Hello iD Nation,

This email was just sent to one of our client services reps.  Roque received this email yesterday and sent it to me.  I love, love, love hearing stories like this.  We often hear that students at our summer camps learn more in a week with us than they do at a year in school.  The below email pretty much sums it up:

_______________________________________________________

From: Susan (Last Name Withheld)
Sent: Thursday, February 18, 2010 3:29 AM
To: roque@internaldrive.com
Subject: ID Tech Camp experience 2009

My son, Andrew, attended ID Tech Camp C++/Java class at the University of Michigan in the summer of 2009.  This year, Andrew is in the 10th grade and attends our high school’s math/science program.  One of his classes this year is Java 1 and he is scheduled to take Java 2 next year.  I would like to share with you the progress Andrew has made this year because of the education he received at your camp.

The instruction he received at your camp in one week was the equivalent to about half a year of his Java 1 class.  His computer teacher would like him to work aggressively through the remaining modules so he can complete Java 1 and 2 this year.  I would like to commend you on your dedicated and talented instructors that provide such an excellent education.

Sue (Last Name Withheld)

_______________________________________________________

Sue, thanks for writing to us!  It is great to see that Andrew had such a positive experience at our summer camp for teenagers.  He is now on the fast track.

Best,

Pete

For Immediate Release

San Francisco, February 9, 2010

As a featured guest at the Pittsburgh Technology Council’s Pre-G-20 Forum this past fall, Google Inc. CEO Eric Schmidt was asked what type of training young people should pursue to gain the skills necessary to work in the tech sector of the future.  Not surprisingly, he wants kids and teens to learn programming.  But the idea that surprised many in the room?  He thought playing video games had value too.

“The game world is good training for a career in tech,” said Schmidt.  “It teaches players to build a network, to use interactive skills and thinking.”

Schmidt’s words may come as a shock to those of us who weren’t born with a laptop or a smart phone in our hands.  His comments directly contradict what popular culture has been telling us for years; that video game playing is only for entertainment value and doesn’t lead to any long term benefits.  We think of gamers as chip-eating, soda-drinking couch potatoes destined to work minimum wage temp jobs for the rest of their lives.  We haven’t connected the dots…that gaming can actually be a valuable stepping stone leading to better results for surgeons, athletes, computer scientists and engineers.  An AP Article covered a study from Beth Israel Medical Center with the title “Surgeons may err less by playing video games:  Three hours a week decreased mistakes by 37 percent, study finds.”

“It’s refreshing to hear somebody like Eric Schmidt address the topic,” said Pete Ingram-Cauchi, President and CEO of iD Tech Camps, the nation’s largest youth summer technology program.  “We’ve been preaching that same sentiment for years and have actually seen the positive effects that programming and video game design can have on students.”

The summer camp uses gaming as a vehicle to build critical thinking skills.  Students work with gaming titles like Unreal Tournament^® 3 and Half-Life^® 2, along with the 3D modeling package Maya^®, and game development software from Multimedia Fusion 2 Developer ^®.

“Our students want to learn how to create video games—to learn game development skills.  But that’s the head fake.  Along the way, they gain problem-solving skills and teambuilding skills which are absolutely vital in the tech field.” said Ingram-Cauchi.

Are the days behind us where kids and teens are treated as outcasts for having a keen interest in video games?  Probably not.  But Mom and Dad can now rest a little easier after spending $50 on a video game.  It just might be an investment.  And who knows, it might lead to fulfilling the dream of attending Stanford, UCLA or MIT.  Or even getting that lucrative dream job.  Eric, you still hiring?

###

Written by Ryan Barone

iD Nation,

Last week I received in the mail a box of candy from a student.  I was moved by the hand-written card, the thoughtfulness of the gift, but also the reminder that what we do (run summer computer camps for kids) changes lives, one student at a time.

Braden attended our Villanova University location and took a course that is now titled Adventures in Programming – a course that is fun and great for summer learning.  He really excelled and he has a very, very bright future.

Braden – I personally want to thank you for the card and the candy.  I really love the card.  Your grammar and spelling and penmanship are really, really top notch.  And the picture of the computer that you drew is really cool too.  Thanks for taking the time to write me.  You made my day.  And my week.  And I am so glad you enjoyed our summer camp!

