[Search for users] [Overall Top Noters] [List of all Conferences] [Download this site]

Conference 7.286::digital

Title:	The Digital way of working

Moderator:	QUARK::LIONELON

Created:	Fri Feb 14 1986
Last Modified:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	5321
Total number of notes:	139771

2693.0. "What would it take to fund a Scott Adams talk?" by TLE::TOKLAS::FELDMAN (SDT Software Engineering Process Group) Thu Sep 30 1993 20:33

Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert comic strip, gives talks
for a $5000 honorarium plus expenses.  For those of you who've never
seen this strip, Dilbert is a stereotypical engineer, working in 
a business that frequently seems awfully familiar, and owner (or ownee) 
of a smart aleck dog named Dogbert.  The subject matter runs the
gamut from romance to fantasy (often the same for poor Dilbert),
and frequently pokes fun at business issues in ways that seem
incredibly appropriate to Digital.  For example, 

Frame 1.    Boss: We've got to focus more on the needs of our 
		customers.
Frame 2.    Boss: I've hired famous business consultant Tom Peters to 	
		follow you around and make passionate criticism.
Frame 3.    Peters: Is this Quality?  Are you truly focused on the
		customer?
	    Dilbert (thinking): Great... He's a spitter.

Question:  What would it take to get Adams to talk to Digital 
employees in the GMA (or, for that matter, in any area convenient to
a critical mass of Digital employees)?  I don't have much hope for getting 
Digital to foot the bill (though it would surely be worth in improved 
morale).  I don't think we could do it by charging admission; we'd need 500
people at $10 a head just to cover the honorarium.  Do the various
Employee Activities funds have this sort of money, and if so, could
something be arranged, perhaps balanced with a more reasonable door
charge?  Would it be easier to just make this a public event (with little 
or no tie to Digital).  Any other ideas?

By the way, he's scheduled to speak at MIT in November, so there may
be some opportunity for splitting airfare expenses.  

