Ad:Tech - Industry's Leading Lights Are in the Dark

The ad:tech keynote was really, really awful. aQuantive President and CEO Brian McAndrews (who’s anything but devoid of original ideas) spouted platitudes such as “social media is certainly here to stay” to his interlocutor, FastCompany’s less-than-lively Lynne Johnson, who sat slumped in her chair and said “yknow” a lot. The audience quickly moved from rolling eyes at their neighbors to in-session SMS messages trashing the session to colleagues elsewhere in the vast room.

Now I’m in a session with some real industry luminaries: P&G’s Ted McConnell, Motorola’s Barry James Folson, and Publicis Chief Creative Officer Bob Moore, all discussing the state of the interactive advertising industry.

Pity no one can actually see them. The session room, dimmed for PowerPoint projections (only at this session, there aren’t any), has literally no light shining on the speakers at all. About 300 people are sitting here staring at black silhouettes.

Enlightening speakers deserve a little light. Hope this gets dealt with.