Thank you!

Pete

PS, the i in “iD” and T in “Tech” fell off the bottom part of the card, but that makes it even cooler!

On the heels of the 2009 summer camp season, our team huddled together in our office in Silicon Valley and we hit on a major theme moving forward.  2009 was a tough year for many companies–and this was true for lots of camps out there–computer camps, sports camps, any type of summer camp, really.  We fared better than most.  Some camps are no longer standing.  We’re still standing–and we might say, thriving.  And we’re appreciative.

We made a little money.  We tightened the belt while still running amazing camps.  But we still had this feeling that we wanted to take our company to a whole new space.  We thought, “We worked hard to survive the Great Recession, so how can we thrive in 2010?  What are we going to do differently to take it to another level?”

One of our initiatives?  POSITIVELY OUTRAGEOUS SERVICE.  Southwest Airlines is one of my favorite companies…and we already have a bit of a whacky culture anyways.  So, we stole the POS acronym from them.  (Full disclosure.)  But I cannot expect my staff to provide POS if I don’t live it myself.  Today, I made Cuban coffee for the team and went around the office with a cart.

That's me, serving my Client Service manager.

We don’t want to feel good about what we’re doing.  We want to feel great about it.  Most of our moms, dads, campers and staff know that we have a passion for service, but we always think we can do better.  In this case, I think my team was excited about the fact that I would go out of my way to make them coffee, and serve it to them personally.  They didn’t ask for it, and didn’t expect it.  And that’s the basis for how we define POS.

It looks staged, but they truly loved the coffee.

OK, back to POS.  Here are some things we already do.  We’ve been doing things this way since iD was born.  It’s just part of our DNA:

• We don’t have a phone tree.  When you call us up, our benchmark is to pick up the phone within 3 rings.
• I personally don’t have an office.  I sit with the client services group.  It keeps me in the know, and close to our clients.  It allows me to listen, and to act fast.
• When a client emails us, I expect the email to get answered the same day. Max 24 hours.
• Out at camp, we expect personalized diplomas from our staff.
• We expect our summer staff to assist with luggage for our overnight campers.
• We expect our technology instruction to be energetic, informative, and unlike anything the students have done before.

These are simple examples of some of our current expectations–and things we do very well already.

So, where do we want to go this year?  Here’s what Positively Outrageous Service means to us:

• We know we want to routinely perform “the unexpected.”  (Think delivering coffee at 3 PM on a random afternoon!)
• We want people to talk about our organization and our brand.  (The CEO of iD made coffee and carted it around!)
• We don’t want to pre-define POS in concrete terms.  It limits our creativity.  (What will I come up with next?)
• We do, however, want to illustrate samples of POS for our internal departments and summer staff, so individuals can visualize what the possibilities are.
• We want our employees to feel empowered to deliver POS–to take some risks and have fun along the way.  (It was fun today.  It gave people a reason to laugh.)
• POS can come in many forms, but the bottom line is to thrill the client in new and unexpected ways.  (It is OK to thrill your employees too!)  Sometimes it might cost a few dollars to make a client happy.  But it is not about money.  Is is about going the extra mile on behalf of the client or camper–and not treating them like another number or commodity.

POS, to us, is something that comes to our team naturally.  It doesn’t bend us in unnatural ways.  We can only deliver POS if we already have a strong culture of service–and if all the people in the company “get it.”  So, be careful who you hire!  We have an awesome foundation already.  The team has to want it, and understand it.  And be smart enough, and sensitive enough, to deliver it.

I am meeting with my client service group weekly to ask each individual how they have delivered POS.  I want to see the proof.  I want the stories.  And I want people to talk about us.  This attitude extends out to our summer camps as well.  The spirit of service is partly why we survived 2009, and will thrive even more in 2010.  A lot of companies talk about great customer service.  Most of it is blah blah blah, right.  Truly, few companies get it.  We do.

And, if you have any doubts about POS, please remember this.  You can always call Captain Curry.  The Captain heads up our Client Services group.  Really.  Don’t believe me?  Give us a call.  We’ll pick up in 3 rings or less.  If we don’t, I owe you a coffee!

Hope to see you out at camp!

