A Pro Football Hall of Famer, the Terminator and a French Hotel
Tuesday, September 26th, 2006Name three things seen on stage at Fall CTIA’s morning keynotes.
Well, it turns out that Seattle Seahawks’ Hall of Famer, Steve Largent, is the President of CTIA (The International Association for the Wireless Telecommunications Industry).
And the audience at this year’s CTIA Wireless IT and Entertainment Conference in Los Angeles last week was treated to keynote appearances from none other than the Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and infamous hotel-heiress Paris Hilton.
The MoPR crew knew about these special surprise guests in advance, and snagged seats in the front row in order to bring you these exclusive shots from the keynotes.
Arnold used his time on stage to wax poetic about his accomplishments thus far as the Governor of California. A former politician himself, Sidline was disappointed in Arnold’s choice to ignore the opportunity to tie his speech to the CTIA audience by mentioning specific advances in wireless technologies and other more relevant topics. However, there were some (like Melissa) who were wooed by his mere appearance on stage.
In all fairness, Arnold did open his speech with a nod to a former movie role he played in a futuristic-themed flick called Total Recall. Arnold praised out how far we’ve come in terms of technology, pointing out that the movie, set 40+ years in the future was showcasing technology that is actually here today, thanks to technical innovation.
PC Magazine Reporter, Natali Del Conte, published this article on Arnold’s speech and the rest of the Keynote that day; the best wrap-up of the Governor’s 10-minute appearance that we found. In her article Natalie highlights this quote from Arnold regarding the Total Recall parallel:
“Fifteen years ago in Total Recall we were doing some of this technology but thinking it would be way off in the future, like in 2030,” said the California Governor. “But now we are doing all of this today. Video phones and instant communications, and now you can buy a cell phone like I just bought for my daughter for $69, whereas before it was $400.”
And because I like to give props where props are due, I applaud Arnold for being the ONLY Keynote speaker to not blatantly read directly from the teleprompter. Thanks Arnold!
The Day-Two Keynote was sans Special Surprise Guest, but that was because they were rearing up for the “blow your mind” stardom of Day-Three’s special guest – - none other than THE PARIS HILTON!
The MoPR crew had breakfast that morning with Frost & Sullivan and MobileTrax wireless analyst, Gerry Purdy. Breakfast kicked-off at 8:30 and the keynote started at 9:30 (8 blocks from the hotel where we were eating). When we shared with Gerry that Giddings and I wanted to make sure we wrapped-up by 9:15 so that we could get good seats for the Paris Hilton appearance, he just laughed. “Ha! I have real work to do,” said Gerry, dismissing the thought of hurrying over to the convention center for the speech.
In the end, breakfast with Gerry was far more riveting than a Paris Hilton sighting; so Giddings and I sat and enjoyed the conversation, and then rushed off to the keynote with moments to spare. We got a front row seat, dead center – - apparently the fact that Paris Hilton would be there was of little interest to this audience (or perhaps the planning committee did such a good job keeping their secret guest a secret that no one bothered to get out of bed early that morning).
At any rate, there we were… Me with my digital camera flashing away, capturing photos of Paris’ grand time at CTIA – including a “welcome to the stage kiss” kiss from Steve Largent (scandalous!).
Paris kicked off her appearance by accidentally reading Steve’s opening line off of the teleprompter. Then quickly apologized to the audience, admitting, “Sorry, I’m reading from a teleprompter.” Really? We never would have known. She did look fabulous though! After recovering from the teleprompter error, Paris went on to tell us why she was there – - to show us her new music video she was just watching on her cell phone (camera zooms in to show audience a clip – to which audience responds with dead radio silence, no whooping, no clapping, just silence). UG! Paris then tells us she has to get going, and that she’s off to walk the floor of her favorite trade show, CTIA. Riiiigggghhhhhttt. As Paris walks off the stage, before even making it to the safe confines of the curtain, the audience sees her throw both her hands up in despair. This crowd just wasn’t feeling the love for Paris. Giddings and I are glad we rushed to the convention center that morning while Sidline hung back at the hotel to “work”.
After all, it’s not everyday you get to see Paris Hilton in person, and our L.A. celebrity-sighting toll did go up by one; bringing the total to 3 for the week:
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The MoPR Celebrity Sightings at CTIA 2006: #1: California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger #2: Paris Hilton #3: Sean Penn (we sat next to him for several hours while enjoying afternoon tea with a client at the Rendezvous Court Tea Room in the Millennium Biltmore Hotell) |
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