This editorial was originally published on Jan 11, 2008. It is being re-run as Steve is traveling.

This past week at the Consumer Electronics Show, the Keynote speaker was Bill Gates. He's given the speech a number of times, and he said this was his last one. He's given that keynote quite a few times, along with many others, over the years as the face of Microsoft.

This being a Friday, and with me finding out that I'll be at 3 events (at least) this year, I'm looking forward to hearing some good speeches. With that in mind, this weeks poll is

Who's the best keynote speaker you've seen?

I've been lucky enough to see Bill Gates speak quite a few times and I've always enjoyed it. He's a good speaker and they put together some good presentations for him. He's definitely got to be one of the best that I've seen.

I'm not a big fan of Ballmer and don't think he's a great speaker, and there have been a few speakers from Microsoft that I didn't really like over the last year or so. I will say that Bill Baker always does a great job and he's one that I hate to miss at PASS or any other event. Jim Gray was wonderful when I saw him 10 years ago and

While Microsoft is at many events I've attended and sent quite a few people, I'll say that both Dr. Michael Treacy and Dr. Robert Kaplan, both speakers at the Microsoft BI Conference in 2007, were excellent. They were business speakers that had some very interesting things to say and did a great job presenting their views. I would highly recommend either of them for a business based lecture.

I'm not sure who my favorite would be, though Bill Gates might be up there. I'll say that at the height of their popularity and success, I saw Jim Barksdale give a great speech. He's one of the few I'd definitely go see again.

Steve Jones

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