The outpouring of love and support for Steve Jobs has been tremendous today, and regardless of whether you’re a Mac or a PC, it’s hard not to feel a bit of sadness and loss after Steve Jobs’ passing.
After my wife told me about his death at the dinner table last night (she broke the news to me after receiving an alert on her iPhone4) I began to reflect on a personal experience I had with Jobs back a few years ago.
I had always wanted to see Steve Jobs speak at MacWorld, but I really don’t know why. I’ve never been a Mac groupie. Most of my family’s personal computers and gadgets are Mac-related or iSomethings, but I’d never reached nerd status or sworn allegiance to Apple. I just liked high quality products.
None the less, I made the trek to San Francisco in January of 2008 with the hope of seeing Jobs’ infamous keynote at MacWorld. It was a rite of passage for me. It was the first time I had gone to a “computer” conference, and boy was I in for a shock.
Friends who had been to MacWorld before said I needed to get to the Moscone Center early in order to have a chance of getting in to see Jobs’ presentation. I had no clue what he was going to talk about, but I didn’t really care. It was Steve Jobs!
With fog rolling in off the Bay, I left my hotel room at 3:00 am and headed for Downtown San Francisco. As I pulled into town there was little or no traffic, not even near the convention center. “I must be early” I muttered to myself as I pulled around the corner towards the parking garage. Then I saw it and it was huge. In some places it was 6 or seven people deep, and it stretched for blocks (10 full, long city-blocks to be exact). It was the MOTHER of all lines!
I parked my car, grabbed a donut and some hot chocolate from the car, and headed out to find my place in line. It seemed as though people were appearing out of thin air and rushing up to find their spot in line. Many were holding spots for friends who had left to catch a quick catnap. There were local TV stations parked up and down the block, interviewing people in sleeping bags. I hadn’t seen anything like this since camping out for the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena years ago.
I found my place in line and looked at my watch; it was 4:03 am and there was roughly six hours to go until Jobs hit the stage. I wouldn’t say I was worried about getting into the auditorium; it was too early for that. But the thought did cross my mind. No matter, I was here and was going to let this play out.
As the hours went by I began to get anxious, and extremely cold. The hot chocolate was gone in 10 minutes flat and the volume of my chattering teeth began to drown out the sound of the rather obnoxious snorer sleeping below me. I was so cold that I debated if this was really worth the frostbite I was close to suffering. But I kept up my vigil and decided that I was going to see Steve speak, even if it meant sacrificing a few limbs.
At around 9:00 am, after waiting for five hours with a freezing wind and a slight mist battering my face, there was finally movement. The line began creeping slowly towards the front entrance, but after one block, it suddenly stopped again. It was less than an hour to go before the show began and we still had 9 huge city blocks left to travel before reaching the entrance. Now I was getting worried.
My watch continued to tick, minute by minute, and just as we began to panic the line began to inch forward again. But at around 9:53, with 7 blocks still to go, we heard the most horrid sound. A police car, driving up the street, announcing the auditorium was full and the doors were closed. “WHAT!” I couldn’t believe it! After all the effort, all the waiting, the below freezing wind-chill that battered me for hours, and I only made it three stinking blocks?
While most of the others walked away dejected and headed to back to where they came, I wasn’t about to take no for an answer. I turned my stylish Mac hat backwards and proceeded to push through the crowd with authority. I was going to get in at any cost (OK, I wasn’t that determined, but it was fun to write it though)!
15 minutes later I reached the doors to the auditorium and to my surprise I found several hundred people who had the same exact idea as me… It’s time to beg and plead with anyone that would listen. Just as I was about to make my way up the steps to the doorway, I heard Steve Jobs being introduced and a thunderous ovation erupt inside the hall. I froze. I was devastated. Jobs was on stage and I was missing it, with no chance of getting in.
I stood outside and tried to listen to Jobs speak from just outside the glass doors with a few of my defeated brethren, but could barely make out what was being said. There was a line of security guards stationed in front of the doors to the auditorium, so any chance of breaking in was out of the question. I sat on the steps outside and shuffled through my bag looking for my iPod. Exhausted, I put on some music and tried to relax, and ended up nodding off to sleep.
I don’t know how long I was asleep, but it probably wasn’t long. After I woke I turned around towards the doors and saw the guards were gone and most of the people had dispersed. I walked up to the doors, gently pulled the handle, and the door opened just a touch. With another quick look around I pulled the door wide open and snuck inside the building. Above me was a television monitor showing the activity on the stage, and there he was, a scholarly looking man standing in jeans and a black mock turtleneck. It was Steve Jobs.
I saw a sign next to a set of stairs that said general admission and ran upstairs with blazing fast speed. After reaching the top I found an entrance into the auditorium, and as I slowly walked in, the man on the stage turned to audience and said “Thanks so much for coming”, turned and walked away to a magnificent applause.
It was over.
You would think I would be disappointed, but not really, I was relieved. I achieved my goal and got to share the room with Steve Jobs and a few thousand of our closest friends. Even though I didn’t hear any of the presentation I could still say to all of my friends that I was in the room.
Four years later, I have to laugh just a bit when thinking about that day. Everything I went through just to see him speak makes me feel a little bit like a groupie of sorts. Little did I know then that this would be his very last keynote at MacWorld. I’m glad I had the opportunity to be in the presence of greatness, even if it was only for a few moments. As Bill Gates said last night, “The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come.”
All throughout my house I see the impact of this creative genius that was taken from us far too early. Thanks for making a difference in my life, Steve – you will be missed.
*This was posted on behalf of Market America’s Director of Social Media, Jason Burns