Sometimes things come together nicely and create a nearly perfect situation.  That’s how I feel about tonight’s Sports Marketing Strategy class we teach at Georgetown Univ.

First, we had a packed room of 45 – 46 students — let’s see if this is still true when it’s April and the warm weather arrives.  🙂   Anyway, I lectured for the first hour of the class, primarily about the overall sports industry, sports marketing agencies, leagues and teams.   There were plenty of good questions throughout the first portion of the class.

Then, for the second half of the class, we were honored to have Phil de Picciotto as our guest speaker.   Phil is the President, Athletes and Personalities for Octagon, which was chosen as the Sports Agency of the Year in 2008.   He’s also been chosen as one of the Sporting News’ “100 Most Powerful People in Sports” and Sports Business Journal’s “20 Most Influential People: Sports Agents.”

Phil gave a fantastic 40-minute lecture about the evolution of the sports industry, including a couple of great examples of how they created marketing packages for Michael Phelps, the 2008 Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year.   We then had an excellent 30-minute Q & A with the class.

Speaking from experience, I know the class is engaged when 1) they’re attentive during the guest lecture, 2) ask lots of questions and 3) swarm the guest after the class to ask more questions.  Additionally, I’ve already received a couple of emails from students saying how much they enjoyed tonight’s class.

It can be a long day when one works all day, then teaches a 2 1/2 class at night, but on a nearly perfect night like tonight, the time flies by.   As the saying goes, “it’s all good!”