Excerpts from the inaugural “Powering Silicon Valley” STEAM Sports Summit held last weekend at San Jose State University .....
Opening Keynote Speaker Andy Dolich at SJSU’s “Powering Silicon Valley” STEAM Sports Summit:
If you (student) are committed to a career in sports, entertainment, technology or as I call it, Sport-Tech-Tainment, think about making yourself a STEAM Army Knife. In today’s world you will have to master language, leadership, science, arts, math, technology and CHD – Common Human Decency!
STEAM perspectives from sports teams & organizations ....
Mounir Zok (USOC): “We’re looking at a new paradigm. The millennials expect answers. They ask ‘why?’ Olympic coaches need to find new ways to dialogue with the athlete. They need to immerse themselves with the new technologies in order to do that.”
Zok on question from Moderator Keith Bruce on what sport or athlete to watch for in the coming Winter Olympics: “Speed skating. We didn’t do very well four years ago in Sochi, but there have been some new training techniques, driven in a large part by technology, that I think will yield results.”
Jesse Lovejoy (SF 49ers): Millennials are interested in social advocacy. They want a cause, a reason to do something. Give them a way to access those types of things so they have something they can give back to. It will be smart for sports organizations to look at those types of things and how to use technology to involve millennials in those types of things.
Neda Tabatabaie (San Jose Sharks) on chord cutter and chord nevers: “Sport is the last real live experience that people still seek, but the stadium experience becomes an important challenge. We need to break barriers as to what the fan has access to. Coaches need to break barriers as to what the athletes have access to.”
Bill Schlough (SF Giants): STEAM is a really relevant topic for me. I was into all that stuff in high school and got an engineering degree from Duke. With the Giants, I use all that to drive innovation through the players, the business and the fans.
Schlough on appealing to students/millennials: One huge advantage we have is our location. Millennials live near the park. We’re very accessible. Many of them don’t drive but they don’t have to in order to get to us. So we just want to create an environment where they want to be there. We micro-target interest groups. Every night we’re appealing to several different groups.
Keith Bruce (QuintEvents/F1 Experience): “We need to figure out how to add value while giving back”.
More Dolich: Implement your leadership skills and keep yourself nimble, focused and healthy by becoming an expert on the uses of the Eight Scopes:
Microscope: To view and understand every minute detail of your business.
Telescope: To look beyond the given and create road maps to unexplored territories.
Stethoscope: To listen to the heart of your organization and the people in it.
Proctoscope: To take you to places that people don’t want to go, but are necessary to protect the long-term health of the enterprise.
Gyroscope: To keep everyone centered in times of crisis. In today’s world, crisis is the new normalcy.
Periscope: To give you the ability to stealthily see what your competitors are up to.
Kaleidoscope: To help you visualize and appreciate the ever-changing business patterns and human interactions of your enterprise. Without diversity we have no teamwork.
Horoscope: A tool of science and symbolism used to develop bold plans for the future.