The vital role of enthusiasm and delivery as much as message in reaching out to lecturers, students and partners

I have had many roles within the University Alliances / Next Gen program at SAP. I have started, managed, turned around or grown programs in over 25 countries on two continents; I have dealt with over 200 universities and built ongoing, lasting lasting relationships with perhaps 250 faculty. On top of that I've built ongoing alliances with more than 30 large enterprises that have supported co-innovation projects, student recruitment and in two cases the joint creation of a bespoke SAP-themed Masters degree. And in all this there is only one constant when it comes to running such a unique marketing / communications program - one that by its' very nature requires depth of relationship and time to succeed - that each and every audience has a unique reason for why they are trying to build that relationship. Right from the first you should ensure your communications, materials, approach and business or technical level are appropriate and generate enthusiasm for that audience.

I have been privileged to work with some very fine faculty over the years and the theme common to all of them is doing what creates the most excitement and the greatest learning opportunity for their students. Of course one of the best ways to do this is the design of the landscape itself. Not all universities can have such a dedicated space but if you glance at the photo at the top of this article - this is the Next Gen Lab designed by David Starkey, Lecturer at Portsmouth University, and myself to give the best environment for students learning SAP using a team/consulting approach. The room is bright, vibrant, jointly branded and with tables distributed to always be close to a presentation source read: monitor. The tables allow freedom of movement, are adjustable, enable the students to form close teams easily and if need be even to be competitive with those on the next table (we have run numerous simulation games in that environment). We find this setup is particularly fruitful when explaining agile concepts in particular and projects where a challenge is set by a customer or partner.

However in addition how we can build initial enthusiasm I find relies, particularly with Generation Z, with humour, sincerity and a certain quirkiness in approach rather than a 'standard' presentation of material. Take for instance the presentation we make available to students beginning on courses within which an aspect of SAP is taught - the initial launch video (see below):

It is marketing of course - to show the launch of the lab we literally launched the plaque for the Lab into space (well, 130,000+ feet to be exact). But is also serves to highlight to students the ethos of the university, the relationship with SAP and how we want to communicate to the students right from the get-go. It communicates a sense of excitement, wonder (especially when you can see almost the whole of the UK from altitude), but also says 'we are here to make this interesting - we are going to be doing interesting things right from the start'. It also communicates a sense of accomplishment and ambition.

I also don't think it is an accident that one of the first companies that reached out to us to work with the Lab was a company that makes jet engines!

I have also found humour to be particularly effective - especially when dealing with first year undergraduates who may be being exposed to enterprise systems concepts for the first time, and for whom a dry presentation about order-to-cash may put off people who otherwise would be genuinely interested in our company. So - I designed some quirky images used as an aside whenever I get a question best answered with a diagram. Above you can see a graphic I designed as part of a series around Product Lifecycle Management (PLCM). Below you can see one illustrating manufacturing in series.

The point is that when a difficult question comes up - often at that interface between business process and computing education - it can be helpful to have a resource that explains the concept in such a way that it highlights that the concept is not beyond the realm of understanding - that you can not only understand the concept but that eventually you may even wonder why you ever thought that it was difficult at all.

I have found my latest series of talks to be particularly rewarding. I deliver a number of design thinking workshops when I have the time at individual universities particularly the London School of Economics but also recently Cardiff University, the University of Brighton , Portsmouth University and Sheffield Hallam University since the beginning of 2019. I have run design thinking classes that combine science fiction concepts - particularly how sci-fi influenced product design decisions - and integrated them into scenarios where I ask the students to work on an actual SAP customer challenge. It's an interesting combination - the students broaden their minds with the sci-fi thinking and when I introduce the scenario they are already thinking totally outside the box. What I do find amusing however is that I begin my class with a series of quotes from famous sci-fi films but with the title removed - only revealed after I've heard some guesses. What the students don't know is that although it looks like I am playing I am actually judging their knowledge of sci-fi concepts such as AI, analytics (yes there is analytics in sci-fi - read the Foundation Trilogy), and the concepts behind the Internet, smart phones etc.

So I thoroughly enjoy my time communicating to each of these different audiences and presenting them with something I hope is fun, memorable and above all educating.

If you have any comments feel free to share.

All the best

Martin