Many years ago, I was teaching a Project Server class to a group of project managers in New Orleans. The class was held in the fall during the football season, and they told me they were all big LSU Tigers football fans. Because I am a Nebraska Cornhuskers fan, as a joke on the second day of class, I told them of an upcoming date that was important for them to know. I said to them in a very serious voice, “Everyone, please write down this important date”, and I gave them the date. They all took out notepads and wrote down the date. Then I told them, “The date is the next Nebraska home game and it’s on TV. Be sure to watch and cheer for Nebraska!” They all got a big laugh out of the joke I played on them, but they were not done with me.

The next morning when I walked into class, they were ALL wearing red t-shirts with a white letter “N” on the front of the shirt. And someone in the room played “Hail Varsity” on their computer, which is the collegiate fight song for the Cornhuskers. And then they presented me with a red t-shirt as their gift!

Image Courtesy of: Zach Petersen

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Written by Dale Howard

Dale Howard is currently a Senior PPM Consultant with Arch Systems, Inc. His hair and beard have turned white because of using Microsoft's project management tools for more than 20 years. Dale started his career using Microsoft Project 4.0 for Windows 95 and began using Microsoft's PPM tools when they introduced Project Central in 2000. Dale is the co-author of 23 books in Microsoft Project, Project Server, and Project Online. He is currently one 0f 26 Microsoft Project MVPs in the entire world and one of only 4 Project MVPs in the United states.

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