Larry Ellison skips OpenWorld keynote to watch America's Cup

Larry Ellison had a choice on Tuesday afternoon: watch a crucial race for his America's Cup sailing team or deliver a keynote to thousands of customers and partners at Oracle OpenWorld. In the end, the Oracle CEO stayed down by the water.

Ellison cancelled his keynote at the last minute to watch Oracle Team USA in a crucial race. Both events were due to start at 2:15 p.m. Pacific time.

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Oracle chairman Jeff Henley took the stage at OpenWorld with an embarrassed half-smile. "Larry apologizes," Henley said. "Can't be in two places at once." Attendees immediately began streaming out of the massive conference hall at San Francisco's Moscone Center.

Ellison's speech was given instead by Thomas Kurian, executive vice president of product development -- who had just given a keynote on Tuesday morning and was apparently asked to revive the effort.

"The line was out the door to get in this place," said OpenWorld attendee Dan Loomis, an IT architect who asked his employer's name be withheld. "[Ellison's keynote] seems to be the highlight of the conference for a lot of people."

"My CEO would say that talking to customers and partners is a priority," he said. Ellison skipping the speech "sends the wrong message," Loomis said.

Ellison is an avid sailor whose team won the previous America's Cup, and he fought hard to bring this year's tournament to San Francisco Bay.

Few expected Oracle Team USA to still be in the contest Tuesday, but the team has made a remarkable recovery to come back against Emirates Team New Zealand.

At one point last week the Kiwis led by eight races to one. They needed one more race to clinch the trophy, while Oracle needed to win eight races in a row. But Oracle staged a comeback and was trailing by one race at the time Ellison cancelled his speech.

In fact, Oracle has won enough races to win this year's Cup, but it started the finals with a two-race deficit because it was found to have cheated in a preliminary round last year.

Chris Kanaracus covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Chris' email address is Chris_Kanaracus@idg.com

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University of Maryland Technology Start-Up Boot Camp, Oct. 22; Morgan O'Brien, Co-Founder of Nextel Communications Inc. (now Sprint Nextel), to Keynote

Learn, be inspired and network at this intensive, one-day workshop about how to launch and grow new ventures, headlined by prominent leaders of this region’s entrepreneurial community. Hundreds of like-minded students, faculty, and professionals attend each year. The Boot Camp is FREE to University of Maryland students, faculty and staff. The cost is $75 for all others. Lunch is included.

Keynote Speaker: Morgan O'Brien, Co-Founder, Nextel Communications Inc. (now Sprint Nextel)

9:00 a.m.: Introduction

Dean Chang, Director, Mtech Venture Programs; Director, Technology Advancement Program, University of Maryland

9:05 a.m.: Welcome

Darryll Pines, Dean, A. James Clark School of Engineering, University of Maryland

Hugh G. Courtney, Vice Dean,
Professor of the Practice of Strategy, Robert H. Smith School of Business9:20 a.m.: Launch Zone: Why the University of Maryland is a Great Place to Create a Startup

9:20 a.m.: Undergraduate Student Perspective

Greg Waldstreicher, Co-Founder, DoseSpot, 2010 Entrepreneur Magazine College Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist, 2010 UMD $75K Business Plan Competition Winner

9:40 a.m.: Graduate Student Perspective

Matt Dowling, Co-Founder, Remedium Technologies, 2010 Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Global Venture Challenge Winner, 2009 Global Security Challenge Winner, 2007 UMD $50K Business Plan Competition Winner. Additional comments by Tim Askew, former CEO of CSA Medical

10:00 a.m.: Faculty Perspective

Carol Espy Wilson, Founder, OmniSpeech LLC, 2010 UMD $75K Business Plan Competition Winner, 2010 Maryland Daily Record Innovator of the Year. Addtitional comments by Morgan O'Brien, Co-Founder, Nextel Communications Inc. (now part of Sprint Nextel Corp.

11:30 a.m.: Keep the Wolves at Bay: Firming Up Your Intellectual Property Against Competition

11:50 a.m.: Company Formation, Operating Agreements, Employment Agreements, and Stock Plans

Samuel E. Feigin, Partner and Chair, Israel Business, Nixon Peabody LLP

Mark Kass, Partner and Chair, Israel Business, Nixon Peabody LLP

1:10 p.m.: Concurrent Sessions

Colony Ballroom
Startup Nuts & Bolts: The How To's of Incorporating, Stock Certificates, Taxes, & More

Benjamin Banneker Room
Perfecting Your Elevator Pitch

Juan Ramon Jiménez Room
Intellectual Property and Legal Questions and Answers

1:50 p.m.: Concurrent Sessions

Colony Ballroom
University IP Disclosures, Patents, and Licensing: What Every Researcher and Company Should Know

Gayatri Varma, Executive Director, University of Maryland Office of Technology Commercialization

Brent Goldfarb, Assistant Professor, Management & Entrepreneurship, Robert H. Smith School of Business

Benjamin Banneker Room
$500 Open Elevator Pitch Competition, Alla Corey, Program Manager, Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship

Juan Ramon Jiménez Room
Intellectual Property and Legal Questions and Answers

2:50 p.m.: Concurrent Sessions

Colony Ballroom
Funding a Prototype: MIPS and the Maryland Proof-of-Concept Alliance Grants

Benjamin Banneker Room
Biotechnology Startup Workshop: Market Research, Grants, and Other Resources

3:20 p.m.: Concurrent Sessions

Colony Ballroom
Is Early Stage Investment Dead? New Rules, New Paradigms

Ed Barrientos, CEO, Brazen Careerist, Managing Partner, Zeitgeist Holdings, Visiting Angel, Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship

Craig Dye, Director, Mtech VentureAccelerator Program

Bob Proctor, Blu Venture Investors

Janet Yang, Principal, Novak Biddle Venture Partners

Benjamin Banneker Room
Open Questions and Answers for Biotechnology Startups

Register to attend from:
www.bootcamp.umd.edu

Friday, October 22, 2010
University of Maryland,
College Park

Sponsors

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