Last week at TechEd I had the privilege of attending a roundtable luncheon with Bill Gates and S. Somasegar following their keynote presentation, along with a group of "influential members of the community."
With this being the last developer conference keynote for Bill before transitioning from Microsoft to a full time role with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the timing added extra significance to the event. The lunch conversation largely centered around education, both in the US and around the world and ways to improve it including the use of technology. It's great to still hear that Tablet PC's are still in the picture.
It was extremely interesting to hear how many of the same skills and viewpoints that made Bill so successful with Microsoft are now being applied through the foundation. His explanations of the foundation's approach to solving problems was extremely insightful and showed a very systematic and numeric approach to problem solving. It was great to see him very relaxed and speak candidly about his goals and passion for making a difference through the foundation. As a community, it was motivating for us to think more about how our efforts could be used to make a difference as well.
It was a lunch that I will never forget, and an honor to be associated with the group in attendance. Thank you to Bill, Soma, and everybody that was involved in making this event possible and for including me in it.
Posted in |