It turned out to be a pretty cool event.  Certiport, in association with Microsoft and Adobe, creates software designed to bring standardized Digital Literacy to the world.  They have a global competition every year (80,000 young people participated this year) to encourage kids all over, including in many less developed nations, to become profficient at Microsoft Word and Excel.  The best of the best are flown every year to the Gala Event weekend (next year to be held in a swanky resort in Puerto Rico) where a final competition is held to find the fastest and most accurate kids.  Every kid received a medal but special attention was given to four winners from Hong Kong and Thailand.  So, that was pretty cool.

The next part of the evening was dedicated to honouring individuals from around the world who use Centiport’s software to introduce and spread Digital Literacy as far and wide as possible, especially with respect to lower income people who would normally not have access to computers.  The winner of the ‘Inspiration Award’ was a Libyan business man, Khaled El Hamedi, who, to date, has helped train and certify more than 30,000 public and private workers in his country.

Now corporate events can be somewhat bland but the highlight of the night was keynote speaker, John Herrington, former NASA Astronaut.   Using his own fascinating life as an example, he spoke about the importance of challenge and inspiration in finding our calling.  He spoke eloquently and from the heart about his trials and tribulations and he showed a video of his experience on the Space Shuttle and his walk outside the Space Station.   Incidentally, Herrington is also of Chickasaw Indian descent, which he was very proud of.  Being the adventurer he is, when a medical condition prevented him from ever flying into space again, he embarked on a 4,000-mile bicycle ride from Cape Flattery, WA to Cape Canaveral, FL, beginning in mid-August 2008 designed to encourage student participation in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). I was very happy to have heard him speak.

Here are some pix from the event:

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