24 November 2009

Last Thursday, leadership expert and best-selling author, Dr. Stephen R. Covey, sat down with a group of elementary school students at a school in Raleigh, N.C., and shared with them the tenets of the leadership program that has brought their school nationwide acclaim. And the visit occurred while Stephen Covey was in Omaha, Nebraska – nearly 1,200 miles away.

Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and Vice Chairman of FranklinCovey Co. (NYSE: FC), continues to extend his reach with the help of telepresence solutions from Polycom, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLCM), the global leader in telepresence, video and voice communication solutions.

Stephen Covey's latest telepresence address took place last week during "Leadership Day," a gathering of 175 educators and business leaders at Raleigh's A.B. Combs Leadership Magnet Elementary School. The event is designed to showcase the school's success in applying a leadership model, The Leader in Me, which is based on principles developed by Stephen Covey. Once the lowest performing school in its district, A.B. Combs now is known for successfully arming students with the skills and self-confidence to succeed as leaders in the 21st century.

Using a Polycom telepresence system installed at The Durham Museum in Omaha, Stephen Covey interacted with students and educators during a segment spotlighting what it's like to be a student at A.B. Combs. In Raleigh, A.B. Combs administrators took advantage of Stephen Covey's appearance to christen a new room-based telepresence system presented to the school by Polycom.

"How appropriate that the first prominent use of our new Polycom telepresence system will be interacting with Dr. Stephen Covey, whose leadership principles have helped us transform our school and the lives of our students," said Muriel Thomas Summers, principal of A.B. Combs. "Polycom telepresence will not only benefit the 810 students we serve, but every child in every state and country that we touch. Our students and teachers will now be able to interact with people of other cultures and with recognized leaders, and learn from them in real time. This will help us nurture the global citizens of tomorrow. That is the gift of telepresence. It brings the world to our students."

Telepresence will also help the school expand its decade-old Leader of the Week program, which brings high-achieving individuals from business and government into the school to speak with students. "This will really open up the program, because now we don't have to worry about where the speaker is located. Instead, we can find the very best person to talk to their area of expertise," said Summers. "We have students from 64 countries speaking 27 different languages. So it's important for students to interact with leaders who look like them, and Polycom has suddenly made that so much easier for us."

The school also plans to use its telepresence system to take advantage of a host of Polycom-sponsored resources, including:
A free searchable database of more than 1,900 educational programs from schools, zoos, museums and more.
A global network of educators who regularly collaborate on projects over video conference.
Special events that can connect A.B. Combs students live with renowned authors, experts in fascinating fields, and famous locations, and other opportunities to access free rich content to enhance studies.

The A.B. Combs event is the latest use of Polycom telepresence to improve access to Stephen Covey and other FranklinCovey thought leaders for conferences and events. Through Interactive Forums powered by Polycom telepresence, Stephen Covey and FranklinCovey save a significant amount of time and travel costs, thereby delivering a more cost-effective model for the organization and its customers.

Stephen Covey said, "With Polycom telepresence, I can carry on a genuine, face-to-face conversation with people located thousands of miles away, which creates an environment where we can be authentic, real and honest. That kind of intimacy is essential when interacting with these students about the core principles of leadership that are shaping their lives every day at A.B. Combs."

Polycom telepresence delivers a very natural and interactive visual communication experience that allows Stephen Covey to interact with people in other locations in a very collaborative and intimate manner.

Polycom Inc

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