Saturday March 7th - CSC Wraps Up
It is hard to believe the CSC week has finished already. It was a very intense week. The daily format that was followed was really good. The various topics were covered with outside speakers, group discussions & questions, panel discussions and some tours. It was very interactive and engaging. Everyday I sat at a table with a differnet group of scholars (approximately 10 / table), after each presenter we had a minute to share our thoughts with our table then five minutes to decide on a group question. There was lots of opportunity for discussion and debate both at the formal sessions, meal times and evening hours. It was very well organized!
So for the last day we had the opportunity to form our own groups of approximately 10 scholars around key topics. I chose to join the group on the leadership topic. We had about 45 minutes or so to prepare a 5 minute presentation on "how you can embrace the leadership skills you admire in others and use them to benefit the industry at a global level?" Our group did a round table discussion and compiled a list of the skills we admired that included clear vision, openness & honesty, networking, delegation, decisions and to inspire people. We then discussed how these skills are used / communicated. We chose to have one of the scholars narrate and the rest of us acted out (yes acted out) to demonstrate. Not sure how it went (I think it went well) but it sure was a lot of fun. In all, the presentations were very well done.
The final acivity, we had to communicate in no more than 5 words what we gained from the CSC. I chose: Humbled, Re-newed Motivation and Inspired.
In summary, I learned alot and gained many new friends and contacts form around the world that I will be sure to network with for the rest of my life.
My next posts will be on my project studies in Belgium on the potato processing sector, Netherlands on the seed potato sector and the UK on the fresh sector. I travelled (since I am wrtiing this on March 10th) on Saturday from Reims, France to Ghent, Belgium by train. Stay tuned for next post on tour day Sunday March 11th and potato / processing industry visits this week!
It is hard to believe the CSC week has finished already. It was a very intense week. The daily format that was followed was really good. The various topics were covered with outside speakers, group discussions & questions, panel discussions and some tours. It was very interactive and engaging. Everyday I sat at a table with a differnet group of scholars (approximately 10 / table), after each presenter we had a minute to share our thoughts with our table then five minutes to decide on a group question. There was lots of opportunity for discussion and debate both at the formal sessions, meal times and evening hours. It was very well organized!
So for the last day we had the opportunity to form our own groups of approximately 10 scholars around key topics. I chose to join the group on the leadership topic. We had about 45 minutes or so to prepare a 5 minute presentation on "how you can embrace the leadership skills you admire in others and use them to benefit the industry at a global level?" Our group did a round table discussion and compiled a list of the skills we admired that included clear vision, openness & honesty, networking, delegation, decisions and to inspire people. We then discussed how these skills are used / communicated. We chose to have one of the scholars narrate and the rest of us acted out (yes acted out) to demonstrate. Not sure how it went (I think it went well) but it sure was a lot of fun. In all, the presentations were very well done.
The final acivity, we had to communicate in no more than 5 words what we gained from the CSC. I chose: Humbled, Re-newed Motivation and Inspired.
In summary, I learned alot and gained many new friends and contacts form around the world that I will be sure to network with for the rest of my life.
My next posts will be on my project studies in Belgium on the potato processing sector, Netherlands on the seed potato sector and the UK on the fresh sector. I travelled (since I am wrtiing this on March 10th) on Saturday from Reims, France to Ghent, Belgium by train. Stay tuned for next post on tour day Sunday March 11th and potato / processing industry visits this week!