SUMMARY OF THE 4^TH CEO BREAKFAST

The fourth annual CEO breakfast was held at the Arizona Club in the Chase Bank Building on January 14, 2009.  The actual attendance was 42 CEO’s and/or their designees.  People began to arrive at 7:15 AM and had about 30 minutes to network.  Many business cards were exchanged and a suggestion was made that we all send emails to the group.  Bobbie will be happy to furnish the list of attendees to anyone who was actually at the breakfast. 

Our president Alex Devereux gave the opening welcome.  He explained where GAZeL has been in the past year and what we are we are planning for this year of 2009 and beyond.  He elaborated on how eLearning is a critical element in workforce training and K-12 education the foundation of our economic revival.

Cindy Saint, V-P of Technical Services at Pearson presented statistics of eLearning used in K-12 classrooms and job training. The current market in K-12 is $11 billion and growing. The global reach of eLearning levels the playing field for developing globally competitive workforces. A trend in the digital curriculum is the use of game technology to increase interactivity.   Ted Kraver President of eLearning Systems for Arizona Teachers and Student  opened on how the Arizona eLearning Task Force is focusing on the four types of K-12 eLearning: 1:1 classroom, online, hybrid and virtual. He then showed how disruptive eLearning innovation in areas not currently served will become mainstream during the second decade, replacing legacy education.

Adam Kraver of CaptiveMotion presented his proprietary technology that uses high fidelity facial motion capture to produced lifelike empathic animated characters.

The breakfast attendees then dove into a strategic thinking process lead by Linda Shoob , consultant from San Diego.  She spoke of the dynamic nature of the external environment and interconnected global learning system. Dozens of issues were generated by the audience in three categories: Opportunities, Trends and Strengths. Then the tables were turn and the participant CEO’s were asked not what GAZeL could do for them, but what they could do to strengthen and make GAZeL a much more effective driver of the Arizona eLearning industry.

A number of members of the audience came forth to discuss how they could become more actively involved in GAZeL and support its mission.

Reported by Bobbie Kraver, 14 January 2009