Well, Michael Lewis (author of Liar's Poker and Moneyball) gave the keynote address and it was terrific. My experience is that usually some sports figure or business leader gives a sort of rah rah speech at these things, and while inspiring, typically aren't very relevant to the conference. What made Lewis' speech interesting was he talked about how statistics are revolutioninzing how baseball teams are run, the theme of Moneyball.
To an audience of BI folks, this was a really interesting cultural study, in that it replicated what many of us see at work. The stats believers vs. the gut feel folks, the fact that you need to measure the correct things, not just the things you can measure.
He likened the shift to the culture clash he witnessed on Wall Street during the 80s, when the stats guys challenged the gut feel guys. He told a wonderful story about Donny Green, the prototypical gut feel guy. Just before Christmas he noticed one of the geek guys leaving, while Donny was working away. "Hey, where are you going?" quizzed Donny. "Oh, taking a flight home so I can be with the family at Christmas." "Well, in that case," says Donny, "here's $20 for you to put on crash insurance for your flight in my name." "Why do you want to do that?" asked the geek. "I feel lucky," says Donny.
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