Lotusphere 2008: Why Did Bob Costas Flop So Badly?
Orlando, FL (Jan 22, 2008) - "If
people would get over their sense of celebrity, and had actually listed
to what he [Bob Costas] was saying, they would realize it was a great speech,"
said IBM Lotus Software General Manager Mike Rhodin during a Jamfest concert
last night at Lotusphere 2008. "Of the 7,000+ people in the room yesterday,
only 150 complained and I find that is great."
Apparently, he had not been talking
to different people all day long, either in person or by instant messaging.
"It was horrible," said one attendee from France. This was probably
the worst opening session I have seen at this conference." One of
his colleagues nodded his head in agreement, adding "I had absolutely
zero interest in what he was saying because I had no idea who he was, and
I could not relate to what he was talking about."
This full article is available over on "Eye
on Sports Media".
Tags: Lotusphere 2008, Lotusphere2008
Comment posted by Chris Linfoot01/22/2008 10:06:11 AM
Homepage: http://chris-linfoot.net
This was the fundamental mistake:
World famous in America != World famous
I had to google him when his name first came up during live blogging - I had no clue who he was.
The fault clearly lies with the organisers for making assumptions about his (non-existent) international celebrity and for failing to brief him properly.
I have been at conferences myself where equally competent and respected speakers have crashed and burned for very similar reasons.
Sad really. The keynote does what it says on the tin - it sets the overall tone of the proceedings - and, if the keynote is tarnished, it can take the shine off even the most successful event.