Was I surprised yesterday morning to learn that Guy Kawasaki, master evangelist/author/speaker from Silicon Valley, would be speaking at the U on January 19!  After grabbing tickets for myself and a guest, I immediately emailed Guy and asked him how we could be so lucky to entice him here to Minnesota smack in the middle of winter. [I email with Guy once in a while, and we have a mutual friend in Rich Karlgaard of Forbes. See my coverage of Rich’s latest MN speech.]

Guykuofm

Well, guess what what brings Guy here? [Other than a chance to talk "The Art of the Start."] It’s about pond hockey!  Which has quietly become a really big deal, and Minneapolis is ground zero for this newly revived and now organized sport. I should have known hockey had something to do with this, because I knew Guy was huge into playing the game.  Not that he doesn’t like coming to our state on general principles, mind you. I was instrumental in recruiting him to speak at a MN High Tech Association event several years ago, and I remember hearing him speak here in the mid-’90s when he was still an Apple Fellow. Guy, as you’ll recall, was the original evangelist for the Mac starting in the mid-’80s, which he wrote about in his first two books, "The Macintosh Way" and "Selling the Dream."

So, I asked Guy in my email  if I could do a little interview to use in my blog post.  He was game, so here ya go…

Me:  Guy, what did we do to deserve this?
Guy:  I’m playing in the pond hockey tournament. That was the enticement. 🙂

Me:  What’s the gist of the talk?
Guy:  I’ll be talking about "The Art of the Start" — based on my book, of course. It’s my guide for anyone starting anything.

Me:  How long will it be, and what’s the format?
Guy: Sixty minutes, top ten format with a bonus. [If you read Guy’s books or blogs, you know he loves lists of ten.]

Me:  Will you bad-mouth VCs (we hope)?  <ha, ha>
Guy:  I always tell the truth.

Me:  Will you talk story about Steve Jobs and Apple?
Guy:  Yes, a great deal.

Me:  How much will you talk about hockey? Hey, how can you NOT here?
Guy:  Depends on how we’re doing in the tournament. I think I play in a game before I speak.

Me:  Will you have books for sale?  And will you sign my entire collection ?  🙂
Guy:  I should arrange for a bookstore to be there. I’ll try to make this happen. See you soon!

What a guy!  If you haven’t yet registered, act fast — word is spreading. Complimentary tickets for Guy Kawasaki’s talk on January 19th at the U of M are available by RSVPing at www.TheGuestRegister.com/start. You can register yourself and guests at the same time. Or call 888-889-7787, Event #932.  Mucho thanks for this event go to the sponsors: the U of M’s Venture Center, the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Carlson School, the James J. Hill Library, SDWA Ventures, and PR firm Haberman & Associates. I see Haberman is a co-producer of the U.S. Pond Hockey Championships here in January. Way to go, guys!

[By the way, Guy’s latest blog post is an interview of my friend Marti Nyman at Best Buy.]

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