Sincerely,

Pete I-C

Captain Curry delivers POS

Hey guys! I know these types of videos are all over the web but this one comes from my good friend and guitar prodigy, Gabe Deutsch and it is pretty rockin’:

Learn more about the Mario Bros. Theme song here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_Bros._theme

Learn about it’s composer, Koji Kondo, here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%8Dji_Kond%C5%8D

Rock on Gabe!

Hello iD Nation,

I just received this message through facebook.  This is what it’s all about!  We talk a lot about how our summer camps develop technical skills for the future.  This is proof you don’t need to wait until college to start putting those skills into action.  This is awesome stuff and certainly worthy of a “do something big” story.  FYI, the letter says “Thanks to you, Pete…” but I cannot and will not take credit for our awesome tech camps.  The success of our programs is dependent on the people on our team.  Thanks to everyone who has made our summer camps in New Jersey, and our camps across the country, a success.

Enjoy!

-Pete

——————–

Subject: Thanks to IDTech Camp, Co. hires 9 yr old website developers

Thanks to you, Pete!

This summer, fresh out of 3rd grade, our twins R. and S. (names withheld for security) learned enough in your website development/game development course to develop a website for a local company and got paid enough to pay for their tuition next summer! (Their goal!)

No, it was not a relative or friend, it was a real client! We told them if they wanted to take classes in game development, they would have to earn the $ to pay for it…and they did!  We are attaching a picture of them with their clients and first paycheck.  They also negotiated a website maintenance contract…ongoing $$$!

If I were you, I would advertise in our area of PA.  Ours were the only kids at Rider College from our area, we found you only by accident, and there is a lot of interest in this type of class here.  If you need any help promoting IDTech camp in this area, we would love to help you (for free).  All parents should know about a camp their kids like so much they are willing to to learn enough to pay their own tuition!

Gratefully,

H. & L.  (Parents’ names withheld for confidentiality)

——————–

We’ve got our summer camps in PA at Carnegie Mellon University and Villanova University.  Please check the availability of our courses at these locations.  And, thanks for spreading the word.  This is what it’s all about!

-Pete

A colleague of mine just sent me a link from the Canadian Press.  Most people in the U.S. know we host our summer technology camps at the top universities in the country – Stanford, MIT, Harvard, Princeton, UCLA…

As we begin our expansion into Canada, it is interesting to get a lay of the land.  Here’s a quick read on some of the top schools in Canada.  We’ve launched iD Tech Camps at the University of Waterloo.  We’ve also launched the iD Visual Arts Academy at McGill University.

The Canadian Press

Date: Thursday Oct. 8, 2009 5:55 PM ET

TORONTO — The prestigious Times Higher Education-QS World University Rankings are out and 11 Canadian universities have made the Top 200 list.

Six Canadian universities have even advanced in their standings over the previous year’s list, with Montreal’s McGill University ranking the highest at number 18.

McGill, which is the only Canadian university in the top 20, was also one of the six Canadian institutions that advanced in its ranking this year over last year’s list.

The University of Toronto was the next highest on the list at number 29, improving from 41st spot last year, while the University of Alberta made a huge leap from 74th spot last year to number 59 this year.

The universities of Waterloo, Calgary and Western Ontario also moved up on the list, with Calgary soaring from 170 to 149.

The other Canadian schools that made the grade were UBC, the Universite de Montreal, Queen’s, McMaster and Simon Fraser.

So, rest assured, when you attend one of our summer programs in Canada, you’ll have the peace-of mind-in knowing that your are not only learning great technologies–but you are doing so at an institution of prominence not only in Canada, but also the rest of the world.

Have a great day!

-Pete

Dear iD Nation,

I want to personally welcome you to the iD Family.  To our returning families, I know you’ve been looking forward to our 2010 launch.  Yesterday we started taking registrations at 8 AM, and the phones were ringing busily all day.  That’s a good sign!  We had  a banner year in 2009, so we think 2010 will be even better.

