Talent Pool

For the last 6 to 8 months, we have had a practicum student working with us from the SAIT New Media Production and Design program. It's a good program, in fact we stole one of their best and brightest a few years back - he's now a mainstay at Francomedia and produces some of our best creative.

As luck would have it, we have another SAIT graduate, from the Computer Sciences side of things and he continues to amaze us with his ability to do anything thrown at him.

SAIT produces some all-star talent and this year is no different, our practicum student has helped us out on quite a number of projects, was quick to learn and very efficient.

Earlier this month, the students of the New Media program at SAIT put on their Student Showcase - a demonstration of their work. It's a wine and cheese gathering with lots of young talent waiting to be picked up by local businesses. This is the first time I attended the event, so I wasn't sure what to expect.

I was impressed with the diverse nature of the work and it was cool to see so much promise and prospect in one room - who knows where these kids will end up, maybe running shops like ours one day.

The displays were amateur and hand made, and I don't mean that in a negative way at all - they were well thought out and good by any standard. When you're in school and you have limited resources you do what you can, and what they put together was great. It just wasn't like walking through CES, if it was I would have been very intimidated. A $50,000 booth isn't necessary when looking at potential, you can see it in their enthusiasm, in their pride of work and in their portfolios.

On Wednesday, we learned that our practicum student, Annky Yu, won the best of show this year at the Student Showcase. Holding true to what I've always believed; we attract top talent. Congratulations to Annky!

When you see hard work pay off through a win like that, it's very rewarding - our team has hit many home runs, unfortunately the majority of the time nobody's keeping score. At least, we think nobody is. Truth be told, our clients know the score which is why they keep coming back for more.

It's great to be surrounded by such a deep pool of talent. And, believe me, there's no shallow end at Francomedia.