I just returned from the SAP World Tour held in Chicago at the Marriott. The event was sold out and it appeared that everyone came to listen to Al Gore and eat a free lunch (they ran out of the boxed lunches).
SAP's USA President spoke before Gore and I arrived 15 minutes after the session started. I was told the ballroom was full and they pointed me to another "viewing" room where they had a projector set up so you can see the same thing as if you were in the ballroom.
After five minutes, I decided as a guest panelist at the event, I should see the event live. The "guard" let me in after I told her I came from Alaska. And what did I see? Five huge screens and the SAP President.
After listening for nearly 30 minutes, it was clear that SAP is the global leader in business software and I was happy we made the decision to be part of the SAP family.
Al Gore came on next and after writing a book, doing a movie and speaking a thousand times since he left the White House, this Al Gore was nothing like the one we remember. This one is pocketing $100K for an hour, has polished hair more so than my nails and is more confident that Obama talking about health care.
But alas, Gore is and always will be a politician. After an hour of listening to him, you are ready to run for the hills and find a nice secluded cave. This way you can avoid all the fires, floods, draughts and other things mother nature has in store for us due to global warming.
Gore told us he was going to only spend a couple minutes on the subject. HA! His key point was that the North Pole Ice Cap has lasted 300 million years (nearly as long as politicians) but at the recent pace, will be gone in the next five. That will produce tremendous issues for the planet.
In his effort to tie his message into SAP, he stated that business leaders are the ones that are going to have to forego short term profits for long term results. He mentioned Frito-Lay as a company on the leading edge of "green." (I am confident his previous speech was to church leaders and he told them that church officials are going to have to lead the way).
In the end, Vice President Gore got applause, but not a standing ovation. He's having way too much fun and making way too much money to care.
Happy Thursday!
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