Seattle Day 1 (Wednesday, July 20, 2011)

Today was a really interesting and fun day. This morning we had a chance to go to the Microsoft Headquarters in Redmond, Washington. We met with a USU alumnus by the name of Marlowe Dayley. It was a very unique experience because were able to sit down with him in a conference room and after sharing his background with us, we were able to pick his brain for the next hour and a half. It was very interesting because there was no question that we couldn’t ask. We covered everything from competition with Apple, Microsoft’s strategy, relations with vendors like HP, and everything in between.

This was my second time visiting Microsoft's Headquarters. Last fall I had the chance to visit the Microsoft’s international headquarters in Paris, France with the Huntsman Scholar Program. Both times I have visited Microsoft I have been so impressed with their company and the culture and passion that exist within Microsoft. The story I always share with people is how last fall one of the international executives flat out told us, in his opinion, the iPad out performed what he thought it would. His honesty about their competition was refreshing and this time I feel I understood more about the overall vision of Microsoft to work with various companies to get their products to consumers so that one day every home and every business is running Windows.

Fish 'N' Chips at Ivar's for lunch

After Microsoft we headed back to Seattle and ate at the famous Ivar’s Restaurant down on the water. I ordered the delicious fish and chips and we had quite a fun time feeding the seagulls around. At one point I found myself with a French fry in my mouth getting close to a seagull to see if he would eat it, but I think it freaked him out and he flew away. We then got Melinda to hold a straw in her mouth with a French fry on the end and as she got close to one bird another one swooped in and ate it suprising her and all of us. Luckily we got the whole thing on video! It was a fun time.

Blog post by: Brent Meacham

After lunch we visited Projectline, a marketing consulting company for the tech industry. We met with one of their founders, Anika Lehde, and Eric Larson, a senior marketing consultant. This was probably one of my favorite visits because it was so interesting to learn about Projectline’s unique business model. Projectline encourages employees to ONLY work 40 hours a week, all the employees participate in monthly community service projects, money is donated monthly to various organizations and they do a variety of other unique things. They are very progressive in providing a fulfilling environment for their employees. Projectline goes against the usual business model and provides an atmosphere where employees want to be and because of that their employees are more successful and invested into their work. It was neat to see such a unique successful company.

After visiting Projectline we headed back to our hotel and had a small alumni mix-and-mingle and it was a lot of fun! Overall, today was a great day full of fun, exploration, and has left me anything, but “Sleepless in Seattle.”