I spent an interesting and unique 2 days this week with some fascinating people in the computer security field. Though I was a member of the faculty, there were no class rooms and no formal instruction. Instead the other faculty and I acted as facilitators of discussion groups made up of the members who are from a cross-section of the public and private sector. As The Institute’s web page says, “The Forum’s curriculum is modeled on the Harvard Business School teaching method, which emphasizes real-world, case-based discussions that yield tangible, usable techniques and insights. In order to create an intimate discussion environment, enrollment is limited to only 100 qualified network security professionals.” It was sort of like what I envision “Renaissance Weekend” to be like, except without the Clintons (and so more enjoyable, at least for me), and made up of really smart people with varying experience and maturity in our field. When we started I knew about 5 people there, including a few of the faculty. When we left — after only two days — I felt as if leaving 80 colleagues.

The calendar for 2004 is available at http://www.ianetsec.com.