addressed in the Q&A after. And although we had a list of attendees, we had learned the hard way to embrace unpredictability, so we had to keep everything at the so-called 5th grader level. This ensures that no one in the audience is left needing additional explanation about something that is otherwise easy to understand. For example, we used the full names of our stakeholders and their titles in our scenario, even though they were well known to our audience. At the cost of sounding redundant, we made sure that everyone in the room knew exactly whom we were talking about. By avoiding the need for questions of clarification, we allowed for questions of matter to be addressed later on. It’s a small detail to consider — just an extra line of type on a slide and a couple more words to say — but in the interest of time, of which we had little, it was priceless. It probably made us seem more professional and aware, too.

Dress Rehearsals & Feedback

We had a second one of these on Tuesday morning. This was the point in time (perhaps too late) where I realized that our project was our own. We had control over it and didn’t have to implement all of the advice that was given to us. This was particularly difficult because all of the feedback was strong. Due to time constraints, we had no option but to prioritize this feedback and only implement parts of it. I guess that’s pretty cool, in a way; I’d much rather have too much feedback than too little.

Hand-off

Obviously, our project wasn’t going to stop after just 6.5 weeks, particularly if we were to do a good job of getting the executives up in New York excited about our work. So we crafted an answer to the question “So, what’s next for this project?” which directly tied to the proposed business value of our product.

Additionally, we handed off all of our working/final files and presentations to the BlueMix team, so that they would have full access to our work.

Executive Playback

We had the excellent opportunity to rehearse a third and final time before the final playback, only this time it was in the actual space; we were able to fine-tune the technological equipment, and make sure all our materials were seamlessly arranged.

The following morning, after having the same difficulty sleeping as a boy on the eve of his 11th birthday, we readied ourselves to playback.

90 or so minutes later, it had all gone without a hitch. From what I saw, not a single text message was sent nor a push notification addressed throughout all three teams’ presentations. I was in awe of just how well we pulled it off, despite the enormous amount of talent I had the privilege of working with; I guess that’s what happens when a team is crafted and mentored well. Thanks for that, Devin.

Then came the part that struck us all — more than a dozen senior executives honoring us and our work with a standing ovation. We could not have hoped for a better close to our internship.