On June 16, 2011, we helped commemorate IBM’s 100th anniversary by doing a “People Logo” of IBM Research – Almaden Lab employees in San Jose, California. It was a hot afternoon, but the scientists and workforce took their places spelling out “IBM 100th”.

But it almost didn’t happen… here’s the backstory: We were waiting in the helicopter at our small airport in San Martin, CA, about 15 miles from the Almaden lab, for the call that they were ready. We had flown the site earlier in the day, but when the call came, the helicopter wouldn’t start! We didn’t have a second helicopter, we didn’t even have a backup plan, but we did have our airplane. Thank goodness everyone waited in place for their anniversary portrait! Ask anyone at the lab that day, and they will be able to tell you exactly where they were standing. Every “body” was important to the message.