Wrapping up our wonderful experiences this winter co-facilitating, presenting and building the online community for Stanford Continuing Studies’ course “Branding Yourself Strategically”, Carla and I would like to thank dearly instructor Angelika Blendstrup, the students and the presenters with whom we had the pleasure of working. Being a multi-cultural team ourselves, Carla and I enjoyed interacting with the lively and colorful group of students from different places across the globe and their diverse backgrounds. Creativity flowed in every class where brands and bonds were developed, home made cookies eaten and even the unexpected: Gather Your Crowd’s Carla Ivette Yashiro delivered her second baby boy a month early! Welcome Nicholas Ryuji Yashiro! Some students suspect that the baby’s first word will be, “Tweet!”
Never a dull moment, Angelika nurtured the fun and rich learning with an exciting and irreverent line-up of guest speakers. We all got to meet amazing people behind refreshing and well-crafted brands, such as Rani Gill of Tech + Education + Business, Ravit Lichtenberg of Ustrategy, Jeremy Toeman of Stage Two, Erica Lee of Strategiclee, Valerie Orsoni of Le Boot Camp and yours truly, Gather Your Crowd.
Carla and I were especially excited to see the class’s Facebook Fan Page, Stanford CS: Branding Yourself Strategically, serve as an informative and engaging place where students extended their bonding and branding beyond the classroom. Angelika shared additional news about branding; guest speakers and their brands were introduced to students prior to presenting in class; and, most importantly, students immersed themselves with sharing their branding questions and experiences with each other.
Everyone was so jazzed up about where the branding and bonding process took them that they want to continue to the next level. Could this lead to a new course titled, ”Connecting Your Crowd to Your Brand”? Regardless of next steps, based on the energy portrayed in this group photo I’d say everyone had a fun “branding” experience this winter and is ready for more!
Stanford Continuing Studies Course "Branding Yourself Strategically" Group Photo, Winter 2010
Enjoy more photos from Stanford CS: Branding Yourself Strategically (Winter 2010)
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