Tuesday Night AD:TECH With Robin Williams And Hookers

Michael Mina Restaurant

As day two of San Francisco AD:TECH drew to a close and exhibitor's packed up their booths faster than a booth babe can say, "Got traffic?", conference attendees headed straight for the hotel's Atrium lounge, quickly filling it to capacity as a non-AD:TECH hotel guest was overheard saying, "This is insane! Let's get out of here." We could identify with that comment when faced with the choice between fighting off the meat to score a drink at the bar versus having dinner with AD:TECH Chair Susan Bratton and IAB Industry Research Director Doron Wesly at the Westin St. Francis Hotel. The decision was easy. In the hotel's relatively new and very elegant Michael Mina restaurant, we had a fantastic meal presented with flair and style. As the conversation moved from industry trends, trade show details and names suggested as keynote speakers for future conferences to more important issues such as life in San Francisco versus New York and the importance of white teeth, we respectfully ignored Robin Williams and Andre Agassi who were eating dinner three feet behind us at the next table.

The View At Marriott

Following three hours of delectable food, fancy martinis and amazement over just how short Robin Williams really is, we headed back to the Marriot Hotel and up to the 39th floor's The View to check out the GRS Poker Tournament. Though no longer hungry following our spectacular dinner, we did notice there wasn't much left of whatever had been formerly known as the buffet table. We spent a few minutes chatting with friends, watching the poker games and admiring the the view before we headed back down to the hotel lobby and jumped on a Looksmart-sponsored trolley which included a bar and shuttled us to the unofficial AD:TECH After Party billed as "The After Party People Will Be Talking About For Years." As much as the party's sponsors might like to believe, the only time spent talking about their party will be right here on this website. Held in a giant, open, warehouse-like building, the DJ, accompanied by his two gyrating groupies, pumped out the usual stuff which reverberated through the horrific acoustics of the establishment like a train horn mounted on a tuner's car parked in an airplane hanger.

The Terra Trance

The After Party experience wasn't all bad as we ran into iMediaConnection's Masha Gellar and Kevin Ryan, LearningCraft Founder Rob Graham and Corey Kronengold from Eyeblaster, all of whom had stepped outside the throbfest for a cigarrette break. We joined them bumming our annual AD:TECH cigarette only to realize we were clearly not innebriated enough to mask the disgusting stench of the smoke. As we were standing outside talking shop, one of the party organizers said we should step back inside so we wouldn't miss the performers. Reportedly some kind of professional Japanese dancers, they, as we were later told by others who saw the performance, turned out to be a bunch of 14 year old girls doing what girls do onstage to pulse pounding music.

The Cliff Room

Filled with need to bail as many others were doing and thoroughly branded from the vast collection of event sponsor banners hung throughout the club, we headed over to the usual AD:TECH San Francisco late night stop, The Cliff Room. Far fancier looking than Terra from which we came, the Cliff Room, at least tonight, was not so fancy, disguised as some sort of hunting ground for "professionals." As we sat at the bar, we noticed two similar looking women sitting near by, one of whom could not stop carressing herself, who, when asked if they were sisters, replied, "If you want us to be." After that answer, our group just sat back and watched the two go to work on unsuspecting conference goers one after the other. While many in the industry know media negotiations can be fierce, the negotiations occurring behind our back made most of them look tame by comparison. All in all, an enjoyable, if odd, Tuesday night at yet another AD:TECH. See you in Chicago.