I’ve had the opportunity to work on many incredible events focused on a wide range of topics and featuring some extremely compelling keynote speakers.
But given it’s a presidential election year, I thought it would be fun to take a look at a couple of the keynote speakers I’ve supported at major technology events who later went on to run for president.
First, there was Rudy Giuliani. Shortly after his term as mayor of New York City ended, I was managing influencer outreach for his keynote at a SAP SAPPHIRE event where he discussed post 9/11 technology and security issues. Giuliani ran for president in 2008.
And then there was Carly Fiorina. I was part of the team promoting Fiorina when she spoke about global technology issues and trends at an Oracle World conference in San Francisco soon after she became CEO of HP. Fiorina, of course, was a candidate in this year’s presidential race.
While Harper Reed hasn’t been a presidential candidate, he was President Obama’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) during the 2012 presidential campaign. I was the communications lead for promoting Reed’s keynote at an ODCA Forecast event where he spoke about the role of big data and data analytics in today’s political campaigns.
I have not yet had the opportunity to formally promote Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, this year’s three remaining top-tier presidential candidates. But I’ve had a lot of fun analyzing and monitoring how social media is playing such a critical role in all three of their campaigns.
One tweet or post from any one of the candidates can quickly establish and drive multiple news cycles and a hefty amount of traditional and social media coverage.
This phenomenon – where a single tweet from a presidential candidate can drive top-tier coverage in global markets – is perhaps one of the best proof points for demonstrating how social media has forever changed the global communications industry. – Russ DeVeau