Which famous people have you met?

This person may not be considered 'celebrity,' but I feel he is a famous in his own right.

I met the Vice President of Research for IBM. The one that heads the North American branch, anyway.

During high school, I was in a club that was tasked with creating a new, innovative business that simultaneously resolved issues with security and public welfare. This was state-wide, so the whole ordeal was a competition between schools to see who could create the most successful business. Our school ended up winning out the first round which skewed the teams to a total of about 6. Afterwards, we took it even further by winning in the next round, which pitted us against only one other team.

We, top two teams, were shipped off to the Hawthorne Research Center where we'd present our business plans before the VP and some other big hobnobs. Our school ended up winning and I personally received a glowing recommendation from IBM and the organization. BOOYA! The 'prize' for the entire challenge was to have IBM seriously give a look into the possibility of bringing out innovative business to reality. Being stupid, naive, snot-nosed adolescents that we were, we actually turned down this once in a lifetime opportunity. I've never regretted something more in my life.

The experience was pretty cool. I wish I had a picture, but there weren't any cameras allowed in the research center (for obvious reasons). I saw some ridiculously awesome technologies there that still haven't hit the mainstream. If you look at the pictures, the presentation deck was where we displayed our business. The Hawlodeck is amazing. The entire room is automated and have 'presets.' The room can change its entire color, window scheme, and even rearrange all the furniture all at the will of the user. Different rooms can be saved for different people. Pretty amazing.

I didn't mean for this to turn into a rant..

I've also met a billionaire. However, he's not exactly 'celebrity' either!

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by christinajon

Did they have it just so they could say "Hey, look what we can do!"?

Pretty much, yes! They claimed that it helped the company by increasing worker morale, but mainly it was just a showoff piece.

There's nowhere I can't reach.