First Impressions of ASU+GSV Summit

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I have wanted to go to the ASU+GSV conference for a while but never had the opportunity while at Gartner. This year not only did I get to do so, but we combined it with my coming out party as the newest member of Phil Hill & Associates.

Scope

The in-person event sold out and rumor has it that there were close to 7,000 attendees in San Diego. At times it felt like 5,000 or so of these attendees were located within a 10-foot radius of me. The conference was big, and it was crowded.

Part of why I have wanted to go for so long was due to my my interest in being in the room where it happened, at least being in the room with the women and guys who had made it happen. I got this wish early in the conference in hearing Ben Nelson from Minerva tell of the initial pushback he received about the idea of his new university. People were skeptical because, as they put it, everyone knows that students don’t learn anything in the classroom. As Ben described the general situation, the value of a university comes from what you learn outside of and around the classroom.

Crises

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