January 11, 2008 at 1:30 am
I agree that Jim Gray was a fascinating speaker, very enthusiastic, whilst being completely engrossed in technical thoughts and ideas. Unfortunately, I have to say "was a great speaker" as he went missing at sea early in 2007; definitely a sad day.
January 11, 2008 at 1:57 am
How about Tom Kyte - he's one of the best!
January 11, 2008 at 5:56 am
With Macworld starting on Monday, I'd have to say Steve Jobs is definitely one of the best keynote speakers there is, although I've never seen it in person.
January 11, 2008 at 6:25 am
Outside of the technical arena, Dr. Frederick Schroeder with San Diego State is my all time favorite; speaking on disability and blindness.
January 11, 2008 at 6:35 am
The best keynote speaker I've heard was John "Maddog" Hall. For being a Linux guy, he actually is a fairly open-minded guy. Very well-versed in a variety of topics with a lot of experience under his belt, he also knows how to keep an audience engaged in his talks. I'd definitely see another keynote from him.
January 11, 2008 at 7:23 am
Saw Dr. Robert Ballard (who found the Titanic wreckage) give a keynote at Networld+Interop a few years ago - talking about dealing with change in your career. He had great examples of when he got his PhD, scientists 'knew' so many things about the ocean floor (static, lifeless). Then as they were able to explore it further, they found geothermal vents and all the creatures that lived there. Basically contradicting a lot of what they were taught in grad school.
January 11, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Hands down, the best, most fascinating and entertaining keynote speaker I ever heard was the late then-Capt. Grace Hopper of the US Navy. Talking about her involvement in the development of COBOL, the "first" computer bug, and her ubiquitous "nanosecond" prop (a 1-foot length of wire, the distance light travels in that time) had the audience howling for more. Especially when she described how, one time, she thought she'd try illustrating a microsecond also. All was fine until she got to airport security ........
January 11, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Frank Maguire - one of the founders of Fedex, also worked for KFC and has great stories about Col Sanders
Jamie Clark - speaks about several attempts to climb Mt. Everest and ties the successes and failures into planning and leadership
Terry Bradshaw - very entertaining; doesn't necessarily stay on point for leadership/teamwork issues but is hysterical.
January 11, 2008 at 5:56 pm
me - i'm a pretty good key note speaker, been best man a few times given some awesome addresses, went down well, my mother told me, if you wantme to speak for you drop me a line. 🙂
Gethyn Elliswww.gethynellis.com
January 12, 2008 at 8:42 am
I bet Terry Bradshaw is good. I almost laugh out loud every Sunday when he's on.
January 18, 2008 at 10:06 am
I would have to say Colin Powell. I heard him speak a couple years ago and he is an incredible speaker - very energetic and enthusiastic. If you have a chance to hear him, take it.
Ian.
"If you are going through hell, keep going."
-- Winston Churchill
March 28, 2008 at 8:32 am
I would have to agree with Grace Hopper. She was a priceless jewel.
December 7, 2012 at 5:24 am
Dr. David DeWitt is the one person that I would never miss as a keynote speaker.
Best,
Kevin G. Boles
SQL Server Consultant
SQL MVP 2007-2012
TheSQLGuru on googles mail service
December 7, 2012 at 7:54 am
Steve,
Love him or hate him (and sometimes I do) I do have to agree that Bill Gates is one great speaker. One of my favorites, is his "11 rules of life" that he gives from time to time to all the kids out there. It's a classic.:-D
Rule 1: Life is not fair -- get used to it!
Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping -- they called it opportunity.
Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.
"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"
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