by Steve Wright | at MinneBar 11 | 9:00 – 9:50 in Gandhi | View Schedule
What works and what doesn't for a family activity club, why it's good for your kids, and why it's good for your company!
Young companies can have a lot of young families. I started Nerdling Action Squad four years ago as a group playdate with benefits. Interested families show up once a month to eat pizza, run around in circles, and do projects. Last month we planted seeds in fresh dirt, we've had kid-led tech demos (in Minecraft and RPG Maker), and we're coming up on the Fourth Annual Cardboard Construction-ganza in June. We've done sewing, launched a weather balloon, tried cake decoration and done origami. Last February, for Valentine's Day, we dissected cow hearts. We have a lot of fun, and secretly, it lets our kids see that curiosity and perseverance and fun are the foundations of engineering and science. It has helped bring me closer to my Nerdery colleagues, giving us a chance to bond over something besides code development or continuous improvement in project management processes.
This presentation will cover some lessons learned, best practices, as well as some big picture reasons that we keep doing this!
Steve likes to make things: games, project plans, curry, software development roadmaps. Prior to his current position as Solutions Architect at the Nerdery, he has worked as a machinist, software guy, and project manager (as well as bookstore clerk, dishwasher, and for three days one time, a door to door salesman.) He has a BA from Carleton College and an MS in Software Engineering from St. Thomas.
Twitter: @stevew99999
