One of the perks of being a MIT student is that I get to attend many of the talks/lectures/seminars that are organized on campus. MIT Sloan, the Engineering department, and the Science department are active in organizing and getting speakers to speak at these events. By and large, MIT has no problem drawing speakers, who include successful alumni, industry leaders, scholars, and government figures. On the other hand, the speakers seem to enjoy coming to campus to speak and interact with students. There is always at least a high profile talk everyday at MIT. Just this week alone, we have the following events on campus:

• Monday - How Not to Work on the Wrong Thing: Lessions from Science and Business. Speaker: Greg Blonder, Partner, Morgenthaler Ventures.
• Tuesday - Business and Human Rights: Corporate Opportunities, Business Risks, and Entrepreneurial Dilemma. Speaker: Klaus Leisigner, CEO, Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development.
• Wednesday - Big questions after Big Hurricanes. Speakers: Various MIT faculty members.
• Wednesday - Nobel Lecture in Chemistry. Speaker: Richard Schrock.
• Thursday - MIT Sloan Convocation 2005 Day 1. The Passion to Action, MIT Leadership Center Launch. Speakers: Phil Sharp, Bob Metcalfe, Bob Langer, etc.
• Friday - MIT Sloan Convocation 2005 Day 2. Talks and seminars featuring industry leaders and Sloan faculty. Speakers: Ken Morse, Rebecca Henderson, Carly Fiorina, John Thain, etc.
• Saturday - MIT Sloan Convocation 2005 Day 3. Speaker: Morris Chang, CEO, TSMC
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In my opinion, while MIT is excellent in organizing talks/seminar type events, we are absolutely terrible in advertising them. For example, I couldn't even find Morris Chang's talk on MIT Google page nor have I seen any advertising posters for MIT Sloan Convocation on campus bulletin boards.

10/6/2005 5:35:07 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)

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