Boy, Does That DMA Swing!
Monday morning, I arrived at the San Diego Convention Center and walked towards Hall F for the keynote session. There was a huge crowd milling about. Why weren’t people going inside? Surely the hall wasn’t filled to capacity already?
I mean, why would that many people want to get in? Was there going to be a John Greco/Martha Stewart bake-off or something? Please God, I hoped, let there be a Greco/Stewart bake-off. That would be awesome.
The crowd reminded me of the last time I was in this building, for Comic-Con in 2002, a show legendary for overflowing session halls. (By the way, the main difference between DMA and Comic-Con? DMA has 38% less people dressed as Stormtroopers)
As I waited , I noticed a robot, which I later learned from collateral on the keynote hall seats was Hoovie, there to promote Hoovers.
“Don’t panic—he’s not the ‘melt your face then take over the world’ kind of robot,” the flyer explained.
See, there’s where Hoovers and I differ. I’m inclined to think a Terminator loose in the exhibit hall randomly vaporizing an attendee or three would liven up any conference. But maybe that’s just me.
Anyway, soon, we were being let in to the hall, to the tune of….1940s swing music????
I looked up to see Party of Four, a quartet of singers dressed in 1940s attire, swinging and bopping. Sure, they were fun, and my mom (age 84) would have loved them. But I have to wonder….is the music of Benny Goodman really the right tune for an organization that wants to present itself as cutting edge?
A stirring rendition of the national anthem was next, followed by Grecos’s keynote, which told us all about how great the DMA was. Next up was outgoing DMA board chair Kelly Browning, who talked about…how great the DMA was. Last, we heard from Martha Stewart, who—in a change of pace—told us how great Martha Stewart was (and yes, she had kind words about the DMA too).
For the skinny on Stewart’s address, click here.
For Stormtroopers, watch this:
