Note on ECOOP banquet talk

The ECOOP banquet talk was delivered during dessert on the lawn of a nice Italian villa on the hill overlooking Genova. When I started the talk I was wearing this dark Zegna suit I got to wear at the IPO of my company. Unfortunately I never got to wear the suit for that event.

You have to realize that banquet talks are about entertainment, not technical details. Everybody was full of good food and wine.

About halfway through the talk I took off my coat. Then my tie. It was difficult because I was trying to talk at the same time and also holding a microphone. Then I took off my shirt. This didn't seem too strange because it was a warm night. I had a "leave no trace" t-shirt on underneath.

Then I talked for a while more. They assumed I was done. But then.. yes... I undid my belt and dropped my pants, to started chuckles and giggles from the crowd. Fortunately I was wearing shorts underneath. I eventually managed to say something like "see, now I'm an academic" as I stood in my shorts and t-shirt. I was trying to illustrate how difficult the transition from industry to academia is... but at least I got a laugh out of them, even if the point wasn't clear.