There.are fewer things more boring than the walk-on of a keynote speaker, particularly at the early-morning session of a conference. Some guy is announced by some stiff flounder to a few tepid claps, he parts a curtain, puts some notes on a podium, clears his throat and reads from some prepared text.
Yet here I am at the CTIA Mobile Entertainment event in Florida, and five hooded hip-hop dancers take the stage and perform a sharp choreographed piece before MTV's Greg Clayman does his shpiel. Kinda cool, and the dead room at least looks up from their Blackberries at the on-stage antics.
The kicker though, comes when the lead dancer removes his hood...and it's Clayman himself!
His opening few sentences were a little huff-and-puff and some cynics beside me rolled their eyes, but you gotta give Greg big points for taking a big-balled risk and embodying a little of his network's spirit to change what is usually a stultifying custom.
And guess what...the next speaker's opening remarks were "Sorry, but I don't have a dance number."