Last night while The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher were interviewing their new boss News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch in Carlsbad’s Aviara Grand Ballroom, we were kicking back in the lobby bar listening to the cool jazz sounds of San Diego’s Keni Yarbro and waiting to see what kind trouble we could get into. Only moments before we arrived at The Four Seasons Valleywag.com’s Owen Thomas had been thrown out of the hotel entirely, so we realized anything was possible.
Each year, when the All Things D Conference comes to Carlsbadistan, we try to see how deep we can barge. This year, things went shockingly smoother. The first person we saw when walking into the lobby was Gizmodo.com editor Brian Lam hurrying into the conference center. Then, after running into Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and social media marketing pro Rodney Rumford we decided to try rolling into the “Nightcap Gathering.” No luck. Security stopped us at the entrance. Badges? Apparently, we needed stinking badges.
On returning to the bar and telling our story of woe, a kind PR wizard from an unnamed search giant leaned over. “You need a badge?” he said. “Here, use mine. Just bring it back in 10 minutes. . . . and don’t say anything to the press.”
And just like that we were sipping free champagne in a room full of sweaty tech geeks who had been sitting in their dress slacks for 14 hours. Let just say there was a lot of “bad air” in that room. If not for the pouring talents of Aviara’s Julie and Cindy we don’t know what we would have done.
On the way out we saw Techcrunch.com’s Michael Arrington talking in the corner, but he seemed too busy ruling the tech blog world, so we didn’t bother him.
For a look at all the media that All Things D brings Carlsbad, just click here. It is astounding.
Follow the jump for all our photos of the evening.
(Click the photos to see them full size)
D6 Conference hosts Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal. It was 11:54 PM and after a day spent interviewing some of the biggest brains in business they were still gracious enough to pose for a photo.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Solana Beach’s social media marketing guru Rodney Rumford.
A room full of guys who have been sitting indoors way, way, too long.
But Julie and Cindy more than made up for it. . .
We were not surprised at all to find that HP sponsors the guys from American Chopper. Only a PC user could build something this jacked up and be proud of it.
And this is the badge that made it all possible. The name and company have been removed to protect the guilty.
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Nice meeting you last night…….enjoyed talking with you at the bar….the kiwi (nanny) who was also chatting with us had one too many glasses of champagne last night…….