This past weekend Mpntball2012 and myself were chosen to be among a select group of highschoolers to attend a technical expo in Cincinnati. There were various events and it was set up similar to the Olympics. More on that later though.
There were various sponsors including Microsoft, Atos Origin, Cloud, IBM, Procter and Gamble and some other smaller names.
All of the these sponsors had booths set up throughout the hotel and were giving out some pretty sweet stuff. Microsoft had one of their new prototype table top touch screens. I didnt get a picture but it looked similar to this: [IMG]http://www.theinquirer.net/img/7753/surf.jpg[/IMG] But a little different. They were also handing out various product keys for stuff like Dreamspark and XNA Studio. Quite nice I got keys for both software. In addition to the Microsoft Booth another huge Sponsor of the event was Atos Origin.
You may not know who this company is but you HAVE seen their work. They are a major partner of the IOC and control every single computer and technology thing run at the Olympics. At their booth they were had a drawing for your team to go to the 2012 London Olympics. You get to go to the Olympic tech center and view the olympics from the main hub of the command center. The kicker? My team was one of the winners.
In addition to the trade show there were the events. They consisted of various stuff. Popular video games like guitar hero made up some of them. Mpntball2012 placed 5th out of 60 people here. There were also the more TECHnical events. (Forced pun.)
Some of these were blowfish java coding, a hacking event, and a networking speed challenge. I participated in the Numbskull challenge which was a combo of coding questions and computer knowledge. I place 4th out of 70 people. Totally happy with this result as I was working solo and most of them were working as a team. I got approached with a few summer internship offers after that one. Mostly Air Force.
The whole thing was pretty much a big scouting session on the future talent. There were always company representatives at events and they would talk to the people that shined out.
There were also some industry breakouts. Here they showed us some various conceptual technology. I went to an animation one where they used a lot of Blender and talked about the development process of animated movies. My favorite one was the Air Force one though. Here they showed us how they handle comms in an AC 130 and we got to play around with the program and listen in on some training exercises that had been recorded. We also got to see some UAVs (picture at the end) and see how they control them. We also got to see some of their advanced warfighter gear for parachuters.
I forgot to mention the arcade. In the panorama of the ballroom below behind the white walls was this huge arcade. Almost every arcade game imaginable, all free. Big projection screens with Xbox 360s too.
All in all I just wanted to share my experience with you guys. I typed this up pretty fast and didnt sleep much this weekend during the events. I am tired and there are without a doubt typos. If you see them point them out and I will fix them. I may have forgotten something but if I remember anything I will edit it in. Some pictures:
Uav: [IMG]http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv280/ericreardonphotography/photo2.jpg[/IMG]
Main Ballroom:
[URL="http://s691.photobucket.com/albums/vv280/ericreardonphotography/?action=view¤t=IMG_0020-1.jpg"][IMG]http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv280/ericreardonphotography/th_IMG_0020-1.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
So how many bullets does it take to shoot down a UAV?
Dang you lucky son of a bitch. Sounds like a lot of fun. Job well done on placing 4th.
Ya I passed the chance, didn't look that interesting to me. A lot of the events were pretty dull.
Haha. Those little guys would probably only take one. It just looks like a model airplane with a really nice radar set up.
I was there. :smug:
Pure where do you live? And thanks Takkun.
Hey if you were there post your school or something.
I was with Moeller.
I go to Little Miami.
[QUOTE=Pure;20622299]I go to Little Miami.[/QUOTE]
Both my roomates were little Miami kids. I figured there had to be a few facepunchers there.
I was with the 3 guys from Mason.
[editline]08:51PM[/editline]
.. and I won a fucking Wii.
I forgot to mention how much shit they gave away. Congrats on your teams third place finish though. I heard about all the work your schools IT guy did.
What school do you go to?
I was with Moeller.
What did their schools IT guy do?
Pretty much admin'd the whole thing beyone what the Interalliance guys did. Ask the Little Miami guy he probably knows better than I do.
Why wasn't I invited? :(
[editline]03:56PM[/editline]
Sounded like a fun even thou, congrats on being a high ranker. <3
Yeah, I was that 'IT' guy. :smug:
Good job man. Well done.
[QUOTE=Pure;20622262]Ya I passed the chance, didn't look that interesting to me. A lot of the events were pretty dull.[/QUOTE]
Some of the events may have been dull, but the overall purpose of the thing was pretty interesting. Definitely something you should consider next year.
[QUOTE=andersonmat;20622273]I was there. :smug:[/QUOTE]
:dance:
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