Dear Friends:
I'm still here in Cambridge - the site of my company's annual meeting with all of our global partners. In fact, it's called the ARM Partner Meeting, or APM:
It's an amazing corporate event, particularly because it takes place in - and around - the University of Cambridge (an 800 year-old institution). Each day, we start off with keynote addresses at one of the cities largest theaters. To welcome folks, we had these cute little cookies made for everyone:
The afternoons are spent in meetings, back at Clare College (one of the several dozen colleges that make up the University). We built a huge demo center at the entrance, to show off all of the technology, and the electronic products that our chips are found inside:
As I've noted before, our chips are inside 90% of the smartphone market around the world:
But we're also inside of game consoles, virtual reality devices, and even a new category called "wearables" - like the Apple Watch:
There's a chip inside that hat, acting as a pedometer. I guess we can call it a "smart" hat ; )
We even have chips running some low-end computers, making the battery last all day long:
What I didn't realize, is that our chips power a lot more "smart" devices. Here's an interesting collection, including a hoodie sweatshirt that has LED lights inside the hood that someone can control. Exactly what kids need, right?
Yup, that's a "smart" fork. It actually keeps track of your eating habits, in case you're like my family and you eat WAY too fast ; )
To get to some of the meetings, you have to walk through the middle of Clare College, passing lush gardens along the way:
On the evening of the first day, my team held a special dinner for the partners that we look after. Our group is called the "Ecosystem Team" because we watch over the entire software ecosystem of the mobile phone market. We took our guests to yet another of the colleges in town. This time, it was Magdalene College, founded in 1429. Going through the main gate, you come into yet another picture-perfect courtyard inside:
The college is located adjacent to the River Cam. It's across the river from the main boat center, where people go "punting" (see a previous post for our experience here):
The dinner itself took place inside the Magdalene Dining Hall. This is one of the only dining halls in Cambridge that has NEVER installed electricity into the building. All dinners are done by candlelight. It's such a beautiful room...with light streaming in from the windows, even around 8pm:
The dinner was glorious. Lamb was the main course, but each dish was fantastic. If you want to see details, click on the image, below:
The "star" of the evening, however, was dessert. They served Stickey Toffee Pudding with clotted cream, maple and pecan sauce. Believe me, this was no ordinary British desert. You'll find sticky toffee pudding on many menus, but tonight's version was almost a religious experience:
The picture really can't do it justice. You've just going to have to trust me. I sat next to several British natives, and they all said it was the best they had ever had. It's the kind of dessert that makes you stare into each spoonful, and savor every bite. The good thing is that I don't think it has any calories ; )
That evening, the entire conference gathered back at the big theater, where they had turned it into a giant British pub. The beer was flowing, and they had a Queen cover band playing through the evening.
As you can see, there's a lot of entertaining that takes place, after the day of meetings is over. I raised my Diet Coke to many toasts, throughout the night ; ) I even had some interesting discussions when people asked why I wasn't drinking? I love those moments.
That's it for now. I hope this is it for this particular part of my UK journey. I still have two more days of the APM to go, so who knows if anything more interesting will happen. Thanks so much for reading!
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