he business of delivering keynote addresses is a tricky one. CEOs chosen to deliver wisdom in 60-minute doses are given a marvelous opportunity to inform, to educate, and -- in the rarest of cases -- to inspire. What the speakers do with that opportunity is up to them, and the keynotes delivered at Comdex last week provided textbook examples of the good, the bad, and the just plain bizarre.
The good came from Lotus Development CEO Jeff Papows, who delivered a simple, straightforward call to action for the industry to
"religiously support 100% pure Java ... our last, best hope" for a universal language. Papows' swipe at Microsoft was, to be sure, predictable, but he did manage to create a buzz that carried through the run of the show. The speech also fulfilled the likely public relations objective of reengaging Microsoft in yet another "us against them" skirmish. With Bill Gates scheduled to speak the following morning, it seemed there wouldn't be a long wait for a swift, sharp response. Wrong.
What Gates did with his keynote opportunity can only be described as a forfeit of his at-bat. Perhaps out of boredom, perhaps having run out of things to say, or perhaps tiring of his now-familiar "avuncular keynoter" persona, Gates used his keynote opportunity for an extended question-and-answer session. However, Gates saw to it that the interplay between questioner and respondent implicit in a Q-and-A be completely eliminated by not permitting any audience participation.
Relying solely on prescreened questions and betrayi
ng no degree of spontaneity whatever, Gates fielded queries that weren't necessarily of the "What's your favorite color?" variety but fell far short of the rigorous inquiries the audience would surely have provided. The session ended with absolutely no new ground broken and with the audience enriched only by the revelation that Microsoft until recently still used about 1000 different paper forms for internal purposes. Hardly the stuff audiences have come to expect from Microsoft.
The Comdex gods, however, saved the most colorful keynote for last. The teaming of Oracle's Larry Ellison and CNN's Ted Turner promised to be interesting not so much for what the pair was "announcing" (the awaited Custom News online service) but for what the interplay would be like between these two gentlemen of enormous achievement, neither of whom suffers from any apparent deficiency of self-esteem.
At turns monotonic and manic, disengaged, and mirthful, Turner dominated the proceedings with his roller-coaster performance.
Upon taking the stage, Turner gazed upon his prepared text as if it were an utterly unfamiliar object and delivered a reading that bore few signs of rehearsal. He brightened, though, when coming to a passage that indicated information overload was causing difficulties in interpersonal relationships.
"Take note of this, Larry," Turner called to a still-offstage Ellison. "This stuff is affecting our love life, fer chrissakes." With that, Turner was off and running. Confessing his twin addictions to monitoring parent company Time-Warner's stock price and watching CNN, Turner said he was forced to put his PC display behind his desk. "Otherwise, it would be like playing a slot machine all day. It changes every minute ... you lose $20 million, you win $20 million. Some days, you'd have to see if it was up or down before you could figure out who would pick up the tab for lunch."
Nor was Turner done with that. As Ellison gamely and smoothly weathered several technical glitches (one of his own making -- he for
got his glasses backstage) during his presentation, Turner sat at the side of the stage, chin in hand looking lost in his own thoughts. So deep was his reverie that he needed prodding when his own name was called.
The three keynote appearances had equal potential for making an impact and advancing a cause. If the Comdex gods and keynoters want the show to remain relevant, they've got to do better than offer an hour with one of the brightest minds in the technology business answering canned questions, or a media mogul hamming it up on stage. Attendees come to shows to learn about cutting-edge technologies, get an up-close view of industry luminaries, and, yes, to be inspired on occasion. Unless they find those opportunities at Comdex, they'll find reasons to stay home.
Over the next several weeks, I'll be filling in for Jason Levitt. In this space, I'll be offering a highly subjective view of the good, the bad, and the bizarre developments I encounter in my role as InformationWeek's manag
ing editor/research. Like a keynoter, I'll draw on my 17 years of experience in and around the technology business to try to inform, educate, and (occasionally) entertain. The inspiration can and should come from you. To that end, please drop a line to
LBertin@cmp.com
to share whatever information and education you think I need to better fill your needs.
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