E140B Open House Sessions
Summer Quarter, 2008

Each student will host an informal Open House at their company at some point during their internship. The purpose of this session is to provide each student the opportunity to introduce the rest of the class and teaching team to the company, its people, and the summer internship.

The time and agenda for the event is left to the discretion of the student, though the event should be short (about an hour). Attendance is not mandatory, but is very strongly encouraged. We expect that every student will be there, unless there is a good reason not to be. At a minimum, we require that at least half the class attend each Open House. You are also encouraged to invite your alumni mentor.

The Open House is meant to be an informal event. Each student will have the opportunity to make a formal presentations about their work experience as part of E140C in the autumn quarter. While the open house should provide an introduction and some context for that future presentation, you should not need to provide any analysis (frameworks, etc.) at this point. In fact, doing so in a premature manner might detract from your autumn presentation.

The scheduling of individual Open Houses will be up to the individual students, according to the following guidelines:

• Six students have been randomly assigned to do their Open House during the month of July, while the other six have been assigned to host their Open House during the month of August. The assignments for the Summer are as follows:

  Month	Students
  July	Boris, Laura, Vijay, Jonah, Varun, Chris
  August	Kelton, Shannon, Jessa, Ian, Alex, Sarah

• Please make the start time at 6:00PM (or after) if feasible. (Given all we ask of your employers, it's a little odd for you to leave your offices at 5PM throughout the summer.) Target about an hour for the event and do not exceed 90 minutes.
• We ask that no more than two open houses are scheduled each week. Once you have been scheduled for a week, you will need to swap with someone else if you want to switch weeks. Please schedule only one open house during the week of the MFP retreat.

• Students interning at the same company should coordinate to put on a single open house.

• The responsibility of the individual host is to make sure that all logistical information is sent out to the e140 list in a timely manner (three days ahead of time). This includes, but is not limited, to:
  1. Dates, time, and an agenda (including speakers)
  2. Directions to/from the event
  3. A recap of the event for those who miss it (afterwards, of course)
• In addition to your e-mail, it is also helpful if you send the TA a link to a webpage describing logistics for the event. The TA will link your page to your spot on the E140B calendar. When looking for event-specific information, please check there first, or contact the host.

In scheduling the Open House, students should not feel obligated to accommodate everyone's schedule, but should pick a time that makes sense for them and for their company, and that allows reasonable participation by everyone else. Every effort will be made to have Tom, Tina, or the TA at each Open House.

When planning the content for your Open House, you should involve your manager and company mentor, as appropriate. In the past, these sessions have provided a great opportunity for the class to get access to the executive management of the company. However, if you involve many people from your company, you will need to exercise some control over the length of the session. Again, keep the overall length to 60 minutes but never longer than 90 minutes.

In the past, some students have planned social outings to follow their Open Houses, often with other people from their company. While not necessary, this type of outing gives everyone a less formal atmosphere for visiting.

For questions about open houses, please contact Tina at tseelig@leland.stanford.edu.

General suggestions for open houses

• Each of you should send a formal agenda to all the fellows and teaching staff in advance of the evening, including a specific start and stop time. This would make it easier to schedule other commitments around these events.
  
  
• When you are the host, make sure to formally welcome everyone by introducing the Fellows and company folks. Also, take the initiative to verbally explain the agenda for the evening. Please don't hesitate to do a little wrap-up with additional thanks.
  
  
• When you are the guest, please go out of your way to personally introduce yourself and chat with any of the employer hosts. Avoid too much MFP-only grouping during any "social" portion of the evening. After all, the company is being very gracious to have us there. You represent the best of Stanford ... get used to it for the rest of your life.
  
  
• Pick another student to help you set the agenda, stay on time, etc.
  
  
• Remember to invite your alumni mentors to join us if they are available.