WHO says geeks lack humour?
Pulse – an IBM Software event – currently going on from now until Thursday is seeing about 6,000 professionals converging on glitzy Las Vegas in a geekfest.
No sexy gear and booth babes like the Consumers Electronics Show also held at Las Vegas last month. No bated breath for some oracle – like Steve Jobs for Macworld.
That Pulse is technical is an understatment.
Pulse is all about service management: Software systems a company needs to deliver efficient, effective and excellent services. There are hands-on labs – like advanced driving courses for drivers – on how to get the best out of IBM software. There're also education sessions: Full day affairs crammed with insider tips on how to fully use software.
Some participants even came to sit for exams to get professional IBM certification. All these take place besides the keynote speeches and user group meetings.
A layman can walk into a session and not understand a word said. Jargon here is de rigeur. The verbal shorthand is simply the geeks' way of efficient communications.
IBM yanked out every tool in the book to generate an event buzz. Website. Blog. Social networking sites – Facebook, Twitter and YouTube – all to ensure a strong "pulse" for the next few days and months.
Pulse is held in MGM Grand. At 30 storeys, it is not particularly tall but with 5,044 rooms, it was the world record holder for the hotel with the most number of rooms until it was pipped by the First World Hotel in Genting with 6,118 rooms in Dec 2006.
But the MGM Grand is huge. Getting to the conference venue from the lobby of my hotel room can take a very spirited 10-minute walk. And depending on where you start, travellators may be involved.
Signs are placed along the way. Instead of the usual blah statements, someone at IBM got a little cheeky with the messages on the signs. Yes, it's a low-tech signage system at a high-tech event but it got people smiling.
First, the walk was declared part of a conference fitness programme.
You are encouraged that you will lose weight as you walk off your gastronomical excesses.
But IBM was dead wrong.
Hey, this city is famous for its buffet offers. Not as cheap as before but you can still have a buffet dinner at a hotel for as low as US$12.99 (S$20 at the Fremont).
Having a BMI that will make doctors turn pale, I am usually careful about my diet.
But I succumbed. The hamburger I had made the usual fast food offerings versions taste like flavoured cardboard. But it was the batter-encrusted onion rings that did me in.
Down to the last oil soaked bite, they were works of art.
Lose weight? Yeah, right.
Tan Chong Yaw may soon need a wardrobe re-adjustment.