It was the first day of CTIA - International Telecom Conference at Las Vegas convention center and i was exhilarated. My anxiety woke me up early in the morning and i was ready in an hour with a dashing black shirt, black trousers and cream blazer. The keynote session was to be given by none other than the God of Branding- Sir Richard Branson. Being a marketing guy, there cannot be anything else that would excite me.
Me and my collegue arrived at the convention center on time in a bus that was arranged for CTIA exclusively. It was a big convention center with more than 100 conference rooms. We were asked to follow the red carpet to enter the Keynote session. A marvellous red carpet ran miles until we finally reached the keynote conference room. Whilst we were hunting the room, it was already half an hour past the keynote start time. There was another speaker and i thought i had missed him. I had begun to lament. Soon the speaker ended his speech and the anchor called the CEO of Virgin group. The CEO dint speak anything else other than introducing Branson. A small video clipping ran for about a minute showcasing the GOD's past stunts of launching the brands which he is well known for. The video ended, the audience were in silence, after a pause for 15 seconds the CEO finally said what we all had been craving for.... Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Sir Richard Branson....... The uproar was sky high, awesome music played at the background, the focus lights pointed at the entrance of the stage.. 3, 2, 1... the Master Showman Chairperson of Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Mobile USA, Virgin Records, Vigin Mobile India, Virgin Galactic, Virgin Health Bank, Virgin Comics, Virgin Communications, Virgin Broadcasting, Virgin Hotels, Virgin Publishing, Virgin Radio, Virgin Trains, Virgin Brides, Virgin Cosmetics, Virgin Active entered the stage.
As cool as he is ever, he came with a plastic glass with water and the action began. He spoke about the way he started the airline business and other ventures. He explained the global warming and responsibilities that one should take to fight it. He told about the Virgin Galactic that gives people a chance to goto space. Ofcourse, there is no stopping for the Branding Guru, his new venture, his company had teamed up with Google to form VIRGLE which would put people on Mars !!! The catch is people would not return back ;-)
He approached the end of his speech and the showman threw a question to the audience asking them to raise hands those who were interested in going to Mars. I was ready to be a part of anything that he did and i raised my hand too. Then to my surprise, he called all of us on stage. I was in a dream world. Without even giving a thought, I rushed to the stage and climbed up. I turned back to see a huge bunch of paparazis flashing lights all over. The live video coverage captured this amazing moment. I went close to Branson and put my hand in front of him. The golden hand came down and the tryst was made. I still cant believe this happened to me. After pinching myself now, i am continuing my blog - Then we posed for the photographers for about a minute and raised our hands showing the victory sign. The magic was coming to an end as he left the stage. Though the magic ended there, these were one of my memorable moments which i would cherish through out my life.
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