Try blaring incredibly loud, annoying high-pitched audio tones over and over and over again. Yep, that's what's happening even as I (try) to blog this post at the OMMA Display venue of the Sentry conference center in Midtown Manhattan. Something is running afoul in the building's public address or alarm system that's had this blaring, beeping noise going off for a good 5 or 10 minutes now, and it's driving me -- and the rest of the OMMA Display crowd -- crazy. I've got some napkins stuffed in my ears, but it isn't helping much.
MediaPost boss Ken Fadner said it's happening in the entire building -- so, at least, it's not our technical difficulty -- but that's not helping much.
I was almost sort of thinking that it was part of Microsoft Advertising creative guru Stephen Kim's presentation -- something designed to inspire an emotional response like the monster chasing the monster image he had been showing us. Well, whether it is or isn't part of Kim's grand experiement, it's working. It's getting me pretty emotional -- emotional enough that I'm about to get up and rip the bleeping speaker off the wall.
Actually, this is pretty apt when you think about it, because right after Kim's presentation, I'm going to moderate a panel discusion on "Man Vs. Machine," and at this very moment, the machines are clearly winning.