An obvious question many families are asking is “What’s New?”   I am going to cut and paste some content from our “What’s New” page on our website:

• Digital Catalog – Our summer camp catalog is now available.
• Registration is now live! – Register with our latest promotion and save $100 by 12-15-09.  And when you refer-a-friend, you now save $50 and your friend does too!
• New Locations – New prestigious university locations including the campuses of Harvard, Princeton, Adelphi, Bentley, the expansion of our Teen Academies nationally, and our expansion into Canada.
• New Courses at iD Tech Camps – Awesome new courses include iPhone® App Development, Digital Photography & Photoshop®, RPG Game Design & Graphic Arts Hybrid, Game Modding with titles including Warcraft® III, Starcraft®, Half-Life® 2 and more.  Go to courses and programs.
• Expansion of our Teen Academies – The  iD Programming Academy has expanded to MIT.  The intensive game development program, the iD Gaming Academy has expanded to Chicago and Seattle.  We’ve also launched the new iD Visual Arts Academy. The Teen Academies are for ages 13-18.
• iD 365 – Endless Summer – Upon registration at iD, you now get access to our monthly FREE online workshops, taught year round by live instructors.  More.
• Receive Continuing Education Units from Villanova University or Stanford Continuing Studies.  Details.
• The iD Guarantee – We average 6 students per instructor at iD Tech Camps.  If we exceed an  8:1 ratio, you get to return for a free week of camp at equal value.  It’s that simple!  It’s iD quality.  And it’s only at iD!  Note:  Not valid for Teen Academies. Get details.
• New Games – Hot new commercial gaming titles used in our gaming courses, gaming tournaments and Ultimate Gaming Weekends.
• Learn Valuable “Life Skills” – We’re building new life skills content for this year.  The curriculum will round out the summer experience. See the benefits of iD. We’ve also got fun new camp activities for students.
• Technology Isn’t Just for Boys – We’ve created more courses and modules that are be appealing to girls including Web Design & Flash® Animation, Graphic Design, Video Editing & Special Effects, Digital Photography & Photoshop and the new teen-only  iD Visual Arts Academy.
• Go Green – We continue our iD Greening initiative by promoting carpooling, reducing travel and energy consumption and establishing new outreach partnerships in the communities we serve.
• The Basement.  For Students Only! – Find out what the buzz is about.   Facebook, Twitter, YouTube.  Blogs.  Student Project Uploads.  Camp Photos.  iD 365.  And more.  Head down to the The Basement!

OK, I’m back.  As you can see, we’ve been a bit busy preparing for this launch.  You might expect that we kick back and take a few months off in the Fall, but nothing could be further from the truth.  We’ve got the hardest working crew in the summer camp industry.  We’ve had teams working round the clock to pull all the pieces together…working with new locations (including the expansion of our Teen Academies and a push into Canada), developing curriculum, developing back-end applications, signing contracts, overhauling our website, developing content, designing our camp brochure, working with new corporate partners, creating new courses, and so much more.

The launch is a big, big, team effort, and it is a sign of our company’s organization and dedication to providing the very best.

On behalf of all our employees, we want to welcome you to the new camp season.  We hope you’ll take a few minutes to look around our website.  And, as always, we’re just a phone call away.

Best,

Pete Ingram-Cauchi

CEO, iD Tech Camps

A parent recently posed this question to me:

Dear Pete, I am looking for a comic design camp for my son this summer, 2009. Can you please direct us to somthing in the Pittsburgh or the Philadelphia area of PA. Thank you for your attention to our inquiry. My son attending ID-Tech camp in summer 2007 and loved this course but it does not appear to be offered as of late. Mom in distress…

We do not specifically offer a comic design camp, but we have introduced a couple new courses that might fit the bill this year.  Please check out our Create Your Own Adventures Course as well as our Graphic Arts Course–both are offered at most locations throughout the country, as well as at Carnegie Mellon University and Villanova University which are close to you.

Both courses offer some awesome content using some very relevant and fun platforms.

Hopefully this information helps.  We hope to see you out at our summer camp.

Best,

Pete

Whew, it has been a while and I have a lot of catching up to do on my blog!

Since my last entry I have been to two staff trainings; Lake Forest College in Chicago and last weekend at Villanova University in the Philadelphia area. We take staff training very seriously and require all new staff attend training and once trainings are complete we will have trained approximately 300 staff and about half of them were in attendance at Villanova last week.

We cover a lot of ground in the several days that staff attend: teaching skills, risk management, our online tools and forums, safety procedures – but the most memorable part of training is teaching people how to have FUN at camp.