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I Introduced Mark Cuban At The Blogworld Expo
Note: Found this video over at Eightblack.com. Thanks! Although the first part of my intro was cut off.
I am still riding the high of introducing Mark Cuban at the Blogworld Expo event the other day. Hopefully I can get video of it. For now though, here’s a copy (.ppt) of the short .ppt presentation I did that got some big laughs, including Mark.
Funny story before I get into the description of my intro. I was told by Rick (the BWE show owner) to meet at the show office at 4 to meet up with Mark Cuban and pitch my intro to him. But 4pm came and went, and Rick never showed, either did Cuban. So I stood there and waited, and waited.
About 2 minutes before his keynote was supposed to start, I see Cuban walking past me alone, and in a huge rush (he was late) and I figured I’d just take charge so I said, “Hey, Mark” and he stopped and I said “I’m introducing you now, it’s this way” and he just looked at me and said, “Great, let’s go, just be brief”. Said in a very nice way, not jerky.
So I followed him down the hall and past the HUGE line to get into the keynote room. He was walking at a quick pace. The dude is taller than I thought he would be. About an inch taller than me and I’m 6′2. A few minutes later I grabbed the mic and did my thing. I think it went over pretty well, although I was nervous as heck.
I started by showing the differences between Mark and myself entitled “Mark vs. Jim”.
Like… Mark has a billion dollars, Jim does not.
Mark owns a major basketball team, Jim drove past Lebron’s house once.
Mark has a private jet, Jim owns a lego Millennium Falcon.
Etc… Got some really good laughs.
Then I lead into… “But, we’re the same because we’re both bloggers.” Ahh, clever eh? I thought so.
Then I told my Markcubanpleasecallme.com story and he laughed some more. Although he commented that he never said he hates me, but I swear the reporter told me that on the phone.
That was that. I wrapped up saying something like… “I couldn’t think of a better person to close out the first Blogworld Expo than Mark Cuban, blogger.” Smooth, eh? Again, I thought so.
His keynote was great, and he stayed for 15 minutes at least to take pictures and meet people. Here’s a video of the swarm of people that got him after he was done.
Mark even referenced me again in his talk talking about the pleasecallme bit. I believe he even said the idea was “genius”. Alright, now my head is really getting big.
Overall though, I was honored to be asked to the intro, and it was a great experience. Funny thing is, I wrote the intro an hour before during a session. I usually do better last minute.
[...] Jim Kukral introed Mark. Jim, who I met in person for the first time this week, did a fantastic job relating the story of his "Mark Cuban Please Call Me" site. The best, the best part of Mark’s keynote was that he was billed, and lived up to, the title-Mark Cuban, Blogger. [...]
It was great to meet up with you at BlogWorld and even greater that you got to intro Mark. What a great introduction. As I recall, Mark thought you were someone else at first. So truth be told he never hated you specifically ;-) . Everyone at PRWeb is excited we got to play a part in the story.
Thanks!
Very cool, Jim! I’m sure you did a great job! I love the bit about the Lego Millenium Falcon! That’s great! LOL!
I enjoyed your participation today in the PostieCon panel! I said Hi to you on the chat, but, the monitors for the chat blinked out on us during that session.
Anyway - sounds like it was a great experience for you all around! Awesome!
Great job Jim. I will get you a copy of the video. Sorry I missed the intro. It was great to finally meet you in person!
Looking forward to next year already.
Blog on!
Rick
Was an awesome intro to say the lead… http://www.JimPleaseCallMe.com coming soon? tell the world how to meet their idols and inspirations!
You did a great job with your intro. You didn’t seem nervous at all. Mark had some good insight on where blogging is going.
Great job! It was terrific meeting you. Awesome presentation.
Thanks for all the great info.
Jim, you did a great job and I’m sorry I didn’t power up the camera soon enough to catch your entire intro. It all happened quickly. You helped set the stage for a great presentation, especially when you mentioned the part about the reporter saying that Mark was never going to call you and that he hated you. Have a look at Mark’s face in the video…the intro put the audience in the right mood.
Your introduction was quite entertaining. Your sessions were informative as well.
@Joe, I got the PRweb plug in there!
@Lisa, thanks for stopping by, but yeah, I noticed the chat stopped working then. Hi!
@Rick, I’m looking forward to it as well. Great first time event. Would REALLY appreciate it if I could just get me intro on video from the official camera.
@Zac, Perhaps!
@Vinny, thanks!
@Martin, nice to meet you as well, thanks!
@Simon, thanks for the video, it’s great. I do appreciate it.
@Deb Ng, I appreciate your thoughts, and I’m glad I was able to make the show entertaining and useful, which is always my goal.
[...] friend Jim Kukral had the opportunity of making the introduction. You can read the full story at his blog. In short, Jim made a site called MarkCubanPleaseCallMe.com and tried to get in touch with Mark [...]
That’s pretty funny, given your history with him. But to me, he still qualifies as a complete idiot. Only probably a little more so each year. But I suppose an interesting one.
[...] Jim Kukral introed Mark. Jim, who I met in person for the first time this week, did a fantastic job relating the story of his “Mark Cuban Please Call Me” site. The best, the best part of Mark’s keynote was that he was billed, and lived up to, the title-Mark Cuban, Blogger. [...]
[...] met Mark Cuban when I introduced him at the Blog World Expo in the fall of 2007. Video below. Am I his Facebook friend? I think so. I remember adding him after [...]
[...] so I introduced Mark Cuban already, and now recently I introduced Jason Calacanis. Watch the video below to see Jason’s entire [...]