PANEL: Decision Making & Compromise During a Design Process

[JVN]

Hi Everyone,
I wanted to announce a panel discussion that I'm facilitating in Atlanta as part of the 2010 FIRST Robotics Conferences.

The Panel Discussion is titled Decision Making and Compromise During a Design Process.

It will be held on Wednesday April 14th from 7:15PM until 8:45PM.

Abstract:

Decision Making during a design process can be difficult. How does a team make decisions? How does a team come to consensus? How do mentors and students interact to make decisions as peers? How does one productively argue without being overwhelmed by feelings? How does one put ego aside and compromise? What should a team do when some of their members refuse to compromise? How can mentors help students feel welcome in design discussions? How can students learn to argue like and hold their ground against professional engineers? These questions and many others will be discussed by a group of prominent mentors (all WFA or WFFA winners) who will share their perspectives and relate their own experiences on the topic of decision-making.

We have quite the all-star group of participants sitting in on the round-table discussion:
John Novak - FRC16
Andy Baker - FRC45
Ken Patton - FRC51
Paul Copioli - FRC217 + FRC148
Dan Larochelle - FRC40
Raul Olivera - FRC111
Lucien Junkin - FRC118
Chris Fultz - FRC234
Karthik Kanagasabapathy - FRC1114

I'm sure the discussion will be exciting. This is a topic not often talked about in FIRST but one we all deal with each season. I know I'm excited to hear the opinions of each of these incredible mentors.

Hopefully I'll see some of you on Wednesday night in Atlanta!

Regards,
John