That sea of expectant gazes beyond the backside of the podium is a familiar view for Steve Jobs.
Since his reemergence last fall as Apple Computer's interim chief executive, Jobs has been a hot ticket on the conference circuit. His black-mock-turtleneck look has appeared before recent crowds at the National Association of Broadcasters convention in April, Seybold Seminars New York publishing conference in March, Macworld San Francisco in January and Macworld Boston in August, as well as Schroder's Big Picture conference for entertainment investors, where he spoke on behalf of Pixar Animation Studios in March.
In May, Jobs will take the keynote stage once again, to discuss Apple's software strategy at the company-sponsored developers conference.
"Why do so many people want Steve Jobs to speak? Because he's the anti-Bill Gates. It makes him a really good candidate to be a speaker," says John Mecklenburg, a research associate and conference planner at Herring Communications, which publishes Red Herring magazine and organizes industry events like next month's Venture Market West in Monterey, California.
Conference organizers say that Jobs has the celebrity and charisma to pack a house with industry enthusiasts willing to fork over hundreds of dollars for admission to events. And they know that it doesn't take much to whip a Mac-friendly crowd into a frenzy.
"Half the people in most audiences have had Macs or love Macs," notes Jack Powers, conference chairman for Internet World.
To date, Jobs has delivered five keynotes at events (other than Apple-sponsored affairs) since revisiting Apple's corporate hierarchy last summer. (Jobs set up camp in Cupertino's corporate offices after former CEO Gil Amelio was ousted in July, and was named interim CEO in September.)
That's more deliveries than Jim Barksdale of Netscape Communications Corp. and Scott McNealy of Sun Microsystems Inc. put together, according to an informal account of their major addresses. (The two companies declined to comment on their CEOs' engagements.) But Jobs has a few more discourses to give before he eclipses reigning keynote king and Microsoft Corp. chairman Gates, who did his best to rack up somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 large audiences last year alone.
But Macintosh evangelist Guy Kawasaki doesn't read much into Jobs’ recent spree of speeches. "Steve is the acting CEO of a major corporation and extremely charismatic. Usually it takes only one of those things. To me it's a no-brainer. Bill Clinton makes a lot of speeches. Michael Jordan goes to a lot of basketball games."
While keynoting may seem like a lucrative side profession, it's not -- at least for Jobs, who does most of his speaking for free. Though he has racked up thousands of frequent flier miles, and perhaps some free in-flight cocktails.
Of course, with 69 percent ownership in Pixar, worth somewhere around US$1.2 billion at the current $44 stock price and a fresh share of options in Apple stock, money isn't an issue.
What Jobs really seems to be after with these engagements is keeping himself and Apple in the minds of their followers and the media.
"What's in it for him is creating a buzz around himself. The media is crucial to his success. We can kill him," says Mecklenburg.
A buzz may be just what Jobs and Apple need at this point. But does Jobs have anything to say that's new? Some audience members report that his speeches were extended commercials, which left everyone but the most diehard Mac aficionados less than impressed.
"He has the most possibility to be interesting, but I've heard from some people who have attended his speeches that they're just long product notes," said Powers of Internet World.
Mecklenburg, however, says that part of Jobs' continuing allure is due to the suspense he has created around his persona. "There's a cloud of mystery surrounding him," Mecklenburg said. "He's keeping us in the dark."
There's a sense that at any given keynote at any conference he could decide to blurt out news about a whole new product line or business model for Apple, or about the next move in his atypical career.
That none of his recent speeches have grabbed headlines still has not deterred keynote bookers like Mecklenburg.
"It doesn't matter whether Steve Jobs has something new to say. He is a marquee name in this industry and he will put butts in seats."