   Gary

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
2693.1		DRDAN::KALIKOW	Technology hunter\gatherer	`Thu Sep 30 1993 21:17`	19
	Heck, I'd pay up to $20 for the privilege of hearing Scott Adams. (I saved at least $100 last month (before "Dilbert" got in trouble for using his) when I bought my "Laser Pointer" from Edmund Scientific Co. in NJ, rather than through one of the glitzier mail-order catazines, so I'd be happy to spend some of the windfall to hear this immortal.) (lessee, did my parens balance above? Great. I've exchanged Internet mail with him -- he published his address at aol.com sometime last fall. He's quite the character in "E-Person" too, though completely consonant with the nerdly folks he paints in his strip. Bring him on! I'd bet that many, MANY Deccies would pitch in on this... I'm only the first of many. Be prepared to take sign-up requests offline rather than cluttering up this string. :-)
2693.2		QUARK::LIONEL	Free advice is worth every cent	`Thu Sep 30 1993 22:39`	6
	I'd pay to see/hear Scott Adams - I too have exchanged some mail with him. I wonder what he's like as a speaker, though. He may be devastatingly witty and astute in his strips (and in e-mail), but not everyone is cut out to be a public speaker. Steve
2693.3		56518::BATES	NAS-ty Boy	`Thu Sep 30 1993 23:43`	12
	Hmmm...I too am guilty of exchanging mail with Scott Adams...and I know of other Digits who have done this too...while I'd pay to hear him speak... $5,000 seems a bit hefty...in these days of cost conservation, perhaps if we gathered together Scott's responses to all of the Digits who have exchanged mail with him, appended them all together in one file and then simply ran the file through DECtalk it would be just as good without all the cost! ;-) -Joe
2693.4		DRDAN::KALIKOW	Technology hunter\gatherer	`Fri Oct 01 1993 02:20`	9
	Now THERE's a creative use of technology, Joe... I gotta admit, it'll take a great many (non-TFSOed) DECnerds to get together a $5K pot, not counting expenses... But with creative thinkers like you around, who needs airplanes and honoraria? :-)
2693.5	8-)	TEKVAX::KOPEC	Me.	`Fri Oct 01 1993 09:57`	3
	I'll dig up the DECtalk.. ...tom
2693.6		24644::SOBECKY	John Sobecky dtn 223-5557	`Fri Oct 01 1993 11:55`	7
	Forget Adams...let's see if we can get Dogbert to talk to us for a case of Alpo. John
2693.7	seek and ye shall find	TOLKIN::DUMART		`Fri Oct 01 1993 12:34`	19
	It is difficult to bring in outside speakers at this moment. It has been done in the past.....several groups have got together and contributed the money. The Women at Work Seminar Series ( a subdivision of the W.O.M.E.N. group) has run a forum for the last six years and will be running one this year too. Our 'guests' are a direct result of surveys/responses/concerns of our group. We negotiate the fee..... I really think I'n in the wrong business ...the lecture tour people make very good money....pray it gets through Purchasing....locate the right site etc. Last year, for example, we had Bertrice Berry speak on humour and discrimination. (She's now gone on to that ultimate fame > her own talk show!). This year Deepak Chopra will be a speaker. So I would check with your Engineering group ....I believe you can also join various Engineering networks....see if sponsorship is available....negotiate the contract....get the site....and voila! you have your speaker. Even in today's climate there is room for creative thinking. If you really want Adams as a speaker I believe you can find a way. Paula
2693.8	Could I just go see him at MIT?	4GL::CMURRAY	Chuck Murray	`Fri Oct 01 1993 12:52`	6
	Re .0: > By the way, he's scheduled to speak at MIT in November,... Does anyone know the particulars (date, time, location)? Is this talk open to the public? Is there an admission charge?
2693.9		ICS::KAUFMANN	Life is short; pray hard	`Fri Oct 01 1993 12:53`	3
	What is Scott Adams' email address? Bo
2693.10	re .9 : scott can be reached at scottadams@aol..com	XANADU::GANAPATHI		`Fri Oct 01 1993 13:06`	0
2693.11	whither Dilbert?	ZIGLAR::FPRUSS	Dr. Velocity	`Mon Oct 04 1993 20:35`	3
	What rags does the strip show up in? fjp
2693.12	Re: .11 The Boston Globe, for one	RANGER::BACKSTROM	bwk,pjp;SwTools;pg2;lines23-24	`Mon Oct 04 1993 20:54`	0
2693.13	.8 again: Where/when at MIT?	ASD::DIGRAZIA		`Wed Oct 06 1993 13:20`	7
	Ditto .8: >Does anyone know the particulars (date, time, location)? Is this talk >open to the public? Is there an admission charge? Regards, Robert
2693.14		TLE::TOKLAS::FELDMAN	SDT Software Engineering Process Group	`Wed Oct 06 1993 19:49`	3
	I believe Nov 1, but I have no further details. Gary
2693.15		REGENT::POWERS		`Thu Oct 07 1993 11:57`	17
	Let's not confuse insight with celebrity. Scot Adams writes a very telling comic strip that many of us can identify with, but I think his degree of "insight" is no more than that shown by MANY contributors to this notes file alone (not even considering the rest of the industry and its outlets). Scot Adams has, to his credit and initiative, a forum that has given him name recognition and celebrity. Does that merit serious consideration to paying him $5000 or more to leave his known milieu and see if he can offer us any insights? Would I pay any of the readers here $5000 for a short evening's entertainment? (More importantly, would anybody like to offer ME anything approaching that figure?) Fat chance! The lecture circuit is WAY overpriced, and based on fame for things not connected with public speaking or enlightenment. - tom] (curmudgeon with a smile on)
2693.16		GRANMA::MWANNEMACHER	ranting and raving	`Thu Oct 07 1993 12:17`	6
	Anyone ever see the strip "Duffy"? Mike
2693.17	Yeah, "Duffy" was good, but we don't get it in the Atlanta rag ...	YUPPIE::COLE	Somedays the bug; somedays the windshield.	`Thu Oct 07 1993 12:32`	2
	... anymore. Another good one for office humor was "On the Fasttrack", also disappeared from Atlanta.
2693.18		MU::PORTER	you can't say that in this notes file	`Thu Oct 07 1993 17:46`	7
	>Would I pay any of the readers here $5000 for a short evening's entertainment? Hmm, I didn't think that was the question. I thought the question was, would I pay Adams $10 in the hope that I'd get an evening's entertainment? Yes, I would. If he bombs, I'm out $10. The total of $5000 (or whatever) has no bearing on my assessment of the entertainment value